BBC Wildlife - Survivor

LARGE MARSH GRASSHOPPER O

Citizen science is
reversing the fortunes
of the UK’s largest
grasshopper

By JO CAIRD

Due to habitat loss,
the handsome large
marsh grasshopper
has become one of
the country’s rarest

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 51

You don’t get a lot of Grasshoppers will
wildlife on the London moult about five times
Underground: rats and before becoming fully
mice scurrying along grown, shedding hard
the tracks; dogs sitting layers of outer skeleton
obediently at their owners’ feet; pigeons,
perhaps, on the open air stretches of the for Citizen Zoo and a grasshopper specialist. Natural England and local Wildlife Trusts,
network. That’s about it. “It was a watery wonderland.” but surveys suggested there was a healthy
Yet on 18th July last year, Amy Stocking, population of the insects in the New Forest
a librarian from Claygate, Surrey, found It was the large-scale draining of the Fens to draw on – essential when it came to
herself in a busy tube carriage with some from the 19th century onwards – a long-term developing a captive breeding programme.
rather more unusual animals. In her bag that process that transformed that “wonderland”
day were about 20 large marsh grasshoppers, into highly productive agricultural land – S J 2018,
insects that she had hatched and spent that “tipped the balance against the large Citizen Zoo staff, including
weeks rearing as a volunteer keeper with marsh grasshopper”, Green explains. The Ruzo and Green, and
Citizen Zoo, a social enterprise dedicated to species hung on at one site up until the volunteers headed down
conservation and rewilding. 1960s, but without management of its few to the New Forest for a
In just five weeks, the hoppers had gone remaining patches, the population dwindled weekend of hopper-hunting. Using
from tiny nymphs (“when they first hatch and died out and, since 1968, the large marsh a scientifically grounded collecting
they’re like little specks”) to fully grown grasshopper’s range has been restricted to a methodology that safeguarded the
adults, ready to be released into a restored few sphagnum bogs and valley mires in the ongoing viability of the New Forest’s
area of their former habitat from which the New Forest and Somerset. hoppers, they were able to wrangle 48
species had been absent for over 50 years. adults, all in pristine condition, to use
“When they’re adults, they stridulate,” Until now. The team at Citizen Zoo had for captive breeding.
says Stocking, referring to the characteristic been on the lookout for an insect-focused
mating sound that grasshoppers make by reintroduction project when CEO Lucas “We were lucky because it was really
hitting a back leg against a forewing. “There Ruzo learned of the fate of the large marsh hot,” recalls Green. “When it’s not sunny,
I was on the tube with all these hoppers, grasshopper. The species ticked all the boxes. you just don’t see them – they hide away. We
chirping away.” Not only had several areas of its former got as many as we could have hoped for. It
Norfolk habitat bounced back, the result of gave us a fantastic kickstart.”
L, a dedicated, long-term restoration effort by
their name suggests, are the
largest of the UK’s 11 native
species. The females measure
up to about 4cm long and
weigh three times the mass of their biggest
cousins. They are also, sadly, among our
rarest – victims of habitat degradation
resulting from changing land use in East
Anglia, including the Fens, a large area of
historically marshy, low-lying land stretching
across Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

“The Fens were almost certainly heaving
with large marsh grasshoppers 300 years
ago,” says Stuart Green, lead entomologist

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jo Caird is a freelance journalist who lives
in East London and writes for
newspapers, magazines and
the web. She specialises
in citizen science and
conservation with a strong
community focus. Read more
about her work at jocaird.com.

52 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

LARGE MARSH GRASSHOPPER O

MOULT: KEITH READHEAD; NYMPHS: JOAN FOX The sand comes alive
with tiny nymphs in
an incubator intended
to mimic a natural
breeding environment

A group of sta and volunteers
headed down to the New Forest for

a weekend of hopper-hunting

Stuart Green, lead Of those initial 48 hoppers, 30 were And then he waited. For several days,
entomologist for released on a Norfolk nature reserve, the nothing happened. Then, just as Green was
Citizen Zoo, with his location of which remains a closely guarded about to give up hope, a couple of larvae
grasshopper vivairum appeared. Watching them wriggling their
secret. The remaining 18 went home with way up through the sand to bask under an
Green, who then had to figure out how incandescent bulb, the entomologist was
to breed them. relieved. But that was just the start: “The
Green has decades of next day, all hell broke loose and we had
experience with other species about 200,” he says. “The incubator was
of grasshopper, but the large absolutely heaving with tiny grasshoppers.”
marsh was a new one for
him. “There were so many Now knowing it was possible to breed
questions,” he says. “The and rear the hoppers in captivity, the next
first was: would these phase of Citizen Zoo’s project swung into
grasshoppers, which are action: recruit the citizens.
used to a squidgy, wet,
squelchy habitat, survive “My personal frustration is that
in a hot, dry locust cage?” conservation organisations don’t include
The answer was an local stakeholders in these types of projects,”
emphatic ‘yes’. “They explains Ruzo. “Many new rewilding
not only survived, conservation projects aren’t scalable, and
they reproduced they’re often not scalable because the way
enthusiastically!” that they’re designed is very centralised.”
Green collected dozens
of egg pods – each containing CZ
14 eggs on average – and stored things differently. By training
them for months in moist sand, and equipping ordinary
first at room temperature, then people to raise grasshoppers
in the fridge, then in an incubator, in their own homes, using
donated equipment, the organisation
carefully mimicking the changing of the massively increases the scope of the project
seasons in the wild. while keeping costs low.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 53

O LARGE MARSH GRASSHOPPER

A grasshopper
grinds leaves using
mandibles, a pair of
jaws which move
from side to side

Marking each individual with a dot Entomologist
of paint for post-release monitoring Eleanor Drinkwater
is now a master
turned out to be “a two-man job” hopper-holder

Even with a relatively small number of since 2020, the community element “You’ve got to hold them just right,”
volunteer keepers – up to 10 per year, usually is a big draw. “I like it as a model for she explains. “If you let go a little bit,
– the results are impressive. In 2019, the first conservation. It’s quite hard normally then suddenly it’s very easy to have an
year of the programme, 957 volunteer-reared to persuade people to care about bugs,” escapee. It’s easy to catch them again, but
hoppers were released at Citizen Zoo’s two she says. the combination of wet paint and hopping
sites in Norfolk. In 2020, it was 1,192, and grasshopper is slightly chaotic.”
in 2021, when they added a third Norfolk Drinkwater confesses to becoming quite
site, just north of Sandringham, 1,068 captive attached to the hoppers she spent weeks Amy Stocking, who took part in the
hoppers found their freedom. Given that the feeding and tending to over the course of project for the first time in 2021 and kept
project costs less than £2,000 a year to run, the previous couple of summers. “I kept her hoppers in her spare room, became
it’s an impressive output. the vivarium in my living room and it was quite the dab hand at dealing with runaways:
nice, particularly with homeworking, to have “You’d see one ping and you’d think, ‘where’s
Thas the benefit of bringing these little creatures doing their thing in the it landed?’” On one occasion, a hopper
conservation into ordinary background, to have that kind of distraction bounced up at Stocking just as she was
people’s daily lives. “We are through lockdown,” she recalls. “It was
involving people in a very almost like having a pet.”
serious way to restore nature,” says Ruzo.
“We couldn’t do it without them. They are Looking after them turned out to be
making a difference.” quite straightforward. Fresh grass had to be
collected daily as feed, and water provided.
For Eleanor Drinkwater, a Cambridge- But there were some interesting moments,
based entomologist specialising in woodlice too – marking each individual with a dot
who has been involved in the programme of paint for post-release monitoring, for
example, turned out to be “a bit of a two-
man job”.

54 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

XXXXXXXXXXXX O

ELEANOR: STUART GREEN; MAIN: PAUL VAN HOOF/BUITEN BEELD/ALAMY; COMMON Grasshoppers and crickets
GREEN: ALEX HYDE/NPL; SPECKLED: GETTY; VOLUNTEERS: MARK WELCH
All you need to know and how to tell the di erence

What are grasshoppers and crickets? Short Sausage-shaped Rubs hind legs
antennae body against wings
Grasshoppers and crickets, including bush-crickets, are to ‘sing’
jumping insects belonging to the family Orthoptera. COMMON GREEN
GRASSHOPPER Come in
different
Where do they live? shapes
and sizes
Orthoptera can be found across the British Isles but
prefer the hotter, dryer weather of southern Britain.
Grasshoppers, as the name suggests, are found in grassy
places, while crickets have more diverse habitats.

