#amazinganimals — Public Fediverse posts

Crabs are amazing! 🦀 Learn more about crabs!  👉 https://veganfta.com/blog/2026/03/10/7-amazing-facts-about-crabs-you-did-not-know/ 🧠 #crabs #amazinganimals #animalfacts

Did you know pigs can recognise their names? 🐷  They are more like dogs than you'd think! Maybe they deserve the same love and respect? 💜 Clip thanks to rosiesfarmsanctuary (IG) #pigs #amazinganimals #cleveranimals

What do you know about crabs? 👀  Crabs are amazing animals whose lives are full of interesting facts, many of which people do not know 🦀 👉 Learn more: https://veganfta.com/blog/2026/03/10/7-amazing-facts-about-crabs-you-did-not-know/ #crabs #animalfacts #amazinganimals

Vivian from Arthurs Acres is officially over the cold! 🥶❄️ Clip from: arthursacres (IG) #pig #piggy #cutepigs #cuteanimals #amazinganimals

Did you know all these things about cows? 💚 👉 Want to go vegan for the animals? 🙌 Get FREE help making the change: https://challenge.veganfta.com/starter_kit 🌱 Inspired by thehumaneleague (IG) #cows #animalfacts #animals #amazinganimals #farmanimals

The Amazon Basin blunt-headed tree snakes (Imantodes lentiferus) are instantly recognizable by their disproportionately large, forward-facing eyes, which can measure up to 25% of the head's length.
The large eyes are an adaptation for their nocturnal, arboreal (tree-dwelling) lifestyle.
They are considered mildly venomous (rear-fanged) but are harmless to humans.
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

Did you know some animals, from primates to rodents, have their own “midwives” helping with birth? 😮🐀🐒 #midwife #midwifery #midwives #animals #amazinganimals

“Midwifery” in the Animal King...

Did you know some animals, from primates to rodents, have their own “midwives” helping with birth? 😮🐀🐒 #midwife #midwifery #midwives #animals #amazinganimals

“Midwifery” in the Animal King...

Did you know some animals, from primates to rodents, have their own “midwives” helping with birth? 😮🐀🐒 #midwife #midwifery #midwives #animals #amazinganimals

“Midwifery” in the Animal King...

Did you know some animals, from primates to rodents, have their own “midwives” helping with birth? 😮🐀🐒 #midwife #midwifery #midwives #animals #amazinganimals

“Midwifery” in the Animal King...

Did you know some animals, from primates to rodents, have their own “midwives” helping with birth? 😮🐀🐒 #midwife #midwifery #midwives #animals #amazinganimals

“Midwifery” in the Animal King...

Animals have rich, meaningful lives – lives that deserve respect, not exploitation. The most powerful way to honor them? Live vegan. 💚 ⁠ Credits: thesavemovement (IG) via limaanimalsaveoficial⁠ (IG) #amazinganimals #animals #animallover #bekindtoanimals #veganfta

Have you ever been to Australia or New Guinea? Have you been lucky enough to witness the work of bowerbirds? 🤯 #australia #newguinea #amazinganimals #birdlover #birds

Are Bowerbirds the Best Visual...

The Devil's Flower Mantis (Idolomantis diabolica) is one of nature’s most impressive masters of disguise.
With its stunning mix of reds, greens, and whites, this large mantis mimics flowers to both hide and intimidate.
When threatened, it flares its limbs to create an eye-catching display that confuses predators.
📸: IGOR SIWANOWICZ
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

This rare beautiful Chrysilla is a species of the jumping spider. It is found in rain forests in Burma, China and Vietnam.
📸 @pavan_tavrekere
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

Boxer Mantis nymph (Pachymantis bicingulata)
Photo: Alvin Ngiam
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

Nature’s Fluffy Marvel: The Venezuelan Poodle Moth!
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

The Spectacular "Umbrella Stick Insect"! 📸✨
This stunning insect, the Umbrella Stick Insect, looks like nature's elegant artwork! Found in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, its unique umbrella-like appearance helps it blend perfectly with leaves to avoid predators.
📷: @ennisanna_fei
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

The Paradise Flying Snake (Chrysopelea Paradisi) Can Flatten Its Body To Glide Between Trees Like A Flying Squirrel!! Photo By: woollydogs.
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

The White Ghost Cicada is more than just an ordinary insect, it is an emblem of cultural significance and tradition in Thailand. Its arrival marks the advent of the rainy season and is joyously celebrated in many parts of the country.

