BBC Wildlife - Survivor

SPRING

2022
Issue 05 Vol 40

discoverwildlife.com

Britain’s
grasshoppers
bounce back

Backyard bears
in Romania

How dogs help
conservation

Wildlife
photography

pioneers

EARLY
BIRDS

YODUARWGNUICDHEOTROUTSHE

SURVIVOR

Why the jaguar is now thriving in Brazil’s Pantanal

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Homemade tipples

COVER: ANDY ROUSE/NATUREPL.COM; THIS PAGE: ADDER: NPL/GETTY; DHOLE: GETTY; WOOD WARBLER: DAVID TIPLING/NPL Homemade tipples The dawn chorus
is worth getting up
We’ve provided facts and extra for, as Mike Dilger
reading with many of the wildlife testifies on p32

words to help you learn more For me, the dawn chorus acts
as nature’s wake-up call
Play Wordle – the
BBC Wildlife way! PAUL McGUINNESS, EDITOR

Are you addicted to the Our cover feature this month (p40) reveals how
new word-based online changing attitudes to jaguars in Brazil’s Pantanal
game? So are we. And we holds the key to their survival. Local children
couldn’t help but think were always excluded from the sort of wildlife
up wildlife-themed ve- experiences that see ecotourists flock to the
letter words to try… You region, resulting in them seeing these majestic cats as ugly,
can nd out all about this smelly and dangerous. Perspective is key.
quiz craze, along with
an alphabetical list of This got me thinking about how formative wildlife experiences
animal, plant and nature go a long way to informing our view of the nature on our
words on our website: doorsteps. It’s easy to take the familiar for granted.
discoverwildlife.com.
With all that’s going on in the world at the moment, I’ve
Keep in touch increasingly found that it’s simple things, like buds bursting into
life on the trees where birds belt out
[email protected] their dawn chorus (p32), that bring me
instagram.com/bbcwildlifemagazine comfort and hope. At this time of year,
twitter.com/WildlifeMag nature waking from its winter slumber
facebook.com/wildlifemagazine fills me with life.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 3

Paul McGuinness

Jo Price Richard Eccleston
Sarah McPherson Tom Gilks
Catherine Smalley - Megan Shersby
Aoife Glass
Carys Matthews Andy Cowles
Tanya Jackson

Nick Baker, Claude Balcaen, Rob Banino, Simon Birch, Stuart Blackman, Paul Bloomfield, Simon Booth, Gillian Burke,
Will Burrard-Lucas, Jo Caird, JV Chamary, Sienna Channell, David Chapman, Jordi Chias, Brandon Cole, Lucy Cooke, Stephen Dalton,

Paul Harcourt Davies, Mike Dilger, Lisa Duerden, Holly Exley, Laurent Geslin, Edwin Giesbers, Doug Gimesy, Isabelle Groc,
Shane Gross, Ben Hall, Jamie Hall, Dave Hamilton, James Hanlon, Victoria Harrison, Ben Hoare, Ross Hoddinott, Paul van Hoof,
David Hup, Alex Hyde, Laurie Jackson, Adam Jacot de Boinod, Richard Jones, Sebastian Kennerknecht, Roger Key, David Lindo,
Doug Loynes, Archie McGuinness, Matthew Maran, Jonathan Martin, Bence Mate, Alex Mustard, Michiel van Noppen, Henrique Olson,
Marsel van Oosten, Pete Oxford, Gemma Padley, Toni Pfa enbauer, Jenny Price, J. Ritterbach, Jonne Roriz, Andy Rouse, Joel Sartore,

Peter David Scott, Andre Simon, Oliver Smart, Richard Smyth, Wanda Sowry, Ben Stansall, Kenny Taylor, David Tipling,
Markus Varesvuo, James Warwick, Sta an Widstrand, Shannon Wild, Leoma Williams, Rod Williams

Our Media, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST
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[email protected] - Charles Thurlow
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Marc Hay 0117 300 8758 Nicholas Brett ,
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[email protected] Alasdair Cross ,
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Laurence Robertson 00353 876 902208 Bill Lyons , ,,
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[email protected] Mary Blanchard ,

Emma Brunt 0117 300 8979

[email protected]

Tim Hudson

Andy Marshall
Andrew Davies

Rob Brock
Rosa Sherwood
Lara Von Weber

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4 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

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Spr.
BBC W N . 05 V . 40

THE COVER 56 BEAR: DAVID HUP & MICHIEL VAN NOPPEN; GRASSHOPPER: PAUL VAN HOOF/BUITEN BEELD/ALAMY;
FLYING SQUIRREL: STEPHEN DALTON/NPL; PUFFIN: GETTY
Andy Rouse watched this jaguar The natural forest habitat of Romania’s bears is reducing
walk along the riverbank before
it stopped and sniffed this big
tree. He says, “It stretched out
up the bark with its fearsome
claws showing. That is when
I took this shot.” Andy used
a Canon EOS R, 100-400mm,
1/1250th sec at f5.6, ISO800.

Every month, only in BBC Wildlife

NICK BAKER GILLIAN BURKE MARK CARWARDINE LUCY COOKE MIKE DILGER
“Female greater bee-flies
catapult their eggs at The Autumnwatch host on Our outspoken columnist Duelling female topi Rise early to make the
the burrow entrances how childhood play can will return with his views antelopes compete for a most of the dawn chorus
of solitary bees” P.36 spark a lifelong fascination in the June issue (on sale prime bull and aren’t shy as birds kick-start their
with the natural world P.17 2nd June) about their desires P.27 breeding season P.32
6 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

08 Wild Times 50

Catch up with all the latest Large marsh grasshoppers are making a comeback in East Anglia
developments and discoveries
making headlines in the world DiscoverMORE
of wildlife
Flying 82 Q&A
32 Early birds squirrels
glow pink What’s the largest owl?
Mike Dilger reveals why now is the p82
best time to experience a musical 88 Go Wild
feast like no other
Get the lowdown on
36 Hidden Britain Dynasties II and meet
the team behind the
Nick Baker introduces a harbinger new Disney+ film about a
of spring – the greater bee-fly – female polar bear
a parasitoid as well as a pollinator
91 ID Guide
40 Cover feature:
jaguars in the Pantanal How to identify violets

Following the 2020 wildfires, these 94 Photo Club
big cats are miraculously surviving
and thriving in Brazil’s wetland This month’s competition

50 Britain’s grasshoppers 99 Crossword
bounce back
Plus Spot the Difference
Citizen scientists are reversing
the fortunes of the large 100 Your Letters
marsh grasshopper through
a reintroduction project Join the debate

56 Backyard bears 106 Tales from the Bush
in Romania
Searching for a small insect
Romania’s brown bears are in the scorching Sydney sun
increasingly venturing into towns
and villages in search of food

66 How dogs help
conservation

Dogs are increasingly being used
to protect the environment and
threatened species

74 Wildlife photography
pioneers

How the first wildlife photographers
captured their images without
today’s cameras to rely on

DON’T MISS...

Atlantic puffin
pairs enjoying
a spot of mutual
preening and
bill-tapping
Page 18

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 7

EDWIN GIESBERS/NATUREPL.COMWhat’s happening right now

HELLO SPRING!

Nothing says spring quite like
an orange-tip butterfly. Common
and widespread, there’s a good
chance of finding one in gardens
or along hedgerows across the
UK right now. This year, why
not make a habit of recording
your sightings on Butterfly
Conservation’s free iRecord
Butterflies app? Your data will
help their work preserving
precious sights like these for the
next generation of wildlife lovers.

8 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 9

10 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

SHANE GROSS/NATUREPL.COM Hiding in
the long
grass

Hungry humans pose
a risk to the Caribbean’s
prized queen conch

Tlooking out anxiously for the hand of
a free diver. The sought-after meat is
so popular here in its Bahamas home
and in the USA that there are fears
overfishing will cause the population
to crash within 10 years if nothing is done.

These herbivorous sea molluscs live in
seagrass beds close to coral reefs and use
their large proboscis to graze on algae and
dead plant matter found on the swaying
green blades. They can survive up to 30 years
and once fully grown will focus on thickening
their shells against non-human predators
such as sea turtles and nurse sharks.

In fact, the shells are a useful indicator of
age and – as only adult conches can be legally
fished – conservationists have recommended
that only those with at least a 15mm flared
lip be taken, to allow the conch enough time
to reproduce. It’s one of several suggestions,
including banning the export of the shellfish.
But for now, the queen conch has good
reason to appear worried.

MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER

“Beauty still exists

underwater”

Canadian underwater photographer
Shane Gross spotted this queen conch
among seagrass while free diving off
Eleuthera in the Bahamas. “Both species
are in trouble and seagrass
is falling victim to a
number of human-
made problems,”
he says. “But
this image
is a lovely
reminder
that beauty
still exists
underwater
and it’s worth
fighting for.”

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 11

ADDERS: OLIVER SMART; AERIAL: BEN STANSALL/AFP/GETTY; Rise
ORCHID: PAUL HARCOURT DAVIES/NPL; MATT: HELEN SHARDLOW
and

shine

A er waking from a
winter of hibernation,
an adder’s rst job is to
shed its old skin and
reveal a shiny new one

Mhibernation underground in
March and April – increasingly
as early as February – roused
by the rising air temperatures.
They moult their drab old skin,
revealing a brighter one underneath, then
spend early spring sunning themselves
to get into breeding condition. When the
females wake up several weeks later, the
males are soon on their tail. Sometimes,
well-matched rivals enact the ‘Dance of the
Adders’. In this ritual wrestling, two males
entwine and try to force their opponent to
the ground, in order to win mating rights.

Beautiful, shy and elusive, adders are
not what most people expect. They’re not
even the largest snake in Britain – that’s
the grass snake (Ireland, famously, is
snakeless). Adders do possess venom,
a neurotoxin for despatching voles and
mice, but hardly ever bite humans. Fewer
than 100 proven bites are recorded in the
country each year, mostly due to people
stepping on or harassing basking snakes,
or trying to retrieve off-the-lead dogs that
have got too close. The last human fatality
was in 1975 – you’re more likely to die from
an accident while taking a selfie. Ben Hoare

12 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Two male common adders
wrestle in an attempt to
secure mating rights before
the females emerge from
their hibernation

The Swanscombe
peninsula is home to
threatened species
such as the man
orchid (below right)

TV studios break ties
with Kent theme park

BBC and ITV pull out of the controversial London
Resort that would destroy a key wildlife site

Aand wildlife groups have of the environmental harm this
welcomed the decision by BBC misplaced theme park would
Studios and ITV Studios to cause and its commitment to
withdraw their support for the have no future involvement.
London Resort, a theme park
planned for north Kent that would have “It’s great that BBC Studios
a devastating impact on a nationally has also withdrawn from the
important wildlife site. scheme, although a long-term
commitment to never become
The Swanscombe peninsula, by the involved would fit better with
River Thames in Dartford, is a refuge for its image and environmental
some of the UK’s most threatened plants sustainability claims.”
and animals, including the endangered
jumping spider and the man orchid. The UK government’s
Planning Inspectorate is now
The theme park was due to feature examining the next stage of the
rides inspired by hit ITV and BBC shows. planning process. Simon Birch
Commenting on the decision, a BBC
Studios spokesperson said: “BBC Studios Matt Shardlow welcomes the
has no commercial agreement in place move by ITV and the BBC
with London Resort and no current
plans to enter into any agreement. We
would only consider doing so should
there be clear and decisive evidence that
the project would have a net positive
environmental impact.”

In response, Matt Shardlow,
chief executive of Buglife, said: “We
welcome ITV Studios’ full recognition

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 13

Shark meat
found in pet food

Consumers in South-East Asia are unwittingly feeding
endangered sharks to their cats and dogs due to poor labelling

Apet foods contain meat from says Ben Wainwright, co-author of the informed consumer choice will only be
endangered sharks. study from Yale-NUS College in Singapore. possible if product labelling is improved,”
Inspired by a 2019 US study says Ali Hood from the Shark Trust.
that found shark meat in pet “The majority of pet owners are
food, scientists investigated likely lovers of nature and we think most Nicole Paley, deputy chief executive of
whether there was shark DNA would be alarmed to discover that they the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association
in 45 pet food products from could be unknowingly contributing to the says UK pet owners should have no
16 brands on sale in Singapore. overfishing of shark populations,” he adds. concerns: “The [pet food] products in
Of the 144 samples taken, 31 per cent question were for sale on the Asian market
contained shark DNA, most of which came Overfishing has devastated global shark and there’s nothing to suggest that any of
from blue, silky and whitetip reef sharks. populations, which have declined by more these are likely to find their way onto the
than 70 per cent in the last 50 years. UK market. The fish used by the [UK] pet
The populations of the silky shark food industry are byproducts sourced
and the whitetip reef shark are listed as While it is known that global demand
vulnerable according to the International for shark fins and meat is driving this from fish that are caught for
Union for Conservation of Nature. decline, the use of shark products in human consumption.”
pet food and cosmetics is often Simon Birch
“None of the products listed shark as overlooked. For example, shark
an ingredient, using only generic catch-all liver oil or squalene is used in Ali Hood of the Shark Trust
terms such as ‘fish’, ‘ocean fish’, ‘white bait’ some beauty products. says better labelling is
or ‘white fish’ to describe their contents,” needed so people know
“Shark meat and other what they’re buying
derivatives are widely and
increasingly being used, and

14 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Dartford warbler
numbers are

increasing after they
crashed in the 1960s

Singing in the gorse

Ignore the name. To nd Dartford warblers, and enjoy
their springtime singing, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

MD lowland heaths along England’s south coast SHARK: JORDI CHIAS/NATUREPL.COM; WARBLER: SIMON BOOTH; SPONGES: ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUT
seen singing from the tops of and in East Anglia.
heathland gorse bushes during the
mornings of April and May. They As Stephen Moss points out in his book
look superb in spring sunshine amid on bird names, Mrs Moreau’s Warbler, the
the yellow gorse blossom. Dartford Dartford warbler got its name by chance. In
warblers are among several insectivorous April 1783, the amateur ornithologist John
birds, including goldcrests and long-tailed Latham shot a pair of unfamiliar warblers
tits, that are hit hard by freezing winters, on Bexley Heath. The species was new to
but are benefitting from climate change. For science, but bizarrely, he opted to name it
now, though, their stronghold is restricted to after the Kentish town – a place where these
birds may never have been seen or heard. BH

IN BRIEF The Arctic sponges FACT.
feed on fossilised
Fossil feast worm tubes Most snakes
lay a number
Meat from the vulnerable silky A community of sponges has of eggs, but
shark was found in pet food been discovered feeding on the world’s
products on sale in Singapore the remains of extinct species smallest snake,
underneath Arctic sea ice. the Barbados
Nature Communications threadsnake,
reports that the sponges, only lays one at
which may be hundreds a time, which is
of years old, live off the just une ouef.
fossilised tubes of worms that
lived in the region thousands discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 15
of years ago, when the waters
were fertilised by submarine
volcanic activity.

Adult great diving The beetle
beetles are up to 3cm
long and the larvae with a bite
are even bigger,
growing up to cm, Great diving beetles will
with powerful jaws for eat tadpoles and even
hunting tadpoles (inset) small sh come spring

G,
they can resemble miniature turtles
as they row across a pond. Their legs
are flattened as paddles, especially
the hind legs, which also have a fringe
of long hairs to increase their surface
area. The gold borders to the thorax and
abdomen are also eye-catching.

You might see one of these beetles as
it surfaces to breathe, drawing fresh air
through its rear end.

As might be expected from their size,
great diving beetles are able to tackle

fairly substantial prey. The adults
like to feed on tadpoles and other
aquatic insects. The larvae are, if
anything, even more impressive
hunters, thanks to their
enormous curved jaws. They
stalk and stab prey, then
inject digestive enzymes
before hoovering the slop
out of their liquefied victims.
It’s not just frog and newt
tadpoles on the menu: adult
newts are too, as are small fish
such as minnows. BH

ORIGIN With shovel-like MOLE: GETTY; BEETLE: SIMON BOOTH; TADPOLE: ROGER KEY
paws tipped with
OF PIECES pickaxe-like claws,
the European mole
AN ANATOMICAL MISCELLANY is ideally equipped
to break up and
A mole’s paws move lots of soil

If you’re going to spend your life digging
tunnels, you’d better have a good shovel.
Moles have them in spades – well, two
anyway. Their massive, clawed front paws
are built for excavation. Evolution has even
transformed one of their wrist bones into
an extra ‘thumb’ to help the moles shift soil
in bulk. Moles aren’t the only mammals to
have a false thumb fashioned from a wrist
bone. A similar structure also helps giant
pandas grip bamboo, so they can more easily
handle the stems they break off to eat.
Stuart Blackman

16 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

’ Childhood play
been a catch-all wellness phrase and exploration
but a matter of life and death. can spark a lifelong
Our ancestors were most probably relationship with
uber-stressed with the constant the natural world
threat of mishap, disease or just
generally dying young so, the logic Gillian Burke stars in
goes, we should be grateful for The Watches. Catch
them on iPlayer.
Nthe safety, comfort and longevity
OPINION
that modern life brings. I am certainly
not going to argue with that, but has the GILLIAN BURKE
pendulum swung so far now that we have
almost completely lost sight of what nature “Could we lose the thread of nature
connection actually means? connection in just a few generations?”