What do they eat? Long, thread-
like antennae
Grasshoppers are herbivorous, while crickets will also
eat other insects.

What are their life-cycles?

Grasshopper and cricket larvae, known as nymphs,
hatch in the spring from eggs laid the previous summer.
Upon reaching adulthood, they may live for two
months, mating and laying eggs before dying.

How do they ‘sing’? SPECKLED Rubs wings
BUSH CRICKET together to sing
Crickets sing, or stridulate, by rubbing their wings
together, while grasshoppers rub their hindlegs against
their wings. The large marsh grasshopper is unusual in
that it stridulates by hitting, rather than rubbing, one
hindleg against the tip of its forewing.

is seven weeks), but they’ve seen more
unmarked adults too, living proof that the
previous years’ captive-bred hoppers have
produced offspring in the wild.

bending down to capture it. Startled, she Volunteers watch Pcontinue. “We know that
jumped – and pulled a back muscle. their captive-bred they’re breeding in the wild,
grasshoppers we know that they’re laying
There are two release days each summer. bounce away eggs in the wild, we know that
“As soon as you release them, they are the wildlings are emerging next year and
off doing their thing, munching, flying Citizen Zoo in consultation with several surviving to breed in the next year. But what
and mating – living their best lives,” says landowners in East Anglia about increasing we don’t know is, how much longer do we
Stocking. “It felt lovely to know they were the number of release sites in the area. As need to keep topping them up? When can
going off into the wild, where they are Ruzo explains, “It’s not a boom-and-bust we stop? When can we say, ‘actually, they’re
supposed to be.” The project will continue type of approach. We’re going to keep doing good, they’re fine’?”
this summer and hopefully beyond, with it until they’re restored.”
Green is hopeful about the long-term
All the signs are encouraging so far. Not future of the large marsh grasshopper in East
only has the team spotted plenty of paint- Anglia, based not just on the outcomes of the
dotted, captive-bred hoppers at their sites Citizen Zoo project thus far, but because the
many weeks post-release (the current record species is now undergoing range expansion
in Germany and the Netherlands, probably
linked to recent hot summers.

“If we can seed a few sites across East
Anglia, they will disperse and over time
they may find other sites and colonize them
naturally,” he says. “Hopefully we’ve started
a process.”

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 55

56 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

PORTFOLIO

a

BACKYARD
BEARS

As their mountainous forest
habitat is depleted, Romania’s

brown bears increasingly
venture into towns and

villages in search of food

Photos by DAVID HUP & MICHIEL VAN NOPPEN

Trip into town

An old male brown bear sneaks through a
broken fence in a Transylvanian village to search

this garden for food. Romania’s stretch of the
Carpathian Mountains hosts around 6,000 brown

bears – Europe’s largest population outside
Russia. As the fragmentation of their forest habitat

continues, they increasingly explore urban areas.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 57

PORTFOLIO

Junk food

A furry visitor to a small town in the
Carpathians indulges in some dumpster
diving (above), tipping an overloaded
bin in the hope of finding something
edible. “Bears are creatures of habit,”
explains photographer David Hup.
“For example, they inspect bins in
a specific sequence each night.”
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

David Hup is a
photographer from
the Netherlands
who documents our
interactions with
ecosystems. @huphotos
Michiel van Noppen, also
from the Netherlands,
specialises in ecology
and conservation.
@michielvannoppen
photography

Under the ridge Nosy neighbours

The Bucegi Mountains loom over A mother leads her cubs through a Transylvanian
a small town in the southern town, while two people approach their car farther up
Carpathians (left). Bears frequently the street. Urban residents are becoming accustomed
descend from the peaks’ forested to these encounters, which are risky for both species.
flanks into such towns in search of
food, often breaking fences, raiding Bear attacks on humans, usually involving hunters,
rubbish bins and destroying crops, gamekeepers or shepherds, are increasing and bears
leading to conflict with local people.
are sometimes hit by road vehicles and killed.
Trunk road
discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 59
Logs lie stacked alongside a road
in Transylvania – a common sight
throughout the Carpathian Mountains
(right). Though nearly one-third of
Romania’s land is covered by trees,
logging is reducing the brown bear’s
natural forest habitat.

Dance macabre

Revellers don skins decorated
with bushy, bright-red shoulder
tassels for the traditional Bear
Dance in Com ne ti, on the
north-eastern slopes of the
Carpathians (above). This ritual is
performed in many of the region’s
towns and villages during the last
days of December to fertilise and
purify the soil, chase away evil
spirits and welcome the new year.

Paws for thought

Even young children, such as this
blue-eyed girl in One ti (left), join
the dance, despite the weight
of the pelts – up to 50kg. The
people here also have to become
accustomed to the presence of
live bears in their town.

60 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

PORTFOLIO

Snout and about

A large female is snapped by
David and Michiel’s camera-trap
in one of Romania’s forests. In

the wild, omnivorous brown
bears adapt to the seasons: they
eat honey, insects, reptiles and

mammals when they can, plus
grass and shoots in spring, berries
in summer, then fruit and nuts in
autumn, all to lay down fat ahead

of their winter torpor.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 61

Two’s a crowd

Romania’s bear population almost
doubled during the nearly 25-year
dictatorship of Nicolae Ceau escu,
reaching an estimated 7,500 by
the time he was deposed in 1989.
Forests were managed and extra
food provided for bears, which
only the despot and his guests
were permitted to shoot. Today,
this female and her cub (above)
are among thousands competing
for limited wild habitat and food.

Wild at art

A Romanian man displays his
bear tattoo (right), reflecting the
complex relationship people here
have with their ursine neighbours.
Though bears come into conflict
with farmers and other residents,
Romanians see them as a long-
standing part of their way of life.

62 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

PORTFOLIO

Herd instinct

Dogs bred and trained to
guard livestock are extremely
aggressive – and they need to
be. As this shepherd beneath the
F g ra Mountains (above right)
knows only too well, hungry
bears and wolves frequently
target sheep in Romania.

Relics of the past

The pelts of huge bears – many
reputedly shot by Ceau escu
himself – line the walls of the
Hunting Museum in Posada
(right). Trophy hunting of bears –
as well as wolves, lynx and wild
cats – was banned in Romania
in 2016, although small numbers
can be shot each year to protect
crops, livestock and to ensure
public safety.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 63

Bear baiting

“We heard of a place where
bears emerge from the forest
to tip bins and find food, and
where they are now fed by
locals, who gather to enjoy
the ‘entertainment’,” David
reports. “When I arrived,
I found dozens of people
drinking, shouting and lighting
fireworks, waiting for dusk and
the bears to come.”

Safe sanctuary

Libearty, near Z rne ti in south-
east Transylvania, is reputedly
the world’s largest brown bear
sanctuary. It hosts more than
100 animals in near-natural
wooded enclosures (left).
Most have been rescued from
terrible conditions in captivity.

64 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Double jeopardy PORTFOLIO

Bharal are skilled climbers, able discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 65
to navigate vertiginous, icy ridges
with ease. These females were
lucky, having just escaped the
pounce of a passing leopard. The
circling vultures alerted Frédéric
to the one – or rather two – that
didn’t get away. Intrigued as to
how a leopard could have made
a double kill, Frédéric tracked the
hunter, eventually discovering
a brother-and-sister pair, both
three years old, working together.

Grave situation

The growing incidence of bear
incursions into residential areas
leads to such surreal images
as this individual crossing a
cemetery (above), en route
from its forest home to a
foraging session among the
houses. The appropriate way
to manage Romania’s bear
population is hotly debated,
particularly since attacks on
humans have become more
frequent in recent years.

Green shoots
of hope

Organisations such as
Foundation Conservation
Carpathia work to restore areas
degraded by logging. These
nursery-grown saplings (right)
will be planted in logging sites
in the F g ra Mountains.
Expanding the area of forest
and, therefore, the availability
of wild food, should reduce
bear incursions into towns.

