Posts by Patrick Kinsella

Church of the chimp: Primates seen performing rituals and building shrines

Wildlife researchers have witnessed and filmed startling habitual behaviour being exhibited by wild chimpanzees that suggests the animals are treating certain trees as ‘sacred’, in a similar way to early humans. In rituals first noted in the Republic of Guinea, chimps were seen throwing rocks at a particular tree. In itself, this might seem unremarkable, … Continued

Facebook: Online shop of horrors for threatened Malaysian wildlife

Facebook is being used as a market place for people illegally buying and selling endangered, threatened and iconic Malaysian animals, according to a new report just released by TRAFFIC, an organisation that monitors wildlife trading networks and seeks to highlight and help abolish unethical practises. The report, Trading Faces: A Rapid Assessment on the use … Continued

Astronaut returns to Earth younger and taller than twin brother

If Albert Einstein is correct—and let’s face it, recent discoveries have proved that he has been right about pretty much everything so far—Scott Kelly is now slightly younger than his identical twin Mark. Not because he was born six minutes later (because, of course, identical twins are conceived at precisely the same time, regardless of … Continued

Supercute quoll leads bid to reintroduce threatened species to mainland Australia

Australia is famous for its fabulous menagerie of fantastic fauna, including many species that are unique to the great southern continent and have little respect for the rules of nature that apply elsewhere (yes, platypus, you egg-laying mammal, we are talking about you). Beyond the headline-hogging predators of the spider, snake, shark and crocodile worlds, … Continued

The story of the steppe wolf

The wolf has been portrayed as the pariah of the prairie and the killer on the steppe for as long as anyone can remember in Kazakhstan—just as it has around the rest of the world. From folklore to fairy tales, Canis lupus is the go-to villain of numerous narratives, forever menacing children or slaughtering valuable … Continued

Leo's Wild Oscars Speech

The Academy Awards have been mired in controversy this year, but here at Love Nature we were delighted to see a long-awaited gong going to a guy who has consistently used his fame as a platform to promote some causes very close to our heart. Leonardo DiCaprio pocketed the best actor Oscar for his role … Continued

Reefscapers: Architects of evolution in the garden of Atlantis

Reefs right around the world are in strife—we all know this. Between warming waters, rising acidification, coral bleaching, yellow-blotch disease, over-fishing, climate-change and El Niño triggered mega-storms, oil spills, crown-of-thorn starfish invasions, sewage dumps and clumsy clod-footed tourists, life has never been harder if you happen to be part of a naturally occurring colony of … Continued

Spider sex: A scary world of bondage and cannibalism

Contrary to popular belief, being a spiderman sucks. Not only is your prospective mate often many times bigger than you, but after sex there’s a fair chance she’s going to kill and eat you. Being on the wrong end of an act of post-coitus cannibalisation is a genuine concern for many male arachnids, with their … Continued

Arabian falconry: Killing two birds with one stone?

Hunting with raptors is a tradition that goes back millennia in Arabic culture, but is the modern pursuit of this sport pushing the primary prey species to the brink of oblivion, and impacting on the wild population of the falcons themselves? On the frontline of this debate is the houbara bustard. This elegant, long-legged creature, … Continued

Koala chlamydia crisis leads scientists to consider a cull of the cuddly animals

It’s been a grim month for Australia’s koala population, with scientists Down Under stating that around half of the country’s entire population is now suffering from a nasty and highly virulent strain of chlamydia, and one expert even suggesting that the only way to save the iconic animal might be to start killing them. The … Continued

Will this zebra-sock-wearing giraffe survive the pushmi-pullyu politics of Central Africa long enough to reveal its secrets?

Like a character dreamt up for a Dr Doolittle spin-off film by an over-caffeinated CGI artist, the okapi resembles the result of a drunken night of ill-advised passion between a zebra and a giraffe. Yet this idiosyncratic animal’s predicament is anything but amusing. The rare and intriguing mammal from the deepest darkest forests of the … Continued

Britain's Wildlife Crime Unit facing extinction, but YOU can help save it

The agency tasked with combatting crimes such as illegal hunting and cruel sports in the UK is under severe threat of imminent closure, and time is fast running out to save it—but you can help. Since it was established in 2006, the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) has been investigating countryside criminality including deer poaching, … Continued

Iceberg apocalypse for Adélie penguins

News reports emerged this week suggesting that as many as 140,000 Adélie penguins may have died on Cape Denison in Antarctica, after an iceberg the size of Rome slammed into the coast and blocked their access to the sea. According to the journal Antarctic Science, the snappily named B09B iceberg, which measures 1,120 sq miles … Continued