VICTORIA HARRISON We are prepared to accept that removing like, felt like, smelt like and even tasted like. bank built up through childish play, the
or restricting an animal’s access to a natural There is no question, I knew that tree. experience lacks fluency. It feels a bit like
environment is going to cause distress or nature connection as a second language.
depression but when it comes to our own In Kenya, the Kikuyu people call it
species, it seems we need convincing. Look mukinduri. Kew calls it the ‘generous tree’ for There have been an estimated 7,500
up nature deficit disorder on your favourtie all its many traditional uses. It was never my generations since fully modern humans
search engine and it will turn up study after tree to name, but it was certainly a generous arrived on the scene 150,000 years ago.
study affirming what we ought to already teacher. Six-year-old me saw the tree as part Could we really lose the thread of nature
know – clean fresh air, sunlight, a wash of of the motley crew of sentient beings that connection in just a few generations?
birdsong, the whisper of the wind through called the same place I lived home. Not if we move heaven and earth to make
leaves – all these things are demonstrably sure children can play again in nature
good for us. This connection with nature was with nothing but their natural curiosity,
interrupted when my family left Kenya when imagination and maybe a few handy field
You will know by now that I love to I was 10. I spent many years virtually plant guides. It feels like an impossible dream
reminisce about my childhood days growing blind, but I learned again. I know more plant until I remind myself, all it takes is just
up in Kenya running footloose and device- names for British plants than I do anywhere one tree.
free. Between the thorns and siafu (the else, but without that multisensory memory
marauding driver ants that could stop play in
an instant), I got to know the many moods of
nature. The same sun that gently started the
day, could cook up thunderstorms that would
have me terrified as our home shook.

Through it all stood a vast tree with
low hanging limbs that lifted me up into
its irresistible maze of branches. It was a
superb climbing tree. I called it the monkey-
nut tree but, in writing this column, I have
only now discovered its scientific name,
Croton megalocarpus. It is an upper forest
canopy tree that reaches 40m or more. It is
a great soil improver, owing to its ability to
fix nitrogen, and its dense crown of large
oblong leaves provides excellent shade cover
– something our five dogs, one cat, Jogoo the
rooster, Paulina the rescued vervet monkey,
my Dad’s car and I would have all attested to.

I may not have known its name, but I
knew the pungent peppery smell released
when I scratched the bark. The structures
that protect the leaves, which I now know
to be called trichomes, formed a beautiful,
downy yellow fur that was so soft to touch. I
remember how the fleshy seed coating would
get stuck under my nails as I scraped it to
reveal the dark seed case beneath. Even to
this day, I can tell you what that tree looked

The Wildlife Trusts are
rewilding nature-depleted
neighbourhoods through the
Nextdoor Nature campaign.
Visit wildlifetrusts.org.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 17

After a long winter
spent apart, a pair of
puffins will greet each
other with bill-tapping

PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

By April, the breeding season is in full swing at the UK’s cli top
pu nries. Atlantic pu ns pair up for life and invest a lot of time
in mutual preening and bill-tapping, showing each other great
a ection. Conservationists will be crossing their fingers for the
birds to have a good year, but fear the UK could lose most of its
nesting pu ns over the next three decades due to climate change.

18 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Alexandra’s refuge
pods provide
shelter to native
animals left
vulnerable as a
result of wildfires

PUFFIN: DAVID CHAPMAN; FLY TRAP: PAUL STAROSTA/GETTY; PLATYPUS: DOUG GIMESY/NATUREPL.COM; ALEXANDRA & PODS: SIENNA CHANNELL/WWF AUSTRALIA Platypus defend themselves using MEET THE SCIENTIST
the venomous spurs on their ankles
Alexandra Carthey
10 venomous
animals The wildlife researcher creating biodegradable
at-pack homes for animals following bush res
Venomous animals directly deliver toxins
using specialised body parts TA BS “Bandicoots, native rodents and even
pygmy possums are already interacting with
1 BOX JELLYFISH Some species produce of 2019-2020 cloaked Sydney in smoke the pods,” she says. Burnt and unburnt sites
incredibly strong toxins that can stop a with and without pods are being compared in
human heart for weeks, burning huge areas of native the hope that greater numbers and diversity
of species will be seen at sites with pods.
2 GILA MONSTER This lizard’s venom is bushland. Wildlife researcher at Macquarie Experiments will also investigate how to
a fairly mild neurotoxin optimise the spatial layout of the pods.
University Alexandra Carthey knew that
3 FUNNEL WEB SPIDER Produces a “At the moment, we’re just trying to ensure
potent venom that’s toxic to humans cats and foxes would be picking off any that wildlife use them, that they’ll biodegrade
and other primates in the desired timeframe, and that they don’t
surviving animals whose homes had all inhibit vegetation recovery,” Alexandra says.
4 CONE SNAIL Venom varies in potency “If we can show that they work, we could
but is also used to create a painkiller been incinerated. That’s where her idea for have them going out into burnt habitats as
soon as the flames are extinguished.”
5 STONEFISH Venomous sting comes emergency refuges for wildlife came from. Jo Price
from the spines on this fish’s dorsal fin
“I really enjoy using science to answer
6 INLAND TAIPAN Considered to be the questions about the natural world,” says
most venomous snake in the world Alexandra. “After a few false starts at
university, studying first creative writing,
7 PLATYPUS Has the remarkable ability then French and psychology, I was lucky
to defend itself with venom-delivering enough to have inspiring lecturers that
ankle spurs got me interested in animal ecology and
vertebrate zoology.”
8 SLOW LORIS They activate their venom
by combining an oil secreted by the To design her habitat pods, the scientist
brachial gland on the upper arm with collaborated with Alex Goad of Reef
their saliva Design Lab. The first pods were deployed
in November 2021 as part of a world-first
9 SHREW Venom flows from a specialised research project at North Head Sanctuary
duct at the base of their incisors and near Sydney, supported by Australian
along grooves in their teeth Wildlife Conservancy, WWF, Aussie Ark, and
the New South Wales National Parks and
10 EUROPEAN MOLE Like shrews, moles Wildlife Service.
use a toxic saliva to paralyse their prey
“We were looking for sites where The flat-pack pods are secured to the ground
IN BRIEF prescribed [controlled] burns had gotten using biodegradable tent pegs
out of control and burnt too hot and too
Proteins help Venus far,” explains Alexandra. Her aim is to
flytraps catch prey help ground-dwelling fauna, such as native
mammals, reptiles and even, possibly, birds.
Touch sensitive

The 3D structure of a protein channel
named Flycatcher1 may enable the
Venus flytrap to catch prey, reports
Nature Communications. By studying
mechanosensitive ion channels
(tunnels that span the membranes
of cells), scientists have learnt more
about how these proteins can sense
force and translate it into action.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 19

The high strength Seen that nose
of the noble false anywhere before?
widow’s webbing
allows it to catch NEW SPECIES DISCOVERY
bats leaving the
roost (inset) Tapir frog

Bat-eating spider WHAT IS IT? TAPIR FROG: GERMÁN CHÁVEZ; SPIDER & BAT: BEN WADDAMS
Like other fossorial (burrowing) species,
Invasive noble false widows have been observed the newly described Synapturanus
catching bats emerging from their roosts in England danta was not easy to find. The frog
was discovered in Peru by researchers
T- the roof and a false widow had slung its web undertaking a ‘rapid inventory’ biological
spiders, but according to new across the exit. “One morning, I noticed a record for Chicago’s Field Museum.
observations, we now have one pup trapped in the web,” he says. “It was Researchers spend only a few days at each
capable of tackling other warm- partly wrapped in threads and shrivelled, so site for rapid inventories and came across
blooded flying animals. I wondered if it had been bitten.” a juvenile frog during their first night
The noble false widow spider has exploring an area of Amazonian peatland.
spread widely throughout Britain and Ireland Two days later he found a second Further detection work was required to
since its arrival, probably from the Canaries, entangled bat – this one an adult. “It was identify calls and track down two adult
in 1879. Although not aggressive, this close clearly alive and well, so I took it out of the males. Analysis revealed that the three
relative of the black widow can deliver a web and it crawled back into its roost.” frogs were from an undescribed species.
painful bite to humans. But now it has been
documented preying on pipistrelle bats. Waddams’ observations were confirmed WHERE IS IT?
and published in the journal Ecosphere by The tapir frog was found in peatlands in
Ben Waddams made biologists at the National University of the Putumayo Basin of Peru, a rare and
the observations at his Ireland, Galway, led by Michel Dugon. understudied habitat in the Amazon.