O CONSERVATION DOGS O

Hilo and his handler
Cindy work together
to prevent an invasive
species of mussel
from taking over the
waterways of Alberta

66 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Dogs have been CONSERVATION DOGS O
herding sheep and

nding drugs for

Nyears. Now they’re

saving wildlife too.

Words and photos

SERVATIOISABELLEGROC
DOGStransformedinto just about anything. From oceans to deserts,
forests to wetlands, they can find rare, elusive
dogs, they’veor tiny species in vast landscapes, help enforce
integrated intoenvironmental laws, assist in controlling
invasive species and much more.
humans’ lives
in moreSome of the dogs that take on jobs in
conservation start out as unwanted pets.
N Awaysthananyotheranimal.Dogshavebeen Highly energetic and toy-obsessed, they’re
herding, hunting and guarding alongsideoften too much for their owners to handle.
people for thousands of years, and have beenThey end up in animal shelters where they

O long valued for their abilities to find drugs and
explosives, or locate missing persons. have little hope of being adopted until they

More recently, with growing pressures cross the path of conservation organisations

on the environment and many species on that are looking for these specific traits – traits

the brink of extinction, dogs are increasingly that will be perfect for working on wildlife

helping with conservation projects around conservation projects in rugged conditions.

the world. Conservationists and scientists The canines find a new purpose, helping the

have realised that the dog’s extraordinary species running out of options. Here are nine

sense of smell could be unleashed to detect ways dogs are working to save wildlife…

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 67

O CONSERVATION DOGS

Benny and his handler
Lauren Wendt search
containers stored in
a Seattle port

Tackling wildlife tra cking Poisoned carcasses
are especially
Washington State, USA dangerous

Benny the black Labrador sni s out shark ns Sni ng
out poison
H Benny’s finds: ivory, shark fins and firearms
USA and a major international airport, Tagus Natural Park, Portugal
Washington State is a target for the shipment and do it with a higher degree of accuracy.
of illegal wildlife products. In May 2017, the When he hits on a target, he’s immediately Pico and Chico use
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife rewarded with a game of fetch with his their noses to save lives
Police recruited Benny, a black Labrador favourite orange ball.
retriever, to help search for items such as T
rhino horns, shark fins and elephant ivory, Around the world, sniffer canines like wildlife is forbidden in Europe, toxic
which are illegally transported to the state Benny help fight the trade in endangered substances are still available to purchase,
via air and sea freight, or simply by mail. wildlife. Dogs have become an important and illegal poisoning continues, especially
weapon in the fight against elephant and as wolves and bears return in increasing
It’s time-consuming for humans to rhino poaching in Africa, where they work to numbers. In 2003, Portugal recorded its
inspect shipments by hand in an attempt to identify both animals and criminals, getting worst incident of wildlife poisoning, in
determine the contents of the packages being the scent of poachers from crime scenes. which 33 griffon vultures, three cinereous
transported. But for a master sniffer like vultures and three royal kites died after
Benny, it’s easy. He can search a large area or feeding on a poisoned sheep carcass that
many items a lot faster than a human could, was being used to control feral dogs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Detection canines were called out to
help in the fight against illegal wildlife
Isabelle Groc is an award-winning writer, poisoning. The Portuguese National
photographer and film-maker Republican Guard now employs nine
whose work focuses on dogs in different regions of the country,
wildlife conservation. Her which are trained to detect poisoned
latest book is Conservation bait in the field. Pico and Chico, both
Canines: How Dogs Work German shepherds, are two of these dogs,
for the Environment (Orca and spend most of their time looking for
Book Publishers, £18.85) poison in Central Portugal’s International
Tagus Natural Park, a biodiversity hotspot
and refuge for many threatened species,
including the Iberian imperial eagle.

Protected by a muzzle, the canines sniff
out carcasses that provide the police with
the evidence they need to track down the
perpetrators. Under the canines’ watch, the
park has become poison-free. “People talk
in cafés, hunters talk among themselves,
because they see the dogs. People know the
police have the tools to look for poison, so
they change the way they do things,” says
biologist Samuel Infante.

68 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

CONSERVATION DOGS O

Just the presence of
a detection dog such
as Pico helps deter
would-be poisoners

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 69

O CONSERVATION DOGS Socialising
cheetahs
Willow (left) and
Bahati (right) prove San Diego, USA
that cats and dogs
can get along Labrador Willow is a friend

for Bahati the cheetah

S 1980 , S D Z S
Park has assigned companion dogs to cheetahs
that are part of the zoo’s captive breeding
programme. The pairing idea began as a way to
provide play and companionship to cubs born
without siblings.

Female cheetahs are known to forsake single
cubs. When that happens, humans must step
in to raise the abandoned youngster, but cubs
have many needs that can’t be met by humans,
and that’s where the dogs come in. “There are a
lot of critical behaviours that the cub needs to
experience. Part of it is socialisation, part of it is
comfort,” says Kristi Burtis, director of wildlife
care for the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Cubs are usually paired with canine
companions when they’re about four months
old, after their vaccinations. The dogs are two
months older. The zoo safari park currently has
two cheetah-dog pairs: Bahati, a seven-year-old
female cheetah and Willow, a Labrador; and
Ruuxa, a seven-year old male cheetah and Little
Rae, a four-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback.

Protecting little penguins Maremma sheepdogs
(inset) are enabling little
Middle Island, Australia penguins to breed

Oddball the sheepdog helped a penguin colony recover

M I,
by a tidal sand bridge to Warrnambool in
southwestern Australia, used to be a great
breeding ground for little penguins, the
world’s smallest penguin species. But when
foxes discovered they could reach the island
at low tide, they nearly wiped out the colony.
By 2005 there were fewer than 10 birds left.

Meanwhile, local farmer Allan Marsh had
been training Maremma sheepdogs to protect
his chickens from foxes. This breed originated
in Italy, where they guard livestock from
wolves and bears. When Marsh heard about
the penguins, he suggested an alliance.

In 2006, Oddball was the first Maremma
tasked with protecting the penguins during
the breeding season. His presence was a huge
success – no penguins were attacked by foxes
on Oddball’s watch. The scheme continues
today, with several Maremma dogs watching
over the birds and the colony is bouncing
back, with 70-100 birds counted in 2020.

70 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

CONSERVATION DOGS O

Hilo can detect Pilot the dog
mussels faster on patrol at
than a human the airport

Preventing Zebra mussels Clearing
a mussel will spread air elds
invasion
Vancouver, Canada
Alberta, Canada
Herding dog Pilot steers
Hilo the black Labrador birds away from planes
seeks out stowaways
PF
D ,H In 2014, Alberta conducted a study take a job at Vancouver’s International
standing on the shore of Upper Kananaskis that compared the performance of Airport. He is a mudi, a Hungarian breed
Lake, ready to work. Nose to the ground, the trained canine-handler teams to human known for its strong herding instinct and
black Labrador-golden retriever cross starts inspectors in detecting mussel-fouled calm personality, and at three years old, is
sniffing out the minuscule, camouflaged boats. In the test, the dogs correctly tasked with keeping the local wildlife safe.
zebra mussel. Hilo is part of a team of three identified 100 per cent of watercraft
specially trained dogs that monitor Alberta’s harbouring mussels to the humans’ The airport is located on the Fraser River
water bodies and inspect watercraft for the 75 per cent. The canine teams also estuary, a critical crossroads for millions
presence of unwanted tiny mussels. worked more quickly and averaged of migrating birds that converge on the
3.5 minutes to inspect each boat, mudflats, marshes and shallow tidal flats. To
For Hilo and his two canine friends, including reward play after detection, reduce the risk of collisions between planes
detecting mussels is all fun and games, while it took humans more than five and birds, the Vancouver Airport Authority
but this invasive species is one of Alberta’s minutes to do the same job. Alberta operates a wildlife management programme.
greatest enemies, despite measuring just remains mussel-free for now and was For the past 15 years, dogs have been used to
2-2.5cm in length, on average. The mussels the first jurisdiction in Canada to scare birds away from the airfield.
came from eastern Europe to the Great employ detection canines to keep the
Lakes region of Canada in the late 1980s, unwelcome aquatic visitors out of the Pilot is deployed in a patrol vehicle with
catching a ride in the ballast water of cargo province’s water bodies. his handler and, together, they inspect the
ships. Once the mussels colonise a water airfield for ducks, geese and herons. When
body, they multiply quickly and harm they come across a flock, Pilot runs towards
aquatic systems, disrupting food webs and the birds at full speed, dispersing them.
outcompeting native species.
In 2020, the Airport Authority moved
1,486,555 animals from the runways, using
a variety of tactics including dogs, human
presence and pyrotechnics. “Birds can get
habituated to pyrotechnics and sirens, but
they don’t easily habituate to dogs that are
perceived as a threat,” says Prabin Joshi,
wildlife site manager and Pilot’s handler.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 71

