article thumbnail

Book Review: Spillover – Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

10,000 Birds

He introduces ideas and slowly builds on them, staring with the outbreak of Hendra in people and horses in Queensland before moving the story to his own experiences of great ape die-off when he was covering Michael Fay’s Megatransect in the Congo Basin. The disease had killed a tourist like ourselves.

Humane 160
article thumbnail

The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

Marabous have also learnt another trick, and that is to follow vultures and scavenge off the remains of Lion and other large predator kills. They have even been known to kill children who have been incautious enough to approach too closely. They are also attracted by fires and can gather in thousands.

Africa 230
article thumbnail

Birding the Kruger Park (5): Pafuri area part 1

10,000 Birds

One study found that birds living in Botswana had elevated levels of lead in their bloodstreams during hunting season, presumably coming from lead bullets used on animals killed by hunters. For example, this study showed that Malachite Kingfishers spent more time hunting in locations with more fish. ” (HBW).

Elephants 147