Image credit: instagram@ennisanna_fei
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

Tacua speciosa is a very large species of cicada, native to Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the islands of Borneo, Sumatra and Java.
It is among the largest cicadas in the world, with a head-body length of 4.7–5.7 cm and a wingspan of 15–18 cm.
📷 @ennisanna_fei
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

African Flower Chafers: Nature's Jewel Beetles
These stunning creatures are Megalorrhina harrisi peregrina, also known as African flower chafers.
Native to Africa, male chafers possess long, curved horns used in battles for mates. Beyond their beauty, they play a vital role in ecosystems, aiding in pollination, decomposition, and pest control.
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

The hibiscus harlequin bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus), the sole member of the genus Tectocoris.
Photo: Jim Wong
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

Tiny spider patching a leaf.
Photo: Bertrand Kulik
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

Spectacular glide of osprey!
Photo: Andy Woo
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

Animals experience emotions profoundly, often in ways we fail to notice. 🥺🐷 👉 Take the VEGAN PLEDGE: https://veganfta.com/vegan-pledge 💚 🎥: VeganFTA x farahamberr (IG)  Clip: hobbyvarkenvereniging (IG) #animals #pigs #grief #amazinganimals #veganfortheanimals

Meet the Myxomycetes, also known as slime molds—nature’s mysterious shape-shifters. Born from spores like mushrooms, they don’t stay still.
Instead, they move like giant amoebas, creeping at about 1 cm per hour! As they crawl, they engulf bacteria, algae, and organic matter, digesting prey on the go...
By #AmazingAnimals
#NaturePhotography #Plant #Plants #Flower #Flowers #Animal #Animals #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Photographer

A female falcon over 42days embarked on an incredible journey from South Africa to Finland. Averaging around 230 kilometers per day, she flew in a nearly straight line across Africa. She followed the Nile River through Sudan & Egypt for easier access to water. She navigated through Syria & Lebanon, avoiding the Black Sea, knowing she couldn’t drink from it, finally arriving in Finland in a extraordinary migration that showcased both instinct & strategy.
#AmazingAnimals

Three Times Animals Out‑Engineered Us (With Zero Exploitation) 😮 #animals #animalfacts #amazinganimals #nature #animallover

Three Times Animals Out‑Engine...

Was lucky to catch our pest controller on his way to work yesterday at @newcastleuni.bsky.social Cookson Building. #hawk #amazinganimals #birdsofprey

Amphibians Glow in Ways People Can’t See

Many animals have a colourful, yet largely hidden, trait. Marine creatures like #fish and corals can glow blue, green or red under certain types of light. So can land animals like penguins and #parrots. But until now, experts knew of only one salamander and a few #frogs that could glow. No longer. Among #amphibians, this ability to glow now appears fairly common — even if you can’t see it. Research has found that most amphibians glow as well – even if it’s not visible to human eyes. Protect amphibians and reptiles every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife

DYK not only #fish or #insects glow 🐟🐠🐛🦋? #Research has found that amphibians glow as well – even if it’s not visible to human eyes 🌈🌟🎇 Protect #amphibians and #reptiles every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/06/30/blue-and-uv-light-makes-many-amphibians-glow-in-ways-that-people-cant-normally-see/

Written by Erin Garcia de Jesús for Science News Explores under creative commons licence. Read the original article here.

The glow is produced through a process is known as fluorescence. A body absorbs shorter (higher energy) wavelengths of light. Almost immediately, it then re-emits that light, but now at longer (lower energy) wavelengths. People can’t see this glow, however, because our eyes aren’t sensitive enough to see the small amount of light given off in natural light.