O CONSERVATION DOGS

Before turning her skills to
finding endangered frogs,
Alli used to sniff out drugs

Tracking rare frogs TO
Canada’s most endangered amphibians.
British Columbia, Canada Fewer than 700 remain, in six isolated
populations in British Columbia. To conserve
Alli nds amphibians hiding in muddy wetlands the frogs, researchers need to understand
where they live and how they use their
Oregon spotted frogs are habitat, but finding the amphibians using
camouflaged for the wetlands traditional survey methods is laborious
72 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022 and unreliable. Surveyors must walk slowly
in knee-deep mud during the short frog-
breeding season and can easily miss them.

Enter Alli. Formerly a drug-detection
dog, Alli was retrained to sniff out Oregon
spotted frogs and has since helped to track
down these and many other endangered
species. Alli is now retired, but other dogs
are following in her footsteps. Since 2016,
six have been helping scientists from the San
Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to reintroduce
endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs in
Southern California. “Like many amphibians,
the mountain yellow-legged frogs are cryptic,
which makes them hard to detect in the
wild,” says the Alliance’s Debra Shier. “When
we get the dogs out, we can be more efficient
at evaluating the frogs’ presence or absence.”

Shier and her team are now considering
training the dogs to detect the chytrid
fungus, a deadly disease that impacts
amphibians globally.

Scaring
bears away

Montana, USA

The brave big game
hunters now helping
keep grizzlies safe

IN A ,

trouble by visiting backyards or campsites

in search of food. When bears mix with

humans, they usually lose. To prevent deadly

conflicts, biologist Carrie Hunt has turned to

Karelian bear dogs.

Originally from north-eastern Europe,

this breed is known to be fearless and

capable of standing up to large mammals

such as bears. Over the centuries, they’ve

been used to hunt big animals in Russia and

Finland. Today, these dogs are employed

in the USA to ward off bears that approach

human settlements.

Karelian puppies go through rigorous

training at the Wind River Bear Institute. In

an ultimate test of bravery, the pups must

face a taxidermied grizzly bear. Just 20 per

cent of recruits make the cut. Traveler tests
his mettle
Scat provides vital against a
insights into the taxidermied
grizzly bear
health of orcas and
dogs like Dio (inset) Scat spotting

can sniff it out Salish Sea, Washington State, USA

Doo-doo detecting dogs

F,
using dogs to find the scat of the endangered
southern resident killer whales in the Salish
Sea in Washington State. Orca scat is small
and sinks quickly, but trained detection dogs
can sniff it out from a nautical mile away,
even in fast-moving currents. Scat contains a
lot of information about an animal’s health,
diet, reproductive status. Thanks to the dogs’
help, researchers have discovered that the
orcas went through unsuccessful pregnancies
due to malnutrition and stress, a vital clue
for informing conservation efforts.

Dogs can be trained to detect the scat of
any species. When wildfires ravaged Australia
in 2020, dogs were deployed to find the scat
of injured, malnourished or isolated koalas.
The animals could then be rescued and
rehabilitated before being set free.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 73

O WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

An early incarnation of
a camera trap enabled
Frederick Walter Champion
to capture this image of
a tiger in the Sivalik Hills,
India, 1926

THE
PICTURE
PIONEERS

74 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

TIGER: F.W.CHAMPION; REGINALD: R.B LODGE/BIODIVERSITY HERITAGE LIBRARY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY O

Reginald Badham
Lodge, seen here
in a Spanish lagoon
in 1909, was one
of the first people
to take pictures
of animals in their
natural habitats

Without today’s cameras
to rely on, the rst wildlife
photographers had to be
part-madcap inventor,
part-daredevil to get the
shots that would make
their names

By GEMMA PADLEY

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 75

Capturing this
image of a tufted
puffin was a major
feat for William
Lovell Finley and
Herman Bohlman

Wis peppered with
mavericks whose e orts
and innovations laid the
foundations for the diverse,
exciting genre that exists
today. We’re so accustomed to
seeing incredible photographs

76 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY O

In the early 1900s, Cherry
Kearton used photography
to document Masai
warriors hunting a lion
during his travels in Kenya
(then British East Africa)

PUFFIN: WILLIAM L. FINLEY/OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY RESEARCH LIBRARY; of wild animals now that we rarely bat As photographic technology evolved in a trailblazer in the creation of portable
HUNT & CARCASS: RICHARD AND CHERRY KEARTON an eyelid at charismatic portraits of rare the decades around the turn of the century, photographic hides, was behind the infamous
species. But wildlife photography wasn’t wildlife photographs became not just easier taxidermy ox hide, which, on one occasion,
always as ubiquitous as it is today, neither to take, but also more creative. Leading toppled over after he fainted inside it. In
was it always as easy to photograph animals the way in those years were the Kearton 1892, the brothers took the first photograph
in the wild. brothers, Richard and Cherry. The pair grew of birds’ eggs in a nest, and in 1895, produced
up in North Yorkshire and became famous the first natural history book illustrated with
It began with photography enthusiasts for their innovative and sometimes bizarre photographs: British Birds’ Nests: How, Where
of the mid-to-late 19th century. Early methods of photographing birds, which and When to Find and Identify Them.
subjects of theirs included big game killed involved climbing ladders tied to the highest
on safari or animals in zoos, since dead or tree branches and hanging off cliffs. Richard, Cherry, who has been called the
caged animals were easier to photograph Attenborough of his age, went on to work in
than animals in the wild, which tended to be The Keartons’ early
difficult to find and fast moving. Birds on experiments with British East Africa (present-day
their nests were another favourite because photography hides Kenya). In 1909, he visited the
they stayed relatively still. didn’t always go country to capture images of
smoothly big game and narrowly escaped
ABOUT THE AUTHOR death after he was charged
by a rhino. One particularly
Gemma Padley lives in Suffolk and striking photograph he took
has been writing about depicts Masai warriors hunting
photography since a lion. Another shows a lion
2007. Her recent book is staring into the camera, lit by
Into The Wild: The Story magnesium flash powder, an
of the World’s Greatest image thought to be the first
Wildlife Photography flashlight photo ever taken of
(Laurence King, £40).
a bush lion.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 77

Cherry Kearton caught the
first photo of a bush lion
at night by using flash

Another early pioneer was English They would wade through choppy
ornithologist Reginald Badham Lodge, who water and lie precariously on
was awarded the first medal for nature rocks to capture shots
photography by the Royal Photographic
Society in 1895. He began taking photographs One of the most celebrated A jacklighting-inspired rig
in the 1890s, around the same time as the early wildlife photographers is helped George Shiras III get
Keartons, and successfully captured the first George Shiras III, an American his shots of wildlife at night
remote image of a wild bird – a lapwing – in often referred to as the ‘father
the UK. He also invented an electric shutter of wildlife photography’. Shiras
activated by a bird’s foot. was the first person to use
camera-traps and flash to
WLF capture images of wild animals,
and Herman Bohlman and became famous for photos
are other important taken at night. To create his
figures in the early beautiful and haunting pictures,
history of wildlife he adapted a hunting technique
photography, celebrated for their conservation called ‘jacklighting’, which
efforts and dedication to their work. They involves using a flame to catch
would wade through choppy water with heavy an animal’s attention. Shiras
camera equipment, and lie precariously on used a kerosene lamp instead
rocks to capture shots. Their image of a tufted of a flame and triggered his
puffin on a rocky outcrop taken in 1903 looks
unremarkable by today’s standards, but when
you remember that they were working with
bulky gear in challenging conditions and doing
something that had never been done before, it
really is a spectacular achievement.

