Animals news

• Butterfly population in US shrinking by 22% over last 20 years, study shows

  06-03-2025 20:00
  Drop in line with rate of overall insect loss as scientists point to habitat loss, pesticide use and the climate crisisButterflies may be among the most beloved of all creatures, routinely deified in art and verse, but they are in alarming decline in the United States with populations plummeting by a fifth in just the past two decades, according to the most comprehensive study yet of their fortunes.The abundance of butterflies in the US slumped 22% between 2000 and 2020, the new analysis of more
  
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• ‘You just hope for the best’: rarely seen froglets – the length of a grain of rice – released into small patch of Victorian wilds

  06-03-2025 15:00
  
  Exclusive: More than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs set free in a high-altitude forest to bolster dwindling populationTropical Cyclone Alfred LIVE: latest news and updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore than 3,000 critically endangered Baw Baw frogs have been released in Victoria’s east as part of a record-breaking conservation breeding program.Zoos Victoria’s reintroduction of 3,000 tiny froglets and 40 adult frogs into the high-altitude fo
  
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• ‘Slavish’ catch limits ignored scientific advice, say conservationists in case against Defra

  06-03-2025 13:02
  Blue Marine Foundation charity asks high court to declare quota decision unlawful amid concern over sustainability of fish stocksAt the start of 2024, Jerry Percy, who led the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association, dedicated to small boats, said he started to receive lots of calls from members. “They were calling my office to report that a lack of fish in the inshore grounds were putting their livelihoods in peril,” he said.The fishers said they had noticed a depletion of speci
  
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• Promise to phase out lead from UK game shooting has failed, study finds

  06-03-2025 07:00
  
  Vow in 2020 aimed to keep shot out of human food chain but study finds most game carcasses still contain leadA voluntary promise to phase out toxic lead shot in the UK has failed, meaning wildlife and human health are being put at risk, a study has found.The vow, made in February 2020 by the UK’s nine leading game shooting and rural organisations, aimed to benefit wildlife and the environment and keep toxic lead out of the human food chain. They aimed to phase lead shot out by 2025, and ho
  
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• Country diary: As spring progresses, herring gulls become more and more raucous | Sara Hudston

  06-03-2025 06:30
  Bridport, Dorset: These controversial town-dwellers have little fear of humans, and a nest on your house can be an ordealThere is a blackbird in the garden that starts singing around 5.30 every morning as the stars fade. He continues in phases during the day, prolonging his song into the dusk when the streetlamp comes on.His notes are set against a background of yawping, screaming cries, equally evocative in their way: the herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are back. They have been quiet all
  
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• Country diary: As spring progresses, gulls become more and more raucous | Sara Hudston

  06-03-2025 06:30
  
  Bridport, Dorset: These controversial town-dwellers have little fear of humans, and a nest on your house can be an ordealThere is a blackbird in the garden that starts singing around 5.30 every morning as the stars fade. He continues in phases during the day, prolonging his song into the dusk when the streetlamp comes on.His notes are set against a background of yawping, screaming cries, equally evocative in their way: the herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are back. They have been quiet all
  
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• Every Little Thing review – hummingbird documentary shimmers with the best of humanity

  06-03-2025 05:43
  
  This Australian film about an avian rescuer is a densely layered meditation on love, resilience and letting goGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailEncounters with hummingbirds are not easily forgotten. I vividly remember my first, on a visit to Los Angeles 15 years ago: walking the streets of Beverly Hills, it buzzed towards me like a supersized bee, eyeballed me, pivoted, and zipped across the road, leaving me slack-jawed with wonder that something so miraculous could even exist.Miracles
  
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