Jennifer Lamb and Matthew Davis are biologists at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. They shone blue or ultraviolet light on 32 species of amphibians. Most were salamanders and frogs. Some were adults. Others were younger. One animal was a wormlike amphibian known as a caecilian (Seh-SEEL-yun).

The researchers found some of the creatures in their natural habitats. Others came from places like the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Ill. (There, the pair were allowed to “come into the exhibit after dark and basically run through their exhibit,” Davis notes.)

Research shows that biofluorescence is widespread and common not only among fish amongst amphibians

To the researchers’ surprise, all the animals they tested glowed in brilliant colors. Some were green. The glow from others was more yellow. The colors glowed most strongly under blue light. Until now, scientists had seen such fluorescence only in marine turtles. The new finding suggests that this biofluorescence is widespread among amphibians.

The researchers reported their findings February 27 in Scientific Reports.

Which parts of an animal glow differ with the species, Lamb and Davis found. Yellow spots on the eastern tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) glow green under blue light. But in the marbled salamander (A. opacum), the bones and parts of its underside light up.

The researchers didn’t test what these amphibians use to glow. But they suspect the animals rely on fluorescent proteins or the pigments in some cells. If there are multiple ways they fluoresce, that would hint that the ability to glow evolved independently in different species. If not, the ancient ancestor of modern amphibians may have passed one trait on to species that are alive today.  

Fluorescence may help salamanders and frogs find one another in low light. In fact, their eyes contain cells that are especially sensitive to green or blue light.

One day, scientists might also harness the amphibians’ ability to glow. They could use special lights to search for the animals to survey their presence in the wild. That might help them see creatures that blend into their surroundings or hide in piles of leaves.

Blue poison dart frog by Zoological Consult for Getty Images

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WordPress
• YouTube
• Mail
• Mastodon

Enter your email address

Sign Up

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20

https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20

https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

#amazingAnimals #Amphibian #amphibians #animalCommunication #animalRights #biodiversity #bioluminescence #BorneanRainbowToadAnsoniaLatidisca #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #deforestation #extinction #fish #ForestRainbowfishMelanotaeniaSylvatica #ForgottenAnimals #Frog #Frogs #GlassFrog #insects #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #Parrots #reptiles #research #SavageSGlassFrogCentroleneSavagei

African Forest Elephants Help Fight Climate Change

Discover the awe-inspiring role of African forest #elephants in the Congo Basin—nature’s master gardeners who literally shape the world around them! These gentle giants roam through muddy, mineral-rich paradises called baïs, fostering the growth of carbon-absorbing trees that make our planet healthier. By tending to these unique landscapes, they are the unsung heroes in the fight against climate change. Want to ensure these ecological architects keep doing their vital work? Join the movement to protect their habitat—say no to palm oil and adopt a vegan lifestyle! 🐘🌳#BoycottPalmOil #BeVegan #Boycott4Wildlife

https://youtu.be/s584AP-BYm0?si=Zrwc5CFFjAxAqmas

Take action by sharing this!

African forest #elephants 🐘 in #Congo 🇨🇩 are essential to fighting #climatechange 🌳💚 by capturing #carbon and dispersing seeds in the rainforest. Help them every time you shop, be #vegan #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/04/28/african-forest-elephants-unsung-heroes-helping-congo-fight-climate-change/

Gentle giant pachyderms #African forest #elephants 🐘🐘 are the unsung heroes helping #climatechange. They capture #carbon in the #DRC’s 🇨🇩🌳rainforest! Help them survive with your supermarket choices #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2024/04/28/african-forest-elephants-unsung-heroes-helping-congo-fight-climate-change/

This story was written by Leonie Joubert and originally published by Mongabay on August 15, 2023 and was republished under a Creative Commons licence.

The approach to the “village of elephants” in the Sangha Rainforest in the Central African Republic must be made in complete silence. Not even the faintest rustle of backpack on rain jacket should break the soundscape as visitors wade through the sometimes waist-deep swamp at the forest’s edge. The Indigenous Ba’aka guides must be able to listen for any signs of nearby elephants, so they can steer the visitors clear and avoid a close encounter with these giants. When a few pachyderms saunter out of the dense greenery, the Ba’aka shoo them away calmly.