78 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY O

BOAT: DEVOS ART MUSEUM, NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY; LION: RICHARD AND CHERRY KEARTON; RAZORBILLS: FRANK M CHAPMAN/ A gannet flies over puffins, razorbills and Reginald Badham Where there’s a will...
BIODIVERSITY HERITAGE LIBRARY; TREE: RICHARD KEARTON; LAPWING: R.B. LODGE/BIODIVERSITY HERITAGE LIBRARY guillemots in Frank Chapman’s photograph Lodge was the first to The Kearton brothers
remotely photograph went to great lengths
camera’s shutter instead of a gun. An avid a wild bird in the UK to photograph birds’
hunter who eventually exchanged his rifle nests and eggs
for a camera, Shiras was an early advocate
of so-called ‘camera hunting’. discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 79

Camera-traps were also used for
scientific research in the early days
of photography. Ornithologist Frank
Michler Chapman was the first person to
use a camera-trap for this purpose and
photographed all manner of birds and
small mammals. Working from the late 19th
century into the early 20th, his subjects
included gannets, murres, puffins, razorbills
and other oceanic birds, as well as ocelots,
coatimundi, peccaries and tapir on Barro
Colorado Island, Panama.

I 1920 , B
conservationist and photographer
Frederick Walter Champion used a
tripwire and flash to capture some
of the earliest images of tigers at
night. Champion, like Chapman, brought us
startlingly close, presenting the tiger in a way
it hadn’t been seen before.

The use of camera-traps is commonplace
now, with these devices not only allowing us
to spy on our local garden wildlife, but also
playing a vital role in conservation efforts,
particularly for elusive species in remote and
inaccessible locations. Yet in Champion’s
time, this was still relatively unexplored
territory. The resulting images – their quality
and the access they provide – are therefore
even more impressive.

It wasn’t until much later (at least the
mid-20th century) that photographs of
animals began to be less about making a
record of an animal and more concerned
with composition and artistry. The naturalist
Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore was one of
the photographers who paved the way for

O WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

Developing a high-speed
flash set-up enabled
Stephen Dalton to catch
the fine details of this
brown basilisk running
across the water’s surface

this change – his images go beyond being In a number of his photographs,
photographic records and possess great the animals appear to be almost
artistic flair. In 1906 Dugmore (who was
also a talented artist and made etchings and posing for their portraits
oil paintings during his travels) travelled
to British East Africa, as it was then. He the first colour photograph underwater. Other early 20th-century innovators ERIC: ERIC HOSKING CHARITABLE TRUST; BASILISK: STEPHEN DALTON/NATUREPL.
photographed hippos, lions and giraffes Their image of a hogfish off the Florida include the great Eric Hosking, perhaps COM; HYENA & BUGGY: WILL BURRARD LUCAS/NATUREPL.COM
among many other species. In a number of Keys used the autochrome process – an the most famous bird photographer ever to
his photographs, the animals appear to be early method of colour photography that have lived. His 60-year career saw him use
almost posing for their portraits. relied on glass plates coated with tiny grains flashbulbs in the 1930s to capture images of
of potato starch dyed green, orange-red nocturnal birds, and the electronic flash in
Innovation also happened at sea. In the late 1940s to depict birds in flight.
1926, William Longley, a professor of and blue-violet, then covered
biology and botany, and Charles Martin, a with emulsion. As well as H’
staff photographer at National Geographic a waterproof housing for person breaking new
magazine, made history when they took their camera, they also used ground in the depiction of
magnesium flash powder to moving subjects. Fellow
Bird photographer illuminate their subjects. When English photographer
Eric Hosking with their camera’s shutter was Stephen Dalton achieved international
his hide released, a battery on a separate acclaim for his pioneering images of insects,
raft was tripped, which would birds and animals. When Dalton began
set light to the powder. This photographing insects in the 1960s, camera
rather dangerous technique was technology was not sufficiently advanced
effective: it allowed the duo to to capture moving subjects with clarity. His
illuminate the sea to a depth of response was to tackle problems such as

nearly 5m.

Will Burrard-Lucas used
his BeetleCam to capture
this almost eye-level,
close-up shot of a hyena

The remote-controlled and the launch of publications such to take us even closer to animals such as
BeetleCam lets as Animals, later to be renamed hyenas, lions, elephants and buffalo, and he
BBC Wildlife, the public became has made a name for himself as a specialist
photographers get increasingly more aware of in this area of wildlife photography. His
even closer conservation issues. Nature technically proficient and highly creative
photography was to move to the images show what is possible with modern
to their subjects heart of that, becoming much digital cameras and their greatly improved
more than just an art form. low-light capabilities.
shutter delay and movement head-on, and he We’ve since seen the
developed a special high-speed flash set-up emergence of an exciting new Another innovator who is changing the
that allowed him to record how insects, birds genre: conservation photography, course of wildlife photography is young
and animals move through the air – or, in the Hungarian photographer Bence Máté.
case of a brown basilisk, across water. which tells the broader tale of the His innovative one-way glass hides allow
connections between humans and the photographers to observe and photograph
Photography’s ability to inform as wildlife whose space we share. It’s an wildlife at close range without disturbing
well as captivate has only grown in recent effective tool for preserving species and it. Máté’s hides are installed in Hungary,
decades. By the 1960s, thanks to the work of biodiversity, creating a narrative for nature South Africa, Romania and Brazil, giving
conservationists such as Sir Peter Scott, one and sparking conversations about how we photographers access to animals such as
of the founders of the World Wildlife Fund can make a difference. herons, otters, great white egrets, hamerkop
(now the World Wide Fund for Nature), and pied kingfisher.
Bcontinue – and it is.
The recent work of British Wildlife photography continues to
photographer Will Burrard- surprise and enthral, and as the technology
Lucas includes images of improves, the images become ever more
African wildlife photographed at night captivating. As long as there’s an appetite to
using two wireless off-camera flashes and learn about the animals on this planet, there
a remote-controlled buggy with a DSLR will be photographers who’ll capture images
camera attached. This so-called BeetleCam, of them; images that inform and inspire, but
invented by Burrard-Lucas, has allowed him also serve as a call to action to protect those
animals and their habitats. I can’t wait to see
what the next decade brings.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 81

Email your questions to
[email protected]

Can mammals
glow in the dark?

STUART BLACKMAN ANSWERS water opossum, for example, and its fur reflects
it back as purple light. Northern flying squirrels
All sorts of organisms – insects, fungi, algae similarly fluoresce in pink. Late last year, it
and deep-sea fish – are capable of producing was discovered that, given the same treatment,
visible light, either chemically (referred platypus fur glows green.
to as bioluminescence) or by reflecting
ultraviolet (UV) light at visible wavelengths The function of these light shows is not
(fluorescence). It’s not something that clear. It may be a way for individuals to keep in
mammals are famous for, but a handful of touch visually in the dark. Another possibility is
nocturnal and crepuscular species do have the that converting UV to other wavelengths makes
capability. Shine UV light on a South American an animal less likely to attract the attention of
UV-sensitive predators.

82 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Flaps of skin between
their front and back legs
allow northern flying
squirrels to glide, while
a chemical in their fur
means it glows pink
under UV light (inset)

Cheery celandine
petals are yellow
because of their
carotenoid pigment

What gives di erent
plants di erent colours?

DAVE HAMILTON ANSWERS visible, such as carotenoids, flavonoids
and anthocyanins.
Plants owe their colours to various
pigments. Leaves are green due to Some fruits and flowers also owe their
the pigment chlorophyll. In order to colour to anthocyanins, their bright hues
photosynthesise, they absorb light from attracting either pollinators or animals
the red end of the light spectrum, reflecting to distribute their seeds. Carotenoids are
back unused green light. When leaves turn responsible for yellows, oranges and reds.
in autumn, the chlorophyll goes into decline Flavonoids are highly variable, making
and other colour pigments become more everything from purple to yellows, while
betalains make reds to purples.