Shropshire home. “False widows produce very strong silk WHAT IS THE MEANING BEHIND THE
Pipistrelles had and their venom is effective on a wide range SCIENTIFIC NAME?
established a of prey, including vertebrates,” says Dugon. The discovery of this new frog quickly
maternity roost in garnered a lot of attention when it was
This, he says, contributes to their announced on social media, with many
Wildlife artist Ben success as an invasive species. “We’re people comparing it to the chocolate frogs
Waddams spotted the already seeing them displacing native from the Harry Potter books and films. But
spiders preying on bats species of spiders in urban environments. its common name, tapir frog, comes from
roosting in his roof They haven’t spread to natural habitats the species’ tapir-like nose. The people of
yet, but that may be only a matter of time.” Comunidad Nativa Tres Esquinas, familiar
with the frog, refer to it as the rana danta,
Stuart Blackman ‘danta’ being the local word for tapir.

Find out more bit.ly/TapirFrog

IN BRIEF

No poo, no worries

Dung beetles normally
eat mammal
droppings. But,
New Zealand’s only
native mammals are
two bat species, so
a Kiwi dung beetle
has switched to
feed on rotting snails.
The Saphobius species
appears to live dung-free,
feeding only on the native kauri snail
(Paryphanta busbyi). So far, it’s the
only known snail-eating dung beetle.

20 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

The cuckoo has
pointed wings and

a graduated tail

KEEPING
CUCKOOS
COOING

The Woodland Trust is working tirelessly
to protect the cuckoo’s natural habitat

K nown for being a master our woodland’s natural rhythm. sparrowhawk, and in flight, both Cuckoos live
of misdirection, the Today its numbers are greatly look very similar. To distinguish in woodland
cuckoo’s reputation reduced due to loss of habitat. between the two, look for the edges
precedes it. As a brood cuckoo’s graduated tail.
parasite, cuckoos spook other SPOT THE DIFFERENCE CUCKOO FACT FILE
woodland birds from their nests Cuckoos overwinter in Africa, FACING THE FUTURE
so they can lay their own egg migrating to the UK in the The Woodland Trust is doing Common name – common
there. The host bird – most likely spring and leaving by late June. everything it can to preserve cuckoo
a dunnock, meadow pipit or reed You’re most likely to find them our nation’s woodlands,
warbler – will then bring the young in woodland areas, particularly which are home to incredible Latin name – Cuculus
cuckoo up until it’s fully grown. around the edges, as well as creatures such as the cuckoo. canorus
near reed beds, in scrubland From planting more trees and
The cuckoo chick hatches and the Scottish moorlands. allowing trees and shrubs to Habitat – woodland edges,
after around 11 days, pushing recolonise land naturally, to grassland and scrubland
any other eggs out of the nest If you’re keen to spot one, restoring damaged woodlands,
to ensure it receives the sole then it pays to know what to look the conservation charity has Diet – invertebrates,
attention of its new family. The for. Cuckoos have a distinctive achieved some great successes particularly caterpillars
adoptive parents will continue to appearance with a grey head, in recent years, but there’s still
feed the cuckoo for another few yellow feet and a black beak. more work to be done. Predators – vulnerable to
weeks, even though it will reach They also have a striking yellow stoats and weasels as eggs
two or three times their size. ring around each eye. By becoming a member of the and chicks in the nest
Woodland Trust, you’ll be playing
And although its behaviour The dark grey plumage on an important part in helping the Origin – native
might sound antisocial to us, the upper parts of their body charity to continue its vital work.
its migratory cycle is part of resembles the markings of a

For more information and to become a member of
the Woodland Trust for as little as £4 a month, visit
woodlandtrust.org.uk/WL or scan the QR code

Registered charity numbers 294344 and SC038885

discMoovnetrhwXilXdXlife2.0coXmX BBC WILDLIFE 21

The American robin Fox cubs become
has been known to lanky and more
overwinter on the adult-looking over
British mainland the summer (like this
pair pictured) but
are snub-nosed
and tubby at first

Lost & Found

VAGRANT SPECIES DIARY

American robin, Eastbourne

I F ,E but fast-moving depressions are particularly IN BRIEF
resident noticed an unusual bird in their productive (sometimes also bringing in
garden and quickly realised it was a North American monarch butterflies). Drones identify
transatlantic visitor: an American robin. pregnant dolphins
This Nearctic thrush is no relation to our Tropical storms may track up America’s
own European robin and is rare on this eastern seaboard and pass Newfoundland, Pregnant bottlenose dolphins can now
side of the pond – this being the first record mopping up migrating birds trying to head be identified by their body width, as
of it on the English mainland in 12 years. south. These weather systems then tend to
follow the jet stream east across the Atlantic measured in images taken
News quickly spread and crowds soon to Europe. Although most birds will sadly by drones. The method
started gathering on the quiet suburban perish en route, an associated warm front will help scientists
street. Luckily the bird remained faithful can increase the survival rate. track successful
to the area in the subsequent weeks. Local and unsuccessful
residents were friendly and accommodating Some birds will hitch a lift on a boat pregnancies in
of the inconvenience and a crowdfunding for the crossing. Some of these will make the species.
page set up for visitors’ donations raised landfall on islands, but occasionally such
nearly £3,000 for Eastbourne Foodbank. vagrants choose to overwinter on the British
mainland, often turning up – like this one
The robin is most likely to have arrived and the northern mockingbird, 2021’s ‘big’
back in October, the peak time for North American sighting – in berry bushes in
American land birds reaching Europe. Any suburban gardens. The robin was last seen in
westerly airflow may deliver such rarities, Eastbourne on 27th February. James Hanlon

22 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022
JAMES HANLON
DOLPHINS: UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN;
FOXES: JAMES WARWICK

PLAYING OUT

Not only does Britain have the densest fox population in Europe
(despite heavy persecution), the species also occurs nearly
everywhere. Foxes have been recorded in all mainland 10km grid
squares – only some islands are without them. April sees the
year’s first cubs emerge above ground. In morning and evening,
they tumble and scrap near the den like energetic puppies.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 23

Simone Pika (inset) Chimp
and her team say this medicine
is the first time the
behaviour has The apes have been
been seen seen treating their
wounds using insects
JELLYFISH: BRANDON COLE/NATUREPL.COM; CHIMP: J. RITTERBACH/ALAMY; SIMONE: PATRICK BRANDT
CG
spotted grabbing insects from the
air and applying them to wounds.
Biologists working at the Ozouga
Chimpanzee Project have recorded
76 instances of chimps catching
flying insects and chewing them before
applying them to injuries.

Chimps were already known to ingest
certain leaves to treat parasites, but this is
the first case of animals applying treatments
not only to themselves, but to each other.
In the journal Current Biology, the biologists
argue that this is evidence that chimps are
‘prosocial’ creatures, acting in the interests
of others as well as themselves.