The thick vegetation gives way suddenly to a baï. This is no mere watering hole. The sandy clearing stretches for half a kilometer, more than a quarter of a mile, in the otherwise unbroken canopy of the world’s second-largest tropical forest.

A handful of researchers camp out on a timber observation platform, overlooking a place that has drawn generations of elephants to its mineral- and salt-laden sand and muddy water. They document how the animals use their trunks or tusks to dig into the sand, eavesdrop on the animals’ conversations, and count the many other species that congregate here.

This is Dzanga baï, a meeting place for critically endangered African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the Dzanga-Sangha Complex of Protected Areas where these animals come together in huge numbers to dig for nutrients they can’t get from the otherwise abundant forests.

Baïs are unique to the Congo Basin’s forests, and new research is underway to understand the role these mineral-rich pockets play as a supplement to the elephants’ diet, how this sustains the animals’ population, and how they therefore contribute to the carbon-capture function of the forest.

Unlike the Amazon, the Congo Basin’s forests still have their original megafauna, elephants in particular. And they have these salt-rich clearings. Conservationists are beginning to understand the importance of elephants as forest gardeners here, and how their taste for certain trees and fruits has sculpted a forest that absorbs more carbon per hectare than the Amazon.

The Global Carbon Budget project estimated Africa’s total greenhouse gas emissions for 2021 at 1.45 billion metric tons. Every year, the Congo Basin’s forests soak up 1.1 billion metric tons of atmospheric carbon, storing it in trees and soil; in 2020 carbon credit prices, this service would be worth $55 billion.

Forest elephants, smaller than their better-known savanna cousins or even Asian elephants, prefer certain lower-growing, tasty trees. This picky browsing pressure creates gaps in the canopy that allow other, less palatable but carbon-dense species to reach tremendous heights. Elephants’ appetite for the fruit of these bigger trees then means they spread their seeds far and wide.

A 2019 study from the Ndoki Forest in the Republic of Congo (ROC) and LuiKotale in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) estimated that if elephants were removed from these sites, the loss of their forest-shaping food preferences would reduce the forest’s carbon capture by 7%.

This finding makes a case not only to stop deforestation in the Congo Basin, but to protect the elephants too, as a way to slow climate breakdown, the study authors wrote.

Salt licks for elephants, gardeners of the forest

Mouangi baï is only about 250 km (155 mi) from Dzanga baï as the crow flies, but it takes a day or two to travel by road and river to get from one to the other.

Researchers with the conservation organization African Parks and Harvard University’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology are zeroing in on Mouangi and other baïs in Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the ROC, to clarify the link between baïs, elephants and the forest’s tree species composition.

Nicknamed Capitale by the locals, Mouangi baï in Odzala draws hundreds, maybe even thousands, of elephants, according to Gwili Gibbon, research and monitoring head at African Parks, which manages the park along with the ROC government.

“Mouangi is one of our largest and most renowned baïs,” Gibbon says.

At the intersection of two rivers, Mouangi is more than 1 km (0.6 mi) across and spans 91 hectares (225 acres). It’s the largest of a dozen of Odzala’s baïs that the African Parks and Harvard research collaboration is focusing on.

Odzala-Kokoua National Park extends across 1.35 million hectares (3.34 million acres), and while it has a few thousand baïs, often occurring in clusters within the forest, this ecosystem makes up only about 0.2% of the park’s footprint. Nevertheless, these clearings may be integral to the shape of the forest itself, which is why Harvard assistant professor Andrew Davies and doctoral researcher Evan Hockridge are teaming up with African Parks to understand the importance of the salty watering holes in supporting elephant populations, which then shape the forest mosaic.

The baïs are clearly a hotspot that elephants seek out for their rare minerals in an ecosystem rooted in the nutrient-poor soils typical of the region.

“The elephants use their tusks to scrape topsoil off in specific areas, and eat the finer dust on the surface,” says Hockridge, a landscape ecologist. “They also dig large mining sites or wells, as much as a meter [3 feet] deep.”