BBC WILDLIFE EXPERTS

STUART BLACKMAN JV CHAMARY DAVE HAMILTON LAURIE JACKSON FLYING SQUIRREL: STEPHEN DALTON/NPL CONTROLLED CONDITIONS ;
Horticulturalist Wildlife tour leader INSET: J.MARTIN/NORTHLAND COLLEGE; CELANDINE: NICK HIGHAM/ALAMY
Science writer Biologist

RICHARD JONES DAVID LINDO SARAH MCPHERSON ASK US
Entomologist Naturalist BBC Wildlife
Email your
questions to
wildquestions
@immediate.

co.uk

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 83

QA Where did OWL: CLAUDE BALCAEN/BIOSPHOTO/MINDEN; DOVE: SIMON BRATT/ALAMY; SHIELDBUG: ROD WILLIAMS/NATUREPL.COM; FROGFISH: ALEX MUSTARD/NATUREPL.COM
collared
Parent bugs doves
are so-called originate?
because of
the mother’s DAVID LINDO ANSWERS
maternal instincts
They might be familiar birds in our
How does a parent towns and cities, but collared doves were
bug guard her eggs? unknown in the UK before the 1950s – the
early vagrants that showed up in Norfolk
drew crowds of twitchers. The spread of
the Eurasian collared dove, often described
as one of the great avian colonisers, is an
ornithological wonder.

This pigeon isn’t migratory but strongly
dispersive, having spread from its natal
range in subtropical Asia west to Turkey.
It seemed to have a built-in predisposition
to head west. In 1838, it was first reported
in Bulgaria, by the early 1900s, the Balkans,
Germany by 1945 and Great Britain by 1953,
where the first breeding occurred in 1956.
Three years later the doves were in Ireland
and then the northerly climes of the Faroe
Islands by the early 1970s.

RICHARD JONES ANSWERS and may even head-butt the attacker. She’s Collared doves are a familar sight having
also partially effective against egg-parasitoid spread over much of western Europe
After laying her eggs in June, on the ‘fairyflies’ – tiny parasitoid wasps. By
underside of a birch leaf, a female of the clamping down over her eggs she can save
shieldbug species Elasmucha grisea (the those in the centre of the clutch, forfeiting
parent bug) sits guard over them – a rare just those at the periphery.
example of maternal care in an insect. She
is an effective deterrent against predators The mother can remain with her family
(mostly ants, but also other bugs). She until the nymphs are nearly fully grown,
makes herself into a barrier, flexes her accompanying them on feeding forays
wings in an escalating response to danger, across the leaves. Removing her from the
leaf usually means all the eggs die.

RECORD BREAKER! A Blakiston fish FACT
owl hunts on a .
What’s the frozen river
largest owl? Walruses don’t
just use their
That title belongs to the Blakiston fish owl. impressive tusks
Fully grown males weigh about 3.5kg, for fighting. The
while the slightly bigger females can reach giant mammals also
4.6kg. More impressive, however, are use their elongated
the Blakistons’ wingspans, which can be canine teeth to help
up to 200cm. It’s found in China, Japan haul themselves
and north-eastern Asia, and, as its name out of the frigid
suggests, preys on river-dwelling fish. Arctic waters and
At the other end of the scale is the elf owl, onto dry land.
which is about the size of a tin of beans.

84 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

WHAT

ON EARTH?

Baited

last breath

Death by frogfish is probably not a
bad way to go, all things considered.
You’re pootling around happily on a reef
when your eye is caught by a morsel
of deliciousness wriggling amongst the
sponges below. Tastebuds tingling in
anticipation, you move in to investigate.
Perhaps there’s the briefest moment
of realisation that something isn’t quite
right. But there’s no time to reconsider. In
a matter of milliseconds, you are sucked
into a cavernous mouth and the lights go
out. This painted frogfish off the island of
Sulawesi, Indonesia, is displaying its lure
– an exquisitely modified dorsal fin. SB

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 85

QA FAST ANSWERS

Horns and thick skulls
may not be enough
to protect musk ox

Does butting heads give Amsterdam albatrosses CITRUS: GETTY; ALBATROSS: DEAGOSTINI/GETTY; MUSKOX: TONI PFAFFENBAUER/GETTY
animals concussion? are found on one island

LAURIE JACKSON ANSWERS The dead and dying neurons she found Where’s the
inside these animals’ brains may lead to Amsterdam
Head-butting is used by some pigs, sheep degeneration similar to that seen in humans albatross
and goats, even whales and dolphins, to after recurrent blows the head. But while actually from?
settle disputes and display dominance. we now know repeated head-butting
Until recently, it was assumed that these can cause long-term damage, The Amsterdam albatross (also called
animals’ thick skulls and horns protected we don’t know enough about the Amsterdam Island albatross) hails
them, but by studying the brains of musk ox animal behaviour to tell whether from Amsterdam Island, which lies slap
and bighorn sheep, evolutionary biologist they’re suffering from concussion bang in the middle of the southern
Nicole Ackermans has found signs that the symptoms, which include headaches, Indian Ocean. Its predilection for this
repeated blows are causing injuries. feeling dazed and memory loss. one island has not worked in its favour
– there are only about 130 of these
birds left alive today due to habitat loss
and longline fishing. SM

Are there
any predatory
caterpillars?

Yes: about 200 butterfly and moth
species have carnivorous caterpillars.
Some Hawaiian moth larvae will
masquerade as twigs, before striking
rapidly if an insect brushes against
their sensitive body hairs. They have
talon-like legs that offer little chance of
escape as they consume their catch.
Others target snails, entering the shell.
In the UK, large blue butterfly larvae
consume ant pupae. LJ

Why do plants
produce vitamin C?

Vitamin C helps humans to absorb iron,
fight off colds and heal scars, as well
as protecting our cells from free radical
damage. For plants, this vitamin may

also have a protective effect against
everyday stresses such as ultraviolet
radiation and drought, and could be
the very reason everything from

parsley and peppers to oranges
and lemons produces it.
Without it plants
could struggle to
grow, succumbing
to the radiation
in sunlight. DH

86 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

deposits that have been valued as Pearls: no less
precious gemstones throughout beautiful for being
human history. They’re made by little more than
various molluscs, including snail- inside-out shells
like gastropods such as abalones,
but the majority of commercial INSTANT EXPERT
pearls are harvested from bivalves
Pearls: what lies
P(two-shelled molluscs), such as behind their beauty?

marine oysters and freshwater mussels WITH EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGIST JV CHAMARY
(see our mussels feature in the April issue).
TREE: TIM GRAHAM/GETTY; PEARL: IMAGEBROKER/ALAMY which its minerals are deposited – an colour isn’t due to pigments, but how its
What is a pearl made of? artificial pearl forms around that nucleus structure scatters light at a sub-microscopic
and its nacre is just an outer shell, whereas level. In fact, the scientist who first
The same materials used in a shell, the a natural pearl is made of shell alone. It observed organisms under a microscope
mollusc’s exoskeleton. Shells consist of the takes at least a year before cultured pearls in 1665, Robert Hooke, noted that peacock
mineral calcium carbonate in an ordered can be harvested. feathers consist of thin plates that resemble
arrangement to form a crystal, of either pearlescent shells. Similarly, a pearl gets its
calcite or aragonite, and a matrix of organic What is mother-of-pearl? ‘structural colour’ from tablets of aragonite
molecules that includes a key protein called crystals and conchiolin sheets within
conchiolin. The crystals are layered and It’s the common name for the nacre or nacre: the tablets are stacked in a brick-
make up more than 95 per cent of a pearl ‘nacreous layer’ that causes a pearl’s surface wall pattern, which causes light particles
or shell. to reflect light while giving it a translucent (photons) to bounce around internally
lustre. That pearlescent quality is arguably at a pearl’s surface – between crystal
What’s the difference between pearls the most beautiful feature, but some pearls layers – like pinballs in a machine before
and shells? have little to no nacre, so they appear the light reaches your eyes. That scattering
smooth and chalky. Such ‘non-nacreous’ influences how light is transmitted, creating
Besides overall shape, they differ in how pearls include the largest natural pearl a colour filter, so a pearl’s appearance
their layers are deposited. The materials certified by the Gemological Institute of depends on the thickness of crystal layers
that make up a shell are secreted by the America: the Giga Pearl, which was formed in its nacre.
mantle, a large multi-purpose organ on a by a giant clam, weighs 27kg and has an
mollusc’s back. A shell can include three estimated worth of up to US$200 million NEXT MONTH WITH JV
concentric layers made by different zones (approximately £150 million).
of the mantle: an inner layer called nacre, THE TREE OF LIFE
a porcelain-like ‘prismatic’ middle layer, What creates a pearl’s colour?
and a protein-rich outer layer with ‘skin’ Does it represent evolution?
(periostracum). Within a ‘pearl sac’, these Nacreous pearls can be anything from
same layers are deposited in the opposite silver-white or orange to green or black
order to that of the shell, so pearls are (pink is the most desirable). Like the blue-
basically inside-out shells with nacre on on-brown eyes of peacock’s tail, a pearl’s
the outside. Comparing mantles and pearl
sacs shows they’re made using the same
genetic instructions – there are no special
genes for making pearls.