Maimed by a ghost, this turtle is getting a false flipper

Ossy the turtle might be missing a limb, but she is one of the fortunate ones—few animals that feel the clinging grasp of a ghost net live long enough for their tale to be told. Ossy got lucky, and this is her story. Just over two years ago, this olive ridley turtle was found in … Continued

Protestors cry fowl as Goa labels peacocks 'vermin'

The southern Indian state of Goa has controversially reclassified India’s national bird, the peacock, as vermin, in a move that paves the way for a potential cull of the spectacular species. The country’s most popular holiday destination has already ruffled feathers and shaken fronds this month by relegating its iconic coconut trees, from actual trees … Continued

Tracing the death trail of Europe's beaching sperm whales

In its element, the open ocean, the sperm whale is an incredible force of nature. A highly evolved, supremely specialised survivalist, these magnificent mammals don’t do tourist-pleasing tricks on the surface for boats, à la humpbacks, but they are capable of diving for up to 45 minutes on a single breath, to depths of two … Continued

Migrating songbirds sex up their repertoire overseas

Some 65 per cent of male European songbirds who leave their northern homes to seek the sun during the winter, spend the off season stretching their vocal chords and rehearsing how to hit the high notes. That might be considered a bit strange when they could be conserving precious energy instead, before a long flight home and busy … Continued

Bees on the pill: Anarchy in the hive

It’s well known that, in the complex dynamics of a bee hive or an ant nest, female workers sacrifice their capability to have offspring in order to help the queen (their mother) reproduce, and it’s only when the big mumma dies that another bee or ant steps up to become the royal mother, almost magically … Continued

Chasing swans from Russia to England, on a paramotor

An intrepid conservationist is so concerned about the drastic drop in the population of a species of swan, she’s preparing to follow them as they migrate from the Russian Arctic to England, travelling through the air for 4,500 miles and crossing some of the most extreme terrain on the planet while, hanging from a flimsy … Continued

A spider named Cash (not Sue)

A newly discovered species of spider has just been named after Johnny Cash. The tarantula, which you can now call Aphonopelma johnnycashi (anything but Sue), lives in the foothills of Folsom Prison in California, where Cash famously recorded a live album while playing a series of concerts for inmates in the late 1960s. But that’s … Continued

The police raptors destroying drones

We’ve seen hawks hired to keep pigeons away from Wimbledon during the tennis, vultures tasked with finding thermals for paragliders and falcons employed by many seaside towns to scare seagulls away from chip shops, but police in the Netherlands this week started using raptors, mankind’s BFF (best feathered friends), for a whole new purpose: to … Continued

Game on for Melbourne Zoo's Xbox orangutans

Six orangutans at Melbourne Zoo in Australia have received a late Christmas present—their very own customised Xbox. The idea came about after researchers from the University of Melbourne’s Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces (SocialNUI) discovered keepers had been using digital tablets loaded with art and music-based games as part of an enrichment … Continued

Crossing the mighty Atlantic Ocean, in a pedalo

Two men have just set off on an eccentric and ambitious adventure that, if it proves successful, will see them become the first people to use a combination of wind, oar and extreme pedal power to cross the Atlantic. And yes, we did mean pedal power. Because Anthony Ward-Thomas and James Ketchell are undertaking the … Continued

Astonishing new discovery points to oceans beneath the Earth

As we all remember from school, some 71 per cent of the surface of the globe is covered by water. But what if all that H2O was just the tip of the unfrozen iceberg? Imagine if, deep within our planet, just as much water again was sloshing around in a giant subterranean ocean. It’s enough … Continued

YEAR IN REVIEW: A comprehensive look at all the wild things that happened in 2015

As we begin the countdown for the New Year and prepare to bid adieu to 2015, the hottest year ever recorded on Earth, Patrick Kinsella looks back on the discoveries, developments, disasters and decisions that defined the last 12 months, and finds plenty to both cheer and jeer about in the convoluted plot of the … Continued

Siberia’s Tungsuka Event, the unexplainable explosion 1000 times greater than an atomic bomb

‘It was like the sky opened up and split in half. I put my hands in front of my eyes and I could see the bones in my hands.’ The name of the Evenki tribeswoman—who thus described the enormous explosion that rattled the earth and tore the sky asunder above Vanavara in Siberia shortly after … Continued