The animals’ excavations go even deeper at times, down to where water carries the salt in a more accessible form. The need to ingest the mineral-rich dust, mud and water keeps the animals returning to these sites.

But how the baïs formed in the first place — they’re present in the Congo Basin, but not in the Amazon — and why they remain clear of forest encroachment are still a mystery.

Hockridge says no one has tried to establish if the now-extinct megafauna of the Amazon once made similar clearings there, or if baï size correlates to the size of the animals visiting them.

“One hypothesis is that megafauna effectively create large, nutrient-rich, lick-like clearings. But it hasn’t been quantified that baïs are manufactured or maintained by megafauna,” he says.

The researchers say they hope to answer this puzzle: Do large mammals like elephants maintain and stabilize the baïs?

Anecdotes from the DRC might give the first glimpse of an answer, according to Harvard’s Davies.

“Baïs may be closing in the DRC, and it could be because the elephants are in a war zone, so they don’t have the big bulldozer effect,” he says.

The hypothesis is that if fewer elephants visit and maintain these clearings, the baïs will be swallowed up by the forest.

Gibbon’s African Parks team has set up experimental plots in the Odzala, where they’ve buried salt in the sand at a similar depth to which elephants excavate. Researchers are monitoring these sites to see if more animals will congregate around the plots, whether this impacts the vegetation cover in and around the baïs, and whether there’s a shift in the carbon-capture potential of the surrounding forests.

This study is centered in Odzala, although the researchers say they hope to expand the work into the Ndoki region of the Dzanga-Sangha Complex of Protected Areas.

Baïs have a busy social scene

It isn’t just elephants that congregate at the baïs. These watering holes have a bustling social scene.

Gibbon describes the flocks of African green pigeons (Treron calvus) that gather at Capitale at dawn and dusk; buffalo and several bird species that visit during daylight hours; and the hyenas that can be heard calling after dark as the elephants mine for salt.

Wildlife refuges like these in the Congo Basin are also home to the critically endangered western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), two unusual forest and swamp-dwelling antelope — the bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) and sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii) — as well as central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes), bonobos (Pan pansicus), and the endangered gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus).

The forests of Gabon, southern Cameroon and southern Central African Republic also have a high number of baïs, and the findings from these studies could eventually be extrapolated to give an idea of the implications for the Congo Basin more widely.

“The area that baïs’ cover is tiny, but they sustain the elephant population,” Davies says. “If our hypothesis is correct, without the baïs you’d have no elephants; without elephants there’s be no big trees with high carbon density, so carbon storage would go down.”

If the forest loses the baïs, it could lose more than just the elephants or see a change in its carbon-capturing treescape. The baïs would no longer draw the many other animals that thrive in these mineral-dense watering holes, and the tourists and environmental researchers drawn to them too.

Citation:

Berzaghi, F., Longo, M., Ciais, P., Blake, S., Bretagnolle, F., Vieira, S., … Doughty, C. E. (2019). Carbon stocks in central African forests enhanced by elephant disturbance. Nature Geoscience, 12(9), 725-729. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0395-6

Banner image: Elephants dig for salt-rich mud in the Dzanga baï in the Sangha Rainforest in the Central African Republic. Image courtesy Jan Teede.

This story was written by Leonie Joubert and originally published by Mongabay on August 15, 2023 and was republished under a Creative Commons licence.

ENDS

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Tucuxi Sotalia fluviatilis

Keep reading

Frill-Necked Lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii

Keep reading

Grey Crowned Crane Balearica regulorum

Keep reading

Ecuadorean Viscacha Lagidium ahuacaense

Keep reading

Southern Pudu Pudu puda

Keep reading

Blue-streaked Lory Eos reticulata

Keep reading

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WordPress
• YouTube
• Mail
• Mastodon

Enter your email address

Sign Up

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20

https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20

https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

#african #africanForestElephantLoxodontaCyclotis #amazingAnimals #animalBehaviour #animalCommunication #animalIntelligence #bantrophyhunting #bevegan #biodiversity #boycottPalmOil #boycott4wildlife #boycottpalmoil #carbon #climatechange #congo #deforestation #democracticRepublicOfCongo #drc #elephant #elephants #forgottenAnimals #mammal #pachyderm #pachyderms #palmOil #palmOilDeforestation #theDemocraticRepublicOfCongo #vegan