The type of insects (and whether
their application is medically effective)

remains unknown. Simone Pika of
Germany’s University of Osnabrück,
who led the work, says this will
be hard to establish. “The whole
procedure results in only little traces,
which end up on the forest floor,”
she says. “We have to wait until the
chimp leaves and then systematically
search the location.” Stuart Blackman

COLLECTIVE Golden jellyfish bob in
the currents of Palau’s
NOUNS Jellyfish Lake

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Smuck of
jelly sh

T‘ ’
most likely to have come from simple
onomatopoeia, derived from the
sound, like a noisy kiss, a stranded
jellyfish makes when it’s stepped on.
‘Smuck’, like a plastic bag full of water
being popped. They often become stranded
together on beaches where they dry out and
die. Their other collective nouns include
crowd, bloom, brood, stuck, smuth, swarm,
fluther and smack. Adam Jacot de Boinod

24 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

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Share your photos
on social media in
the run up to the
National’s Trust’s
#BlossomWatch
day on 23rd April

Blooming
marvellous

The frothy owers of hawthorn
deserve to be celebrated

I -- , scented May” has been brought forwards with insect life. Alas, it is too often taken for
well into April. granted and the growth on which it depends
was widely known as the ‘May tree’ or is destroyed by tractor flails. Springtime
In well-maintained hedgerows, the blossom deserves to be celebrated, just as
‘May blossom’, an accurate description abundance of frothy flowers completely sakura (cherry blossom) is in Japan, and the
hides the green foliage, as if field boundaries National Trust is seeking to raise awareness
of the plant’s main flowering period. have been sprayed white. The blossom – not of this great natural spectacle with its
only hawthorn, but also rowan, guelder rose Blossom Watch project. BH
Today, hawthorn blossom is frequently and wild apple, cherry and plum – can teem

starting to appear much earlier. Many

naturalists, including Jeremy Mynott in The

Consolation of Nature, lament how “sweetly

26 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

FEMALE

OF THE SPECIES

TOPI ANTELOPES

Lucy Cooke on duelling cows
competing for a prime bull

HAWTHORN: ROSS HODDINOTT; BITTERN: JAMIE HALL/GETTY; HEDGEHOG: JACKIE BALE/GETTYBitterns reboundLplains of the Serengeti. As the orange Female topi are
ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLY EXLEYsun slinks towards the horizon, twonot shy about their
The latest RSPB survey of bitterns topi (Damaliscus lunatus jimela) are sexual desires
shows that 2021 was their best-ever duking it out in the long shadow
year, with 228 males recorded. Male of an acacia tree. It’s rutting often sound an alarm call, a loud snort that
bitterns make a distinctive booming season and this pair of mid-sized signals a hyena or lion is nearby. This fake
sound in the spring to establish antelopes – think souped-up news alert encourages the exiting female to
territories and attract a mate, and are goats on stilts – have joined linger longer in the pretender’s territory for
Britain’s loudest bird. Bitterns became hundreds of other topi to spar for sex. safety. With limited time to spare, she often
completely extinct in the UK in the winds up being mounted by the fraudster
1870s and, after being reintroduced, The horny pair face off, charge and drop while she waits. It’s been calculated that topi
were once again on the brink in 1997. to their front knees as they lock their lyrate only succeed in mating by bogus snorting on
antlers, heads wedged against the ground 10 per cent of occasions.
UP in a vicious stalemate. After a few tense
seconds, the more dominant topi makes the While some bulls must lie to get laid,
DOWN most of a slight size advantage and shoves others are fighting off females and knackered
the other backwards along the ground. With from the exertion. The top bulls command
Rural hedgehogs the ignominy of a sumo wrestler expelled terrain at the centre of the lek and it’s these
still declining from the ring, the loser scuttles back into the studs that have females battling over their
herd shaking its head, leaving the victor free finite seminal reserves. Some pushy cows
The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs to claim the prize: sex with the prime bull. even go so far as to charge top studs in the
2022 report has revealed that the You read that right – bull. For these armed act of mounting other females.
nation’s hedgehog populations have and aggressive rivals aren’t males fighting
continued to decline in rural areas over cows, they’re females duelling over the This brazen tactic doesn’t always pay off,
by between 30 and 75 per cent top topi’s sperm. however. Disrupted males will often counter-
since 2000. In contrast, the report attack belligerent females and rebuff their
also revealed that urban hedgehog After the short rains in February, female advances with added aggression, especially if
populations appear to have stablised topis travel in large groups to cruise for
and might even be starting to recover, mates at a lek – essentially a topi singles’ bar. they’ve mated with them already.
after previously falling. Up to a hundred males gather in one area This scenario of choosy males
and mark out small adjoining territories for
themselves using their dung, a surprisingly and competitive females is a
versatile material that creates a signature reversal of the traditional sex
scent boundary between rivals. roles predicted by Charles Darwin
in his theory of sexual selection.
Breeding season is intense as the females But it may prove to be far more
all come into oestrus for just one day of the
year. This short fertility window leads to widespread now that we have
a 24-hour frenzy of sexual activity our eyes open to it.
as each female mates with four to
twelve males. Lucy is a broadcaster,
zoologist and author of
As the females shop for Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide
sex, rejected males are not to Sex, Evolution and the
above resorting to underhand Female Animal
tactics to win their attention.
If a female leaves his territory
unmated, a scorned male will

Catch
up with
Political
Animals, Lucy’s recent
three-part series

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 27

The finch-sized Buntings
reed bunting can be blow their
found on farmland cover
and wetland across
the UK and Ireland The dapper little bird
that shows itself in spring

Sin, and the streaky reed bunting is
pretty good at escaping our notice.
Except, that is, in spring. The formerly
plain male develops a jet-black head
and flowing white ‘scarf’, together
with a white stripe each side of his bill,
which from the front looks like a magnificent
droopy moustache. He also sings. It’s not
much – a simple jangle of staccato notes,
whistled from a reed or wetland bush – but it
draws attention nonetheless.

The sex life of reed buntings is much
more interesting. Many birds are less faithful
than we tend to assume, but female reed
buntings are particularly promiscuous.
Mating with other males is commonplace,
so that on average about half the young in
reed bunting nests will not be those of the
resident male. This cuckoldry seems to be
a strategy to increase the number surviving
from each brood. BH

POO From a few centimetres to over 20cm REED BUNTING: DAVID TIPLING; TORTOISE: JENNIFER LINTON/GALAPAGOS CONSERVATION TRUST;
TORTOISE POO: KARINA RAMÓN/CHARLES DARWIN FOUNDATION
CORNER Giant tortoise faeces
varies in length, and can
ID GUIDE contain plastic fragments
as pictured here
Gálapagos
giant tortoise

The size of Gálapagos giant tortoise faeces
can vary from a few centimetres to over 20cm
in length. Droppings are ovoid and elongated,
and generally end in a point. They contain a

lot of partially or undigested
plant material. “It helps us to
analyse the health of the
reptile and understand its
role in spreading native
and invasive plant
species,” says Ainoa
Nieto Claudín, from the
Giant Tortoise Movement
Ecology Programme.
Megan Shersby

28 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

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It is estimated that All being well, a pine marten could give birth
there are currently to five young in an artifical den box this April
3,700 pine martens
in Scotland, so they “We’re not introducing pine martens to these
are still quite rare areas,” he says, “They’re already there.”

Dens for pine martens But foresters can improve pine marten DRAGONFLY: GETTY; PINE MARTEN & BOX: FORESTRY AND LAND SCOTLAND
breeding success by installing roofed wooden
Scottish foresters are attempting to boost the mustelid’s boxes in areas with few of the natural tree
population to stave o the spread of grey squirrels holes that martens prefer as denning sites.
The boxes are erected a few metres off the
Rin rapid decline across Britain Now Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is ground and lined with wood shavings to keep
in recent decades because of hoping to protect northern reds by enlisting martens – including youngsters – cosy.
competition with introduced grey the help of a squirrel predator – the pine
squirrels and transmission of marten – which has reduced grey squirrel The FLS team has placed artificial dens
squirrelpox virus, which is deadly to numbers in other places without significant in several forest locations along two major
reds but leaves greys unscathed. impact on the more agile reds. Red squirrels corridors of grey squirrel advance – in the
have coexisted with pine martens in parts of heart of the Highlands from Perthshire
Until now, the Highlands and north- northern Scotland for the past four decades northwards, and up to and around Aberdeen
east of Scotland have been red squirrel among native trees and mixed plantations. along the east coast.
strongholds, with no grey squirrels across
this huge area except for in Aberdeenshire, “We need to stop grey squirrels in their Boxes will be checked this May to see
where they don’t yet carry the deadly virus. tracks,” says Gareth Ventress, environment if they have been occupied. Pine martens
But grey squirrels spreading across the forester at FLS. circle like dogs when they lie down, says
Highland line, and into Aberdeenshire, Gareth, which disturbs the wood shavings.
means that squirrelpox could also spread. Installing over 30 pine marten ‘den’ They also tend to scat on the roof of the den
boxes along potential grey squirrel migration boxes. So fieldcraft and woodwork will now
routes north is a key part of the FLS plan. be combining to help keep the greys at bay.
Kenny Taylor

FROM THE BBC WILDLIFE ARCHIVE April 1969 NEXT ISSUE

Ring of Bright Water HAIRY DRAGONFLY

In Animals (the early name of BBC Wildlife magazine), the film director Jack Watch out for this small
Couffer reports on the joys of filming Ring of Bright Water. Based on Gavin hawker from May
Maxwell’s classic tale of an otter, the full-length feature starred Oliver, a hand- until July – it is the
reared otter playing the character of Mijbil. “Otters cannot be directed,” exclaims earliest dragonfly to
Couffer. “You have to be able to recognise when an animal is doing something emerge in the UK.
special, and exploit this by rewriting the situation as it develops. This keeps you
on your toes.” The key is to let the animals enjoy themselves, he says.

