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Northern resident killer whales appear to use dolphins as ‘scouts’, in a surprising cooperative hunting strategy
Orcas and dolphins have been spotted for the first time working as a team to hunt salmon off the coast of British Columbia, according to a new study which suggests a cooperative relationship between the two predators.
The research, published on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, shows interactions between northern resident orcas (also known as killer whales) and Pacific white-sided dolphins are not just chance encounters while foraging.
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An official report lays out different scenarios for the cost of transitioning away from fossil fuels to net zero by 2050
Britain’s official energy system operator has attempted to work out what achieving net zero carbon emissions will cost, with its figures showing surging spending in the coming years.
The scale and speed of the shift to a low-carbon economy, and how to fund it, are hotly debated by political parties.
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Analysis marking 10 years since Paris climate agreement underscores effectiveness of strong government policies
The once-rigid link between economic growth and carbon emissions is breaking across the vast majority of the world, according to a study released ahead of Friday’s 10th anniversary of the Paris climate agreement.
The analysis, which underscores the effectiveness of strong government climate policies, shows this “decoupling” trend has accelerated since 2015 and is becoming particularly pronounced among major emitters in the global south.
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Exclusive: Use of toxic plastic beads in treatment works is unnecessary and outdated, say conservationists
The use of tiny, toxic plastic beads at sewage works should be banned nationwide, an MP and wildlife experts have said after a devastating spill at an internationally important nature reserve.
Hundreds of millions of “biobeads” washed up on Camber Sands beach in East Sussex last month, after a failure at a Southern Water sewage treatment works caused a catastrophic spill. It has distressed and alarmed local people and conservationists, as not only are the beads unsightly but they pose a deadly threat to wildlife.
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Tyrella Beach, County Down: These fine ducks are tricky to spot from the shore, but I feel lucky to be seeing them at all
The common scoter has long haunted the edges of my mind. I think of this handsome duck migrating from its summer breeding grounds in the boreal lakelands of Scandinavia. I watch for the tattered ribbons of its flight formations arriving to winter along this coast. I scrutinise the sea for flocks far offshore.
Because even here in Dundrum Bay, where large winter flocks gather, any sighting is hit and miss. Scoters’ flocking behaviour is reinforced by the patchy distribution of their mollusc prey. The ducks congregate over shellfish beds, diving from the surface to seize an individual shellfish, which they then swallow whole, to digest – shell and all – in their powerful gizzards. But as a flock drifts and flies from bed to bed, from my perspective on the beach, the birds easily dissolve into a vast and moving sea.
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Wildlife smuggling is serious organised crime that ‘fuels corruption and drives species to extinction’, Home Office says
More than 250 endangered species and illegal wildlife products were seized at the UK border in a single month, new figures have revealed, including spiders, snakes and birds.
The illicit cargo was uncovered as part of an annual crackdown on wildlife smuggling known as Operation Thunder, which is led by Interpol and the World Customs Organisation.
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Ecologically important Diadema africanum almost eliminated by unknown disease in Canary Islands
A marine pandemic is bringing some species of sea urchin to the brink of extinction, and some populations have disappeared altogether, a study has found.
Since 2021, Diadema africanum urchins in the Canary Island archipelago have almost entirely been killed by an unknown disease. There has been a 99.7% population decrease in Tenerife, and a 90% decrease off the islands of the Madeira archipelago.
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Study on skull of Altamura Man could be blow to adaptation theories about Neanderthals and their extinction
One sign of a really cold day is the sharp sting of freezing air in your nose. It was believed that the noses of Neanderthals were better adapted to breathing the cold air of the Ice Age and that when the climate became warmer they were outcompeted by modern humans. This is now being questioned.
The opening in the Neanderthal skull is bigger than ours, with a larger nasal cavity behind it. This was thought to have bony convolutions to warm and moisten the incoming air, similar to those seen on some arctic mammals. These delicate structures would only survive in an exceptionally well-preserved skull though, so it was never clear whether they were actually present.
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A fin whale washed ashore in Anchorage and was left there for months. Then a self-described ‘wacko’ museum director made a plan
When a whale dies, its body descends to the bottom of the deep sea in a transformative phenomenon called a whale fall. A whale’s death jump-starts an explosion of life, enough to feed and sustain a deep-ocean ecosystem for decades.
There are a lot of ways whales can die. Migrating whales lose their way and, unable to find their way back from unfamiliar waters, are stranded. They can starve when prey disappears or fall to predators such as orcas. They become bycatch, tangled in fishing lines and nets. Mass whale deaths have been linked to marine heatwaves and the toxic algae blooms that follow.
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Ghana’s capital is a party and entertainment hub but members of the diaspora would do well to experience its spectacular art scene
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After more than 50 editions surfing across the waves of the global Black diaspora with Nesrine, this will be my final dispatch for the Long Wave, as I move on to a new role on the Opinion desk at the Guardian. I am heartbroken to be leaving, but I am so thankful to all of our readers for being so encouraging and engaged throughout the past year.
Any who, time to cut the sad music (this is my farewell tune of choice), as I have one more edition for you. In late autumn, I took my first trip to Ghana for Accra Cultural Week. While there, I visited the historic area of Jamestown, which was reflected in an exhibition by artist Serge Attukwei Clottey.
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Photo: Vivian Grisogono