Chimpanzees once helped African rainforests recover from a major collapse

Most people probably think that the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest in the world, has been around for millions of years. However recent research suggests that it is mostly just 2,000 or so years old. The forest reached roughly its modern state following five centuries of regeneration after it was massively fragmented when the dry season suddenly became longer some 2,500 years ago. Help #chimpanzees to survive and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife every time you shop

https://youtu.be/aY3XduaOZ2Q

Interesting fact: Seed dispersers like #chimpanzees in the #Congo kicked off rainforest growth only 2000 years ago 🦍🙉🩷 Now they face #extinction from #mining WE SAY NO to #mining in #DRC! #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/

Weird fact: DRC #Congo #rainforests are not ancient. Just 2000 years ago #chimpanzees and other seed dispersers led to rainforest growth. Now – we MUST protect them from #mining and #palmoil! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🩸🔥💀❌ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/07/03/chimpanzees-once-helped-african-rainforests-recover-from-a-major-collapse/

This process was not linked to humans. The forest recovery was instead made possible by seed dispersers including chimpanzees, which helped spread the slower-growing rainforest tree species. However, dispersers such as chimpanzees are now threatened by deforestation and hunting, often for bushmeat. When combined with climate change, the resilience of the rainforests seems less guaranteed for the future.

I began thinking about natural processes in African forests back in 1993, when I was with my wife-to-be trying to follow wild chimpanzees next to Jane Goodall’s famous group at Gombe, in Tanzania. We were inspired by one of the directors of research at Gombe, Anthony Collins, who suggested that the chimpanzees might be influencing the composition of the forest for their own nutritional needs, by what fruits they pooed out and where. A kind of “proto gardening”.

And then unexpectedly I had to leave the chimpanzees after I succeeded in getting a small grant to study past vegetation change using fossilised pollen, but in the Andes.

A few years later, I found myself giving lectures at Cambridge on human impacts over the past 10,000 years, and suddenly “returning” not only to the tropical rainforests of Africa, but their history. At the time, scientists thought humans were largely responsible for the collapse of the forests from 3,000 years ago.

The first few scientific papers I read used the abundance of pollen from the oil palm tree, preserved in the dated layers of lake muds, as an indicator of human activity. The oil palm is the same species often planted on a massive industrial scale in the tropics today, and since it’s always been an important source of nutrition for people in the region, scientists had assumed it indicated the presence of humans.

Shortly after, I began working in a pollen laboratory in Montpellier in southern France which had a long-term focus on African forest history. There, my simplified view of fossilised oil palm pollen equalling the presence of humans was totally overturned.

Rainforest history records were being amassed that indicated the near-decimation of rainforests some 2,500 years ago in the Congo Basin and across a huge expanse stretching from modern-day Senegal to Rwanda. As there was only very limited archaeological evidence of thinly dispersed human populations, humans could not have been responsible for the almost synchronous destruction on such a huge scale.

Africa hosts the world’s second largest rainforest

So what did cause these rainforests to collapse? It turns out the answer was not humans, but climate change.

In a paper recently published in the journal Global Planetary Change, my colleagues Pierre Giresse, Jean Maley and I use the many vegetation records available across central and west Africa to show that approximately 2,500 years ago, the length of the dry season increased. Rainforests became highly fragmented, and savanna vegetation – grasses, scattered shrubs and trees – moved in.

In the centuries that followed, the forests regenerated spontaneously, including with species such as the oil palm. The oil palm demands a lot of light and so thrives in open areas or in the gaps created in forests when the canopy opens up rather than in the dense centre. Thus it often acts as a “pioneer species” allowing the forest to regrow.

But the oil palm’s large seeds are too heavy to be blown in the wind. They therefore need to be dispersed in the poo of animals such as chimpanzees which are able to swallow the large seeds and for whom the bright orange flesh can be an important part of the diet. And this is how chimps and other seed-dispersers played a crucial role in regenerating Africa’s rainforests.

Seed dispersers under threat

When we began this research, we could not see how relevant it would become during the current pandemic. Now climate change, deforestation and hunting are all heavily impacting those same forests. The bushmeat market is contributing to removing keystone species such as chimpanzees. Without animals to move seeds around – especially the largest and heaviest seeds – the natural composition and regeneration of forests is threatened.

At the turn of the 20th century there were around 1 million chimpanzees, but today only an estimated 172,000-300,000 remain in the wild. Chimps and other seed-dispersing species provide a valuable service and must be better protected in order to protect the forests themselves, and prevent further unforeseen impacts.

For example, the transmission of diseases to humans has also been linked to the bushmeat trade. And transmission is not necessarily one way. In June 1996, three years after my wife and I left the chimps at Mitumba in Gombe National Park, possibly up to half the group died within a few days of a respiratory disease outbreak that was likely transmitted to them by humans.

Perhaps there is a lot more resilience in these tropical forest ecosystems than we can predict. But without chimpanzees and other animals as dispersers, the emptier forests that may eventually grow back would be a sad replacement. Maybe we need to consider the true value of chimp poo, and those that produce it.

Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Associate Researcher, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group, University of Cambridge

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Boycott the brands causing deforestation for palm oil, soy and meat by joining the #Boycott4Wildlife

#Africa #AfricanNews #amazingAnimals #animalExtinction #Ape #apes #Boycott4wildlife #Boycott4WildlifeTweet #BoycottPalmOil #ChimpanzeePanTroglodytes #Chimpanzees #Congo #CriticallyEndangeredSpecies #DRC #extinction #intelligence #Mammal #mining #Notomining #palmoil #Primate #primates #primatology #rainforests #SeedDispersers

What’s my name? How wild parrots identify their young

Ground-breaking research has found that wild parrots teach their chicks unique sound signatures so that they can identify their parents. We are only just scratching the surface of knowledge about these immensely intelligent non-human beings, protect them! Be #Vegan and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

It’s not just humans and #dolphins who use unique sounds 🔊🪇🎶 to connect with their young. #Birds like #parrots also teach their chicks unique sounds so that they can identify their mothers 🦜🎵🥁🦜 #Boycott4Wildlife to protect them! @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/05/19/whats-my-name-how-wild-parrots-identify-their-young/

https://youtu.be/DYpH5Y-JPBU

Humans and dolphins create unique sounds by which individuals are identified and there was some evidence to suggest captive parrots created ‘contact calls’ – special calls used to identify family and friends. But until now, it was not clear how or if this naming process worked in nature.

To test whether contact calls were innate or learned from parents, researchers from Cornell University and the University of California in the U.S. took eggs from the nests of wild green-rumped parrotlets (Forpus passerinus) and swapped them with eggs from other wild wild green-rumped parrotlet nests. Twelve nests were used in the swapping experiment.

Eight additional nests served as controls, where the eggs were removed but then put back without swapping.

By observing the chicks’ development through video and audio rigs, the scientists saw that the young parrots used the contact calls of their adoptive parents.

This suggests that the names used to identify them were learned, rather than hard-wired by DNA from their biological parents, the authors said.

“Our results provide the first experimental evidence for learned vocal production by naive parrots in nature. Nestling contact calls were more similar to the contact calls of their primary care-givers than to adults at other nests, despite half of the nestlings being raised by foster parents,” the authors wrote in their paper, which was published by the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B.

Sunanda Creagh, Editor, The Conversation. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

https://youtu.be/CuXNcV-7c2s

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WordPress
• YouTube
• Mail
• Mastodon

Enter your email address

Sign Up

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20

https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20

https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

#AfricanGreyParrot #amazingAnimals #animalBehaviour #AnimalBiodiversityNews #animalCommunication #animalIntelligence #Bird #birds #Birdsong #BlueBackedParrotTanygnathusEveretti #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #conservation #dolphins #Parrot #Parrots #songbird #songbirds #TimnehParrotPsittacusTimneh #vegan #wildlife