I HAVE indeed news of a wide range of creatures with which we share the planet. First up, for the first time in 200 years wolves are roaming wild in Denmark.
A report from Copenhagen says a pack of five wolves has been spotted in the sparsely populated West Jutland region, probably having migrated from Germany nearly 500 kilometres away.
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Wolves in Europe were hunted to virtual extinction in the 19th century, the last wolf in Denmark was shot in 1813. Successful re-introduction programmes mean that there are now about 12,000 wolves in Europe.*
Something of a jump in the imagination here – a team of researchers at the University of Basle in Switzerland has calculated that the world’s spiders are enthusiastic predators, consuming about 800-million tons of prey food a year, meaning spiders are making an essential contribution to maintaining the ecological balance of nature.
They eat anything from insects to frogs, lizards and even small mammals. It is understood that we humans, all seven-billion of us, eat about half the amount of protein eaten by spiders. You may want to ponder that next time you find a spider in the house.*
And now to sea. It’s reported that the once critically endangered North Sea cod has made an ‘astounding’ recovery and is about to become freely available again, best, though, is that it is to be given the much sought after eco-certification badge.
The London Telegraph says that cod, the traditional component of British fish’n chips, was hugely over-fished at one stage, but that remedial action by the British authorities saved the day, following the failure of a European Union plan to save the species. The Telegraph says that the North Sea cod could become a major industry again in light of an imminent Brexit.
Another leap of the imagination as I report on those old favourites, dinosaurs. The biggest dinosaur footprint ever found, big enough for an adult human to lie down in, has been found in a remote corner of Western Australia. The print is 1.75 metres from toe to heel.
Palaeontologists from the University of Queensland say the owner of the print, a herbivore, would have stood 5.4 metres tall at the hips and wandered around Australia some 300-million years ago. And it was not alone, as the prints of at least 21 species of dinosaurs, including huge carnivores, have been found in the same area.*
And finally, in a sad piece of irony to mark World Animal Day, that great English artist and conservationist, David Shepherd, has died at the age of 86. David devoted much of his life to the conservation cause, including right here in southern Africa, and he was here often to promote conservation.
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I came to know him quite well through interviews with him and when we spoke of endangered animals and the threats they faced, he would thump his chest and say, “We, us humans, are the most dangerous animal on the planet!” David will be sorely missed, but his conservation work and his art will ensure that his legacy lives on.**
*The Week: The Best of the British and Foreign Media. **Save the Elephants News Service.
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