How does a pearl form naturally?

Contrary to popular belief, pearl formation
is not normally triggered by a foreign
object, such as a grain of sand. Instead,
pearl formation typically begins after an
injury that transports cells of the shell-
forming mantle to an abnormal location
(for example when the shell is pierced or
a parasite burrows into a mollusc’s body).
Those relocated cells then divide and
develop into a ‘pearl sac’. Natural pearls
are incredibly rare.

How are artificial pearls produced?

Cultured pearls are produced by humans
transplanting mantle cells from a donor
animal into another individual. The donor
cells can even be put into a closely related
species without tissue rejection by the
host’s immune system. Few natural pearls
are a perfect sphere, but mantle tissue is
often inserted with a spherical bead around

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 87

GoWILD!
Your guide to getting closer
to nature this month

FILM HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH

Memoirs of
a polar bear
mother

Polar Bear memories in preparation for motherhood and the fact that it’s aimed at families. It
in a challenging world. may cause some viewers to become less
From 22nd April, Disney+ engaged and a little cycnical about the
Technically it’s not the same bear story. However, unlike some other nature
Cinto the minds of polar bears? followed throughout, since filming was films aimed at families, it doesn’t shy
This new Disneynature film from restricted to just one spring. However, away from the killing and consumption
the award-winning company the shots are weaved together to create a of other animals by our protagonist and
Silverback Films attempts to do memorable and heart-warming story, with her cubs (even including an adorable baby
so, dramatising the life of a female a dash of worry for how polar bears will walrus pup). In fact, the film is classified
polar bear, from playing with her brother survive in the future. as a PG, the first Disneynature film to be
as a cub to beginning to raise her own rated as such. Although it does manage to
cub. Narration is provided by the two- The choice to make this a first-person skirt around exactly how the female polar
time Academy Award nominee Catherine narration film from the perspective of bear ends up with her own cub, just a few
Keener, and comes from the perspective the female polar bear is an interesting months after spending time with a rather
of the female bear looking back at her and unusual one. There’s some serious impressive male polar bear...
anthropomorphism going on, but that’s to
88 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022 be expected with this narration decision,

Alastair (pictured left) and
Jeff (inset) have worked
together on a number of
documentaries, including
Frozen Planet

MEET THE DIRECTORS

Alastair Fothergill
and Je Wilson

The lmakers give us a glimpse into the lives
of polar bears surviving in Arctic Norway

A female bear faces the How did the idea for this film about the character we had originally imagined. POLAR BEAR: FLORIAN LEDOUX/DISNEY; ALASTAIR FOTHERGILL AND JEFF WILSON: DISNEY+
challenges of survival polar bears come about? But the magic that came together when
alone in the snow-covered the first-person narrative was delivered by
landscapes of Norway’s This project has been a passion of Alastair’s Catherine – that was totally unexpected.
Svalbard archipelago for over 10 years. We both worked on
the BBC’s Frozen Planet series, and from How did you choose which polar bears
those early experiences of working in the to follow and film?
Arctic with bears, we were both aware
of the powerful narrative that surrounds Actually, it is the bears who choose to work
this iconic animal, and aware of how that with you, rather than the other way around.
narrative is becoming more and more We are always incredibly mindful of the
important to tell as the Arctic changes due bears who are more shy and want to keep
to global warming. On top of that, polar their distance, so we only tend to work with
bears are fascinating – highly intelligent those who are more willing to allow us into
problem-solvers living on the edge in a jaw- their world to observe their behaviour. For
droppingly beautiful environment, which is this film, we did end up working with some
a great starting point for any film! absolute stars though. It takes a very special
and confident mother bear to allow you to
What prompted the decision to have observe the inner workings of her family, so
Catherine Keener narrate in first-person? in that regard, we were extremely lucky.

Writing a feature-length narrative in the What’s your favourite part of the film?
first person is extremely tricky, and has
never been done in this format before, so There is a unique and previously unseen
we were understandably nervous at first. moment when the female protagonist meets
However, as our story evolved, it became a young male bear out on the sea ice. The
clear that it gave us a powerful way to crew had ever seen anything like it. As they
communicate the experience of a female were not a threat to one another, and they
bear from her childhood through to her were not ready to mate, they simply revelled
adult life. When we tested voices for the in each other’s company, and spent hours
narrator, Catherine Keener’s was standout playing. It is such a privileged view of a
for us and completely suited the tone of bear’s life that is rarely seen.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 89

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Fairy Garden

By Georgia Buckthorn, illustrated by Isabella Mazzanti, Ivy Kids, £9.99

A, gardening outfits, she doesn’t spot any
be just about fairies and Mimi, the fairies living in her garden. They come to
little girl of the story, dreaming visit, and explain that actually she’d raked
about seeing them in her garden, away their nests, made their pet caterpillars
but there’s another layer to this sick and generally made the garden
story. She wants to create “the very unsuitable for fairies.
best garden” for the fairies to live in, and
starts on tidying up her garden in order to Mimi works hard again to make her
make it perfect; pulling up weeds, flicking garden better for the fairies, who return to
away caterpillars, raking up leaves, and live amongst the flowers and other species.
spraying plants to keep bugs away. “There The book ends with advice on how make a
could be no garden more perfect in the fairy- (wildlife-) friendly garden, and how to
whole wide world, she thought.” But make a little house for a fairy to live in. It’s
despite all her hard work, in her adorable a lovely tale, perfect for any children that
dream of magical fairies and love wildlife.

Elite climber
Alex Honnold
leads the way

DOCUMENTARY HIGHLIGHT

Explorer:
The Last Tepui

From 22nd April, Disney+

This film from National Geographic takes
exploration to new heights – and viewing
isn’t for the faint-hearted! During this
one-hour Earth Day special, an elite
climbing team trek into the Amazon jungle
to make the first ascent of a 300m-high
tepui – the name for the table-top
mountains found in South America. Home
to unique biodiversity found nowhere else,
the team aim to help legendary biologist
Bruce Means search for undiscovered
animal species along the way.

BOOKS ROUND UP The Sloth Deer Man Wild City
Lemur’s Song
I Bought A Mountain By Geoffroy Delorme, By Florence Wilkinson,
By Alison Richard, Little, Brown Book Group, £16.99 Orion Publishing, £16.99
By Thomas Firbank, HarperCollins Publishers, £25
Short Books, £16.99 Photographer As human
Discover the and lecturer society has
Originally mysteries of Geoffroy become
published in Madagascar Delorme increasingly
1940, this new with Dame upped sticks urbanised,
edition brings Alison Richards, and moved a number of
the classic to a one of the into the animal, plant
new generation world’s best national forest and fungi
of nature lovers. primatologists, species have
This captivating of Louviers,
who has spent Normandy, to successfully
memoir tells more than live with wild adapted to
the story of 50 years studying lemurs. This deer. With no shelter or even our encroachments into their
21-year-old book encompasses and weaves a sleeping bag or blanket, he habitats. This book introduces
Thomas Firbank’s impulse together wildlife, geology, learns to adapt to their way of our urban neighbours and
purchase of a hill farm in climate and society. life and befriends them. shows how we can protect them.
Snowdonia, and the struggles
that he and his wife then face.

