10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. What is surprising is quite how many species did end up here, and how economically unimportant they were.

New Zealand 161

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 161

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2012

Whether or not species are lifers or not in Asia for me is actually something of a guess, as my note-taking when I visited the region 10 years earlier could charitably be described as sloppy, and while I have some lists I lost a lot of sighting.

New Zealand 138

New Zealand Fur Malaysia Woodpeckers 138

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2013

This was the local name meaning “ugly” used for these primates by the people of the Gonder area in northern Ethiopia when the German naturalist Rüppell “discovered” this species for science in the 1830’s. Males sport a larger heart-shaped bare batch encircled by pale fur, that shows off their dominance status. Photo by Adam Riley.

Ethiopia 159

Ethiopia Primates Mammals Fur 159

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

I wondered what in the world he’d brought back and discovered the wet ball of fur was a very young bunny. Harvard University psychologist Marc Hauser observed what could be called embarrassment in a male rhesus monkey. Stories about animals rescuing members of their own and other species, including humans, abound.

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100