Environment news

• Rare footage captured of interspecies infanticide by dolphins off Welsh coast

  18-04-2025 18:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Dolphin-watching tour witnesses four adult bottlenose dolphins kill a common dolphin calf in Cardigan BayThey had been hoping for a nice day out on the bay. Instead, dolphin-watching tourists in Wales were confronted with the shocking and grisly sight of four adult bottlenose dolphins pursuing and killing a common dolphin calf.The trip, in Cardigan Bay, was operated by Dolphin Spotting Boat Trips and the Sea Watch Foundation (SWF), a charity that monitors the dolphins in the bay to inform and ad
  
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• How a Sydney scientist became enamoured with the ‘Ferraris of the crustacean world’ – and discovered a new shrimp species

  18-04-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Prof Shane Ahyong discovered ‘brutish’ mantis shrimp so unusual it needed its own new genusGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastWhen Prof Shane Ahyong was seven, his mum came home with a bag of prawns from the fish shop – but one of those things was not like the others.“It just looked different,” said Ahyong.Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter Continue reading...
  
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• UK national parks warn of ‘catastrophic’ risk from wildfires this Easter

  18-04-2025 12:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Weeks of fires amid warm and dry spell have decimated ecosystems and threatened endangered species, say expertsWildfires expose ‘postcode lottery’ of firefighting resourcesBritain’s national parks have warned of a “catastrophic” risk from wildfires this Easter after one of the driest early spring seasons on record.Park rangers from the South Downs to the Highlands said the prolonged warm weather and breezy conditions had left large areas extremely dry despite recent
  
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• Week in wildlife: elephants on parade, a rescued serval and wandering bears

  18-04-2025 11:21 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change is not just a problem of physics but a crisis of justice

  18-04-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In an exclusive extract from Friederike Otto’s new book, she says climate disasters result from inequality as well as fossil fuelMy research as a climate scientist is in attribution science. Together with my team, I analyse extreme weather events and answer the questions of whether, and to what extent, human-induced climate change has altered their frequency, intensity and duration.When I first began my research, most scientists claimed that these questions couldn’t be answered. Ther
  
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• Weather tracker: sandstorm turns Iraqi skies orange and empties the streets

  18-04-2025 10:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands go to hospital with respiratory problems after massive dust cloud blows in from Saudi ArabiaIraq was hit by its most severe sandstorm of 2025 this week, turning skies from blue to an orange haze. Visibility dropped to less than half a mile, causing travel disruptions, with two major airports halting flights, and streets in Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq, left deserted. Respiratory problems sent thousands to hospital. The storm also affected Kuwait, where wind gusts exceeded 5
  
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• Map reveals residential wood-burning hotspots in England and Wales

  18-04-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Researchers analyse energy performance certificate data to identify areas with potentially high particle pollutionBurning wood at home adds more particle pollution to the UK’s air than all of the vehicles on its roads, but there is very little information on where this burning takes place and who is most affected.To address this knowledge gap, researchers have produced the first high-resolution map of wood burning in England and Wales. Continue reading...
  
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• From butterflies to wind turbines, project preserves world’s sonic heritage

  18-04-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Online exhibition collects soundscapes from nature reserves and sites such as Machu Picchu and Taj MahalThe sounds of wind turbines, rare whales and the Amazonian dawn chorus are among the noises being preserved as part of an exhibition of soundscapes found in world heritage sites.The Sonic Heritage project is a collection of 270 sounds from 68 countries, including from famous Unesco-designated sites such as Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal, as well as natural landscapes such as the monarch butter
  
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• Country diary: From the pavilion end, a pied wagtail

  18-04-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Marylebone, London: These irrepressible birds can cheer up a motorway services or a railway platform. But their true home, for me, is on the pristine lawn of a cricket groundTime rolls on, defying our efforts to slow it down for the enjoyable bits. I tick off the markers of spring’s progress. Far out west, in Ealing, a singing skylark evades detection in the boundless sky, its silver chain of sound offering no clues as to its whereabouts. In “leafy Barnes”, sand martins duck an
  
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• Project to suck carbon out of sea begins in UK

  18-04-2025 02:20 via bbc.com
  
  A pilot project will test whether it is a useful way of fighting climate change.
  
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