30 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

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Mike Dilger’s

WILDLIFE SPECTACLES

The broadcaster, naturalist and tour guide shares the
most breathtaking seasonal events in Britain

MORNING
HAS BROKEN

DAWN CHORUS

Spring is the best time to experience
a musical feast like no other, as birds
announce the start of each new day

WREN: GETTY; BLACKCAP: CIOBANIUC ADRIAN EUGEN/ALAMY G’ a few prominent exceptions, it is mostly
contend with over the last two the males that sing – behaviour brought
years, it’s hardly surprising that about by the production of the combative
a worrying deterioration in the hormone testosterone in response to the
nation’s collective mental health increasingly longer days. This wondrous
has become a parallel pandemic form of communication of course serves
running alongside Covid-19. But the one two main purposes for the proponents: that
positive note to emerge from this wretched of holding a territory and attracting (and
period has been a renewed appreciation keeping) a mate.
of the natural world’s astonishing ability
to provide solace during troubled times. In order to appreciate the chorus at its
And there can be no finer example of finest an early start is essential, as the first
nature’s capacity to alleviate stress than birds may well start the ball rolling at least
that provided by the dawn chorus. This an hour before sunrise. Quite why such
freely available therapy is not only an ‘early doors’ strategy has been adopted
accessible everywhere, but
is approaching its annual is hotly debated, with a number of
peak now. theories all offering plausible
explanations. Firstly, the dim
Although bird
vocalisations can be Did you know?
heard throughout the
year, bird song is at its International Dawn Chorus
biggest, brightest and most Day takes place on Sunday
uplifting in spring. With 1st May. Find out about
events and bird song ID
guides on our website.

32 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

“There can be no
ner example of

nature’s capacity
to alleviate stress”

The blackcap's
delicate song
has earnt it the
moniker ‘northern
nightingale’
discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 33

Mike Dilger’s WILDLIFE SPECTACLES

TOP 1 RSPB WOOD 2RSPB MINSMERE
OF CREE The vast array of habitats at
FIVE You can hear redstart, this Suffolk nature reserve makes
pied flycatcher and it one of the most iconic places to
PLACES wood warbler all vying enjoy a dawn chorus. Where else
for attention in this could you hear nightingales and
5RSPB BELFAST RSPB woodland in bittern at the same time?
LOUGH Dumfries and Galloway.
This coastal reserve 3HAMPSTEAD
offers an unrivalled 4SHAPWICK HEATH
opportunity to hear a HEATH RESERVE Over 180 species have
diverse dawn chorus This diverse reserve on been recorded across
that is not just on the the Somerset Levels is the heath, woodland,
outskirts of the city not just a place to listen wetland and grassland
but also just across for cuckoos and bitterns, in this public space. It
the water from a it can boast up to 10 offers an unparalleled
busy port. species of warblers in opportunity to hear the
April and May. dawn chorus before
London rouses itself in
preparation for another
noisy day.

light is not the best time for foraging, as the other robins within earshot, but equally LOOK CLOSER

invertebrates will be less active and seeds with everything from wrens and redstarts to Right song, right habitat

far harder to find. Early in the morning also blackcaps and blackbirds. Cutting through Birds appear to produce the songs best
suited to their habitat. In woodland,
tends to be when the air is at its stillest, and the cacophony has partly been remedied, where songs reverberate off trees and
are absorbed by vegetation, the clear,
consequently sounds at dawn can carry up certainly in woodlands, by the fact that low ringing tones of blackbirds penetrate
much further. By contrast, the sedge
to 20 times further than those, for example, different species will add their voices in a warbler’s buzzing and trilling song travels
more effectively across open reedbeds.
produced around midday. distinct sequence. Blackbirds, robin and
Non-stop singing
Additionally, singing “Di erent song thrushes, for example,
could easily enhance the risk will often be singing even A bird’s voice box, called a syrinx, sits at
the junction of the two bronchial tubes,
of attracting the unwanted species will when it still appears dark, with meaning the vocal chords can draw air
these birds able to operate at from two sources. When combined with
attentions of the neighbourhood add their lower light levels due to their the ability to take a series of mini, shallow
sparrowhawk, and so is perhaps breaths, this enables species
such as skylarks (right) to sing
LONDON: MATTHEW MARAN/NPL; ORCHIDS: ROBIN BUSH/GETTY; SKYLARK: SVEN ERIK ARNDT/GETTY best carried out before the early voices in proportionately larger eyes. for long periods.
morning sun shines a spotlight a distinct These species are also paid-up
on the singer’s location. And sequence” members of the worm-eating Dusk
finally, with the females most clan, and with worms much chorus

fertile at dawn, singing will closer to the surface in the If the idea of getting out of bed ridiculously
early goes against the grain, then why
ensure the male is more able to morning, may well have already not try a dusk chorus instead? While
undoubtedly quieter when compared to
actively defend his paternity rights from any evolved to rise early anyway. the chorus offered at first light, several
birds such as blue tits, tree sparrows and
interlopers keen to chance their wing from Bird such as wrens and warblers, by nightingales appear to prefer saving their
singing to that slot before bedtime.
adjacent territories during this key period. contrast, seem happier taking a more
NEXT MONTH
An obvious disadvantage of adding relaxed approach by adding their voices
Mike gives you tips on how and
your voice to the chorus, however, is that to the chorus a little later. This might in where to see orchid meadows

the airwaves at this time may well be very part be due to an enhanced sensitivity to

crowded. This means each singing robin, for the colder temperatures at dawn. As all

example, will not only be competing with all birds will need to actively feed after such

an energetically expensive exercise as

singing, the later appearance of this clan’s

insect prey may mean that staying in bed

longer – with the promise of slap-up meal

immediately afterwards – represents the

most efficient use of their resources.

If you want to enjoy the dawn chorus, it

is worth noting that the best days are those

with fine, clear weather and little wind. And

who knows, nature’s finest symphony might

not only be used for kickstarting the birds’

breeding season, but its restorative effects

London calling: early risers can enjoy the could also represent the bright new dawn

city birds waking up at Hampstead Heath we’ve all been looking for too.

34 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

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PoThse sibilities
Endlearess

Recycle your magazine and seven days
later it could come back as your newspaper

Nick Baker’s

HIDDEN BRITAIN

The popular naturalist, author and TV presenter
reveals a secret world of overlooked wildlife

THE GREAT
PRETENDER

DARK EDGED BEE FLY

Our most common ‘wannabee’ uses
a powerful ick to re its eggs into
the nests of solitary bees

A- watch their highly frenetic pace for a while. Bee-flies have strong
of B-flat announces the presence of Smaller, darker males defend invisible flight muscles and
this insect – something like a tiny, territorial lines in the air, hovering as if will hover to defend
distant dental drill. When you locate suspended on wires a metre or so above territories, impress a
the source of the sonic disturbance, a flower patch. They will chase off other mate – and lay their
you’ll notice it’s being made by a males and spin on the spot – whirring eggs in bee burrows
gingery fuzz ball. The dark-edged or greater around and around like pole dancers with
bee-fly (Bombylius major) is as true a an invisible pole – to impress females.
harbinger of spring as any cuckoo, bluebell
or butterfly. It is the earliest, commonest After mating, females lay their tiny eggs
and most widespread of the 11 species of in a way that maximises the chances of the
bee-fly found in the UK. emerging larvae finding food. That food is
baby bees! Solitary mining bees of several
The first warm sunny days are when species are targeted.
you need to seek it out anywhere there are
flowers, particularly those with long tubular But first the females must collect some
structures, such as primrose and lungwort. fine grains of soil. They can often be seen
While they might look, as their name flying close to the ground, wafting the dust
suggests, a bit like a bee in appearance and while dragging the tip of their abdomen
behaviour, they are most certainly flies, and along behind. In doing so, they fill a sac-like
quite specialised ones at that. structure called a diverticulum or sand
chamber. Once loaded, the sticky eggs are
Bee-flies live the majority of their lives passed through this chamber and coated
in the shadows, underground in the burrows with dust. The purpose of this isn’t clear:
of solitary bees: they are parasitoids as well it could be to give the eggs camouflage,
as pollinators. When you’ve found them, both physical or chemical (hiding giveaway

36 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

“Females pivot their whole scents), or alternatively it could be to give
body quickly towards the the eggs a bit more weight.
ground to catapult their tiny
eggs at the burrow entrance” The latter is quite convincing because
next she goes hunting for the burrows of
solitary mining bees. The bees are busy ILLUSTRATIONS BY PETER DAVID SCOTT/THE ART AGENCY
provisioning their subterranean chambers
with pollen and nectar onto which a single
egg will be laid. These chambers are the
target for the bee-fly – literally.

The females attentively hover around
bee burrows and, while fixed in space, they
pivot their whole body quickly towards the
ground to catapult their tiny eggs at the
burrow entrance. Fittingly, another name
for these flies is bomber flies. This pinging
of the eggs is perhaps the reason behind the
weightier egg – they are more likely to hit
the intended nest target.

When a bee-fly egg hatches, an active,
leggy, early stage larva emerges and then
goes hot-footing it deep into bees’ nest
chambers. When it finds the bees’ eggs and
larvae it waits, moulting into another larval
form – a sluggish, grub-like, feeding bag
with a mouth.

Once the solitary bee larva is at its
biggest and about to pupate, the bee-fly
larva attaches itself to its host and starts
to feed. It then pupates and waits until the
following spring to emerge, when it will
start the whole bizarre and twisted life-
cycle all over again.

Hijacking another life is a very popular
strategy in nature. In fact, about 40 per
cent of all animal species are parasites.

LOOK CLOSER

It’s not a sting,
it’s a proboscis
for sipping nectar

Bee lookalike

It’s no accident that bee-flies look like
bees – it’s a form of Batesian mimicry,
a strategy where a harmless species
resembles one that has some kind of
defence, such as toxicity, or in this case
a bee with a sting (bee-flies do not
sting). However, unlike bees, bee-flies
have got one pair of wings, not two,
and at rest their wings are held away
from their body, not close. The legs that
dangle in flight are another giveaway.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 37

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Available from

BBC Wildlife magazine is full of breathtaking photos
and fascinating features on the most interesting animals

and habitats in the UK and around the world.
With the latest news and conservation issues, practical
expert advice and ideas for really wild days out, you will

understand and enjoy nature more.

EDWIN GIESBERS/NATUREPL.COM What’s happening right now

HELLO SPRING!

Nothing says spring quite like
an orange-tip butterfly. Common
and widespread, there’s a good
chance of finding one in gardens
or along hedgerows across the
UK right now. This year, why
not make a habit of recording
your sightings on Butterfly
Conservation’s free iRecord
Butterflies app? Your data will
help their work preserving
precious sights like these for the
next generation of wildlife lovers.

8 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022 discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 9

Enjoy our Premium App experience now available from

O JAGUARS

It is thought that
about half of the global
population of jaguars
lives in Brazil

40 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

JAGUARS O

AGAINST

Brazil’s Pantanal was THE
consumed by wild res
in 2020. Miraculously,

its jaguars not only
survived, but are now
thriving in the world’s
most famous wetland.

ODDS

By DOUG LOYNES
Photos by HENRIQUE OLSEN

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 41

O JAGUARS

A
the bank of a narrow tributary
of the Rio Cuiabá in Brazil. The mother emerges from the shrub
The passengers on board jostle first. She struts out onto the beach with an
soundlessly to get the best view, air of nonchalance. Her two cubs tumble
while their camera lenses reach out after her, splashing and play-fighting in
out like limbs across the water the water to the delight of the tourists, who
towards a patch of sand on the are all hungrily snapping photographs. It’s
opposite bank. our second jaguar sighting of the day. Given
what happened here not too long ago, I can
New initiatives allow scarcely believe our luck. “Luck?” our guide
local people the Fisher Sousa says, raising an eyebrow. “We
chance to experience see jaguars every day.”
nature in the Pantanal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
42 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022
Doug Loynes is a British writer and wildlife
enthusiast based in Brazil. The
winner of National Geographic’s
2020 Travel Writing competition,
his work on sustainable
tourism has featured in a
number of publications.

JAGUARS O

The Pantanal’s
waterways are a
lifeline for jaguars
– here a mother
and her two cubs

In 2020, the Pantanal, the planet’s The mother emerges from the shrub
largest tropical wetland – an area larger rst, with an air of nonchalance.
than England, spanning Brazil, Paraguay
and Bolivia – and the home of the highest Her two cubs tumble out a er her.
concentration of jaguars on Earth, was
BOAT: HEIDEGER NASCIMENTO/INSTITUTO ESPAÇO engulfed in flames. Thirty per cent of the on jaguars after the fires paints a promising Pantanal’s jaguars had been spared the worst
SILVESTRE/CHALANA ESPERANÇA biome was scorched beyond recognition. picture. “After 2020, people seized on this of the wildfires.
International news reports showed narrative that the jaguars were dying,” she
apocalyptic images of wildfires surging says. “But look at the numbers from 2019 F T,
through the forest, leaving the charred and 2020, and compare them to 2021.” working with Panthera, a
remains of coati and tapir in their wake. For global big cat conservation
people like Sousa, working in the Pantanal’s In 2021, a total of 99 jaguars were programme, explains the secret
developing ecotourism industry, there was a sighted, up from 73 the year before the of their success. “Jaguars have
concern about what the fires would mean for wildfires. Within this total, the number a close relationship with the water,” he
the region’s flagship species: the jaguar. of new individuals coming into the river says. The Pantanal’s jaguars have a natural
system has remained fairly consistent: 36 tendency to stay close to the river where
The Jaguar ID Project has built up a new jaguars were catalogued, compared to most of their prey – typically capybara and
catalogue of 284 jaguars in the Pantanal’s 38 in 2019. The numbers suggest that the
Porto Jofre river system, each one identified
by its unique spot pattern. According to
Abbie Martin, the project’s director, the data

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 43

O JAGUARS

caiman – can be found. When the wildfires “It told us that after the The Patrulha Felina (cat patrol)
came, they were able to hide out at the river wildfire there was enough of scheme aims to get local children
edge in these familiar swamps, keeping them the landscape that had been interested in jaguar conservation
safe from harm. protected to keep this apex
predator safe.”
Nto avoid the fires though.
Ousado, a three-year-old As our boat chugs along
male, was rescued from the the Cuiabá, a glance at its
smoking forest with third- banks – now verdant and
degree burns on all four paws, making it bursting with life – shows
almost impossible for him to walk. With that the Pantanal, like the
the support of several non-profit wildlife jaguar, is resilient. Life here
organisations, including Panthera, Ousado has always been characterised
was nursed back to health, fitted with a by long periods of rainfall
radio-collar and released back into the and floods, then followed on by
Pantanal just a few weeks later. lengthy droughts.

Panthera tracked Ousado’s movements Tortato’s research has shown that
and found that, despite the fires still raging, sometimes these climatic extremities
he was able to stay within the same range. can span years. Prior to 2020’s fires, high
“He could outrun the fire and move between levels of rainfall over a 15-year period had
the unaffected areas,” Tortato explains. transformed savannah grassland in the
Pantanal into forest. During the dry season,
naturally occurring fires are inevitable and

44 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

JAGUARS O

Smoke fills the air
above the Brazilian
wetlands in 2020

Any birds and animals
at the water’s edge
may end up as
unsuspecting prey
for a jaguar

The toll of the Patanal wild res

Jaguars may have managed to flee the flames, but many smaller animals were far less fortunate.
One study, published in Nature, revealed that in the 39,030km2 affected by the fire at least 16,952
million vertebrates are likely to have been killed.

The study involved scientists carrying out distance-sampling surveys – walking along tracts
at set intervals and recording any dead animals they found. Covering a total distance of 114km,
the team discovered the remains of 302 dead vertebrates, with small snakes, birds and rodents
among the most common victims. The data was then extrapolated to give an estimate of how
many vertebrates were killed in total.