90 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

ID GUIDE

Look out for
pretty violets

Violets are low-growing perennials
that can look similar to pansies,
and each other. The sweet violet is
scented, whilst the ‘dog’ in the name of
the others refers to their lack of scent.
More ID guides are on our website:
discoverwildlife.com/identify-wildlife

EARLY DOG VIOLET

The first of the violets to bloom,
its flowers can sometimes be white
or lilac in colour.

THE LAST TEPUI: RENAN OZTURK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC; VIOLETS: FELICITY ROSE COLE; ELEPHANT: BBC NHU Angelina the
matriarch
elephant
charges at a
pride of lions

COMMON DOG VIOLET TV SERIES HIGHLIGHT
With purplish flowers, this violet
species is widespread and lives in a Dynasties II
variety of habitats.
Watch on BBC iPlayer
SWEET VIOLET
Our only fragrant violet, with creeping M8 clan-leader Suma. Celebrated broadcaster
long runners, growing mainly on enthralled by the drama of the David Attenborough returns as the narrator
calcareous soils. first Dynasties series in 2018, which for the series, his familiar voice providing
followed David the chimpanzee, an intimate insight into the lives of these
Charm the lioness, Blacktip the different species.
painted wolf and more. The
success of this, and the meerkat special There’s numerous filming firsts in the
in 2020, means that we’re being treated series – both for animal behaviour and
to a second series. This time, the focus camera technology – including a prolonged
is on four female mammals and their territorial battle between two female
families – three in Africa and one in South pumas, an elephant mother raising twins,
America. There’s Angela the matriarch an elephant stampede shot with a gyro-
African savannah elephant, cheetah Kali, stabilised camera, a cheetah interacting with
Rupestre the puma and spotted hyena a mole rat, and the power struggle between
two females to lead a hyena clan.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 91

Mike keeps busy 5 THINGS
volunteering with WE LOVE
three conservation
organisations 1

MEET THE VOLUNTEER Seedball hedgehog mix, £6.50,
seedball.co.uk
“We’re working with
farmers to help curlews” 2

Protecting curlew nests and chairing meetings Dewdrop bee
is all in a day’s work for ecologist Mike Pollard & bug hotel,
£21.99, wildlife
MIKE POLLARD: MARK THORLEY M 30 with their work, especially when decisions world.co.uk
RSPB in nature reserve management, and need to be made. There’s rarely a day
now juggles volunteering with paid work when I’m not volunteering in some shape 3
as a freelance ecologist. He currently or form – responding to emails, reading
volunteers as the chair of the Gay Birders and critiquing board papers for quarterly Clouded leopard
Club (GBC), a trustee for Berks, Bucks BBOWT meetings, giving presentations, gin, £31.90,
and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), and organising meetings, keeping up to date cloudedleopardgin.
a conservation offficer for the Banbury with curlew research and management co.uk
Ornithological Society (BOS), where his techniques, as well as planning and
main focus is curlew conservation. undertaking the all-important curlew 4
fieldwork from March to July.
Why do you choose to volunteer? Hare oven
What project are you working on now? glove, £24.99,
I’m motivated to help nature and I enjoy robertefuller.com
working with other people to make a At the moment my main project is curlew
difference locally. I think in the current recovery, which I lead on for BOS. We have 5
crisis facing nature, everyone who enjoys about 50 pairs of curlews breeding in the
wildlife should help support nature Upper Thames catchment and like most DIY beeswax
conservation in whatever way they can. populations of lowland curlews in England, wrap kit, £30,
I find it very rewarding to be able to use they’ve declined in recent decades. We’re beeswaxwraps.co.uk
my skills and experience to help, but it can working with farmers to help curlews by
be tough going as well when you see bird protecting their nests with electric fencing
populations declining and there is often during incubation. This has been shown to
little you can do to help. be an effective way of increasing breeding
success and our initial work shows promise.
What does your volunteering involve? It’s demanding work for volunteers as the
nests are hard to locate and the electric
My role as the chair of GBC includes fencing has to be put up in about half an
chairing our committee meetings and AGM, hour – this requires a lot of practice!
as well as supporting committee members

92 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

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94 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Morning
ruckus

During a recent trip
to the grasslands
of Tal Chhapar
in north-western
Rajasthan, I noticed
two blackbucks
chasing each other
and vying for a fight.
It was just after
sunrise and I was so
amazed to see the
duelling behaviour
of these Indian
antelopes during
the golden hour.
Sudhanshu Tiwari,
Indore, India

Bringing
up baby

A tiny ‘mother’
reed parrotbill in
Shandong, China,
feeds a cuckoo
chick while standing
on the giant baby’s
back, having no
idea that it evicted
her own offspring
to make sure that
it gets all the food
from the deceived
‘foster parents’.
Tony Zhang, London

Dropping in

This cabbage white butterfly floated into my garden in the
Midlands, so I quickly grabbed my camera and took this
photograph whilst it was resting. It was polite enough to
pose for a while before it went on its way.
Andrew Dunshee, Sutton Coldfield

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 95

Cognisant cuttle sh

Watching the alien life form of a stunning
Australian cuttlefish showing genuine signs of
curiosity on a dive, I knew that sentience can
be measured in many different forms!
Lewis Burnett, Torphins, Scotland

The last rays

I was able to capture this rabbit enjoying
the last few minutes of a golden sunset
in Richmond Park. I love the beautiful rich
colours that are given off from the flowers.
Mitchell Lewis, Gold Coast, Australia

River reward Send your pics to discoverwildlife.com/
submit-your-photos for a chance to win!
I thought that the best way to photograph
dippers would be from a half-underwater
perspective, to show them in their riverine
environment. It took several years of
attempts to get this shot. The icing on the
cake was the shrimp in its beak!
Joshua Harris, Bath

96 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022

Laurent has Fancy featuring
spent long as BBC Wildlife’s
hours in hides Photo of the Day?

SNAP-CHAT Then post your image on
Facebook, Instagram or Twitter
WITH BBC WILDLIFE PICTURE EDITOR TOM GILKS with the tag #BBCWildlifePOTD.
Each day, we will select the
Laurent Geslin talks lions, European very best wildlife photograph
lynx – and missing the lynx and share it with our followers
across all the BBC Wildlife social
How did you get into photography? explained that I was looking for great tits media platforms. SNAP CHAT: LAURENT GESLIN; ANEMONE: MARTIN STEVENS; PUFFINS: EMMA LEGER
and nice birds with my long lens. Just make sure to include...
I’ve loved nature from an early age. O The common English name
I started off watching wildlife through What’s been your closest shave?
binoculars, then bought a cheap zoom lens Recently, I was in Niokolo-Koba National and/or scientific names of
to photograph roe deers near my home in Park, Senegal, with my wife and son. We the species
Brittany. The passion never left me. were in a tiny hide made of long grass, O The location where the
which had large open windows. We could photograph was taken
What shot is most important to you? hear a lion roaring and were all very excited.
Suddenly he appeared and walked right Share your passion with our
My first image of a female lynx with her towards us. He stopped 3m away, staring at community, and get your work
three kittens, in 2013. I’d spent four days us for a very long minute before moving on. out there and seen!
in a hide, and finally getting the shot was a I thought my heart was going to explode.
very emotional moment. It was my wife’s Join us online...
birthday at the time and friends had come What’s your poorest photographic yield?
over to celebrate. I missed the entire party. I once spent 96 consecutive days in a hide @bbcwildlifemagazine
at a spot where a male lynx was known to @WildlifeMag
What’s your biggest ‘oh drat it’ moment? call during the breeding season. I saw him @wildlifemagazine
twice. The first time, he vanished after a few
Two years ago, in the early hours, I was minutes. The second, he hid behind a tree. discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 97
asleep in my hide. I was woken by a lynx
calling just 50m away. I slowly reached for Any advice to budding photographers?
my camera and was just focussing when it Concentrate on one species. It can be a
turned and left. common one, but try to capture every
element of its behaviour.
You’ve done a lot of urban photography.
Has anyone ever questioned what you Laurent is a wildlife photographer based
were doing? in Switzerland. laurent-geslin.com

Years ago, I was living in London and my
English was not very good. I got stopped a
few times, and people would laugh when I

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The crossword

ACROSS

1 Insect