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New Zealand, Australia to Conduct Whale Research Too

Critter News

New Zealand and Australia are joining forces to carry out research on whales using non-lethal methods, in an attempt to challenge Japan's hunting programme. The scientists hope their research will help to disprove Japan's claims that whales have to be killed if they are to be properly studied. It's non-lethal.

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The Feast of Stephen

10,000 Birds

It’s Christmas Bird Count season, and if you know Christmas Bird Counts you have probably heard the tale of how Frank Chapman invented this winter tradition to replace the older and considerably less optimal for birds tradition of the Christmas side hunt. And in Ireland, well… In Ireland they killed Wrens. Or does it?

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Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Laughing Owl, 1909, New Zealand, photo taken by Cuthbert and Oliver Parr, pp. The Laughing Owl of New Zealand exhibited an apparent lack of fear of strangers and a propensity to spend time on the ground, making it easy pickings for introduced predators. And, they are fascinating. The photographs were never published.

Animal 269
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Book Review: Spillover – Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

10,000 Birds

The disease had killed a tourist like ourselves. The bacteria that laid me low earlier this year is a zoonosis, causing problems for New Zealand’s endemic seals as well as visitors to Borneo. Hunting, the bush meat trade, habitat loss, population increases, they all have a part to play in this story.

Humane 162
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When conservation and animal rights collide

10,000 Birds

This is a very serious business here in New Zealand. New Zealand has been the recipient of a higher than average number of introduced species, in particular a range of mammals from elk to mice. The initial solution in New Zealand was to move species to islands where mammals hadn’t reached.

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Sperm Whales in Kaikoura

10,000 Birds

Sperm Whales feed deep, diving to the bottom of the trench, hunting for a while, then rising again to catch a breath. The boat moves quickly past interesting things; Northern Giant Petrels , Buller’s Shearwaters , White-capped Albatrosses , New Zealand Fur Seals (I understand they will pause to see dolphins).

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Some thoughts on scientific collecting

10,000 Birds

The species was in the news because some scientists had finally managed (or bothered – it’s much the same thing) to locate the population high in the mountains of the Solomon Islands, and catch and photograph one. New Zealand Bitterns. I’m not going to rehash the arguments for scientific collecting here.