KIDS: HEIDEGER NASCIMENTO/INSTITUTO ESPAÇO SILVESTRE/CHALANA With an excess of biomass that had The conflict between jaguars and the
ESPERANÇA; FIRES: JONNE RORIZ/BLOOMBERG/GETTY thrived during the preceding wet local cattle ranchers, called pantaneiros,
spell, the Pantanal was a tinderbox reaches back to the 18th century. Naturally,
jaguars were here before the livestock, but
they play an important role in regulating the The worry is that the devastating ranchers have responded to the cats preying
environment, stripping back the bush. wildfires of 2020 could become the new on their cattle with retaliatory attacks. In the
normal. Global warming could destabilise past, ranchers have only used the jaguars’
The fires of 2020, however, were the Pantanal’s climatic patterns, ushering in waterfront habitat for pasture during the
unprecedented. “Normally, fires might burn prolonged periods of drought and collapsing dry season, when the Pantanal isn’t flooded.
six to eight per cent of the forest, but most the entire ecological system. This could But with the increased likelihood of future
of them stop when they reach a river or spell disaster for the Pantanal’s jaguars, droughts, it’s possible that the ranchers will
humid landscape,” says Tortato. “In 2020, due to what Tortato calls “a convergence have to use this land all year-round.
excessive drought meant that the landscape of threats”. Should the Pantanal become
was totally dry.” What’s more, 93 per cent drier, the water surface will be reduced, thus F,
of the Pantanal is private land held by cattle limiting the availability of the jaguar’s prey. herd is his livelihood, the
ranchers, who have traditionally used fire to But perhaps more significantly, a diminished jaguar represents an economic
clear pastureland. With an excess of biomass water supply will bring the jaguar into more problem. Traditionally, the
that had thrived during the preceding wet frequent contact with its nemesis: humans. solution has been to cull the
spell, the Pantanal was a tinderbox. jaguars. But there are signs that attitudes
are changing. Eduardo Falcão hails from
a lineage of pantaneiro ranchers. As a boy,

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 45

O JAGUARS Jaguar cubs
shadow their
SOUTH AMERICAN CATS mothers for
two years
Lesser spotted
Jaguar ecotourism brings in KODKOD: JOEL SARTORE/PHOTO ARK/NPL CAPTIVE ; JAGUARUNDI: PETE OXFORD/NPL CAPTIVE ; MARGAY & OCELOT: IMAGEBROKER/ALAMY; ANDEAN: SEBASTIAN KENNERKNECHT/MINDEN/ALAMY
Jaguars are comparatively easy to see revenues 56 times higher than the
now, but there are plenty of cats in South expected losses to cattle ranchers
America that prefer to stay in the shadows.
Here are five you may not have heard of… he used to join his father in killing jaguars areas in their ranches, so they may protect
to avenge their livestock. But 25 years ago, biodiversity and leave the door open for
Ocelot Leopardus pardalis Falcão’s family made the bold business future tourist operations, but he recognises
decision to abandon cattle-ranching for a that there are cultural barriers in the way.
Distribution: South America, potentially lucrative industry that hadn’t yet “Cattle has always been the culture here”,
except Chile. Length: 70-100cm taken root in this wildlife haven. “We saw he says. “But the idea of valuing nature for
Weight: 10-16kg that ecotourism, not cows, was the future of nature’s sake is something that’s new to
The night-stalking ocelot is the Pantanal,” Falcão says. “And with that we this place. As the Pantanal becomes the new
the most widespread of all saw the need to preserve jaguars.” reference for wildlife watching in the world,
of the Leopardus genus of I strongly believe it will come.”
small cats native to South For Roberto Klabin, owner of the Caiman
America. In the Pantanal, Ecological Reserve, a combined cattle ranch T,
ocelots are common prey and ecotourism business, ranching is a according to biologist
fundamental part of the Pantanal’s cultural Luciana Leite, is to properly
of the jaguar. tapestry that must be protected. But there integrate pantaneiros into
is also an economic argument for jaguar the conservation process,
Andean mountain cat conservation. “We lose about three per cent and to include them in the success that the
of our cattle every year to jaguar attacks. But jaguar brings to the region. For some, this
Leopardus jacobita thanks to tourism, the jaguars are more than is already happening. Cattle ranching is the
Distribution: Argentina, Bolivia, paying for the cattle that we’ve lost”. dominant economic activity in the Pantanal
Chile Length: 60-85cm and has traditionally been the domain of
Weight: 6-8kg The numbers back this up, according to men, but the growing number of eco-lodges
The most vulnerable of all research by Tortato. Based on a sample area has created new employment opportunities
of South America’s cats, the of the Brazilian Pantanal, jaguar ecotourism for women. In order to facilitate a change
extremely elusive Andean brings in almost US$7 million (roughly of cultural attitudes towards jaguar
mountain cat is mostly found £5.3 millon) in land-use revenue – a figure conservation in particular, however, Leite is
in the high Andes, hiding in 56 times higher than the expected losses looking to engage the next generation.
suffered by cattle ranchers due to jaguar
rocky outcrops. attacks. Put simply, to the pantaneiros, the Chalana Esperança, meaning ‘vessel of
jaguar is worth more alive than dead. hope’, is a non-profit women’s collective
Margay Leopardus wiedii that began life as a crowdfunding campaign
But Klabin is wary of the suggestion that Leite set up during the 2020 fires with
Distribution: South America, that transitioning to ecotourism is a silver the aim of bringing water and fire-fighting
except Chile Length: 45-70cm bullet for cattle ranchers in the Pantanal.
Weight: 2.5-5kg He encourages other farmers to preserve
The margay has earned its
nickname ‘the tree ocelot’
for its time spent lurking
in the rainforest canopy. In
the Amazon, they’re known
to mimic the calls of tamarin

monkeys to lure in prey.

Jaguarundi Herpailurus yaguarondi

Distribution: South America,
except Chile and Uruguay.
Length: 55-75cm
Weight: 5-7kg
The jaguarundi is more
closely related to the puma
than the other small cats of
South America. It’s largely
avoided being hunted for its

pelt due to its subtle markings.

Kodkod Leopardus guigna

Distribution: Argentina, Chile.
Length: 35-50cm
Weight: 2-3kg
Also known as the güiña,
it is the smallest wildcat
in all of the Americas and
can only be found in the
mountain forest climates
of Patagonia.

46 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

JAGUARS O

A jaguar eyes up a
potential meal in the
shape of a capybara
discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 47

O JAGUARS

When the rivers overflow, Caiman crocodiles
the sediments fertilise the regularly fall prey
verdant floodplain to jaguars

The best time for tourists to see jaguars
in the Pantanal is during the dry season,
which falls between May and October
48 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

JAGUARS O

“The people living here couldn’t see how
beautiful and important the jaguar really is”

LUCIANA LEITE, FOUNDER OF CHALANA ESPERANÇA

TOURIST: SYLVAIN CORDIER/HEMIS/ALAMY equipment to the pantaneiro communities. of Cambridge’s Conservation Leadership skinned kids from this community. And for
In the aftermath of the fires, the collective Alumni Network, Chalana Esperança the first time, they were able to enjoy the
undertook some research to gauge local has set about engaging the local young same opportunity.”
children’s attitudes towards jaguars. people with the natural wonders that the
According to them, jaguars were “ugly”, Pantanal region has to offer. For example, Thanks to Chalana Esperança and other
“smelly” and “dangerous”. through the Patrulha Felina (cat patrol) organisations working to engage local people
programme, children have joined scientists in the ecotourism movement, children in
The findings from Leite’s study were on important research projects, tracking the Pantanal are now growing up imagining
clear. “People from all over the world are jaguars like Ousado through the wetlands themselves as future conservation biologists,
paying thousands of dollars to come and or accompanying wildlife photographers on wildlife photographers or riverboat tour
see this animal, but the people living here riverboat tours to harvest data. guides. Some will realise these dreams.
couldn’t see how beautiful and important Others will follow in the pantaneiro tradition
the jaguar really is.” Leite knew why the FL , and grow up to herd cattle. But as the threat
children held these attitudes. “They had Patrulha Felina initiative can be of climate change casts a long shadow over
never had the opportunity to observe wildlife. summed up in one particular the Pantanal, the long-term future of its
All of this was going on in their home, image. “There was the jaguar jaguar population will ultimately depend on
but they were totally excluded from the and there were 15 boats, filled this next generation of ranchers, and how
ecotourism process.” with white people from all over the world. well they can negotiate their relationship
And then there’s this one boat with dark- with the jaguar by blazing an altogether
Alongside other initiatives, and now different kind of trail.
backed with funding from the University

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 49

ANDRE SIMON/BIOSPHOTO/ALAMYHOPPINGOXXXXXX
BACK

50 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022