Animals news

• The invertebrate of the year competition is here. Who will you vote for? – video

  01-04-2025 17:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Invertebrates may be the unsung heroes of the planet but they have received a lot of love and recognition from Guardian readers. A dazzling array of nominations have flown in for insects, arachnids, snails, crustaceans, corals and many more obscure creatures for our invertebrate of the year competition. Natural history reporter Patrick Barkham reviews this year’s shortlist of 10Vote for the beast that may be as ruthlessly predatory as us – the fen raft spider Continue reading...
  
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• Chester zoo unveils £28m ‘Africa’ facility – complete with chilly giraffes

  01-04-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Nine-hectare site home to 57 speciesincluding rhino, zebras and ostriches in UK’s biggest such development“Although we are trying to replicate Uganda and Kenya we are actually in Cheshire so the weather is slightly different,” admits Chester zoo boss, Jamie Christon, on a fresh and very grey Monday morning.But ignore the chilliness and screw your eyes and you could well be transported to a sweeping African savannah where, one day, there will be giraffes, zebras, antelopes and o
  
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• Country diary: The twittering and squalling of redwings speak only of spring | Mark Cocker

  01-04-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wincle, Cheshire: These UK winter visitors herald their departure by tuning their voices to the flock’s exuberant tuneless wanderingsOn the path to Wincle Minn, I heard redwings singing from the treetops. It was notable because, while 700,000 of them winter in these islands, barely 50 stay to breed. Yet the birds migrating back to Iceland or Scandinavia, lulled by increases in day length and temperature, start to tune up until the whole flock catches this pre-song habit. The
  
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• ‘I cried like a little boy’: pigeon fanciers in Belgium relive agony of stolen prized birds

  01-04-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Suspected criminal gangs are leaving pigeon racers bereft after a spate of thefts in aviaries across the countryWhen champion pigeon racer Tom Van Gaver walked into one of his lofts one morning last November, he immediately knew something was wrong. Part of the door had been smashed from the inside. He soon realised it was no accident: thieves had broken into his aviary in Moortsele in Flanders and stolen five birds, including Finn, one of his most renowned breeders. Father and grandfather to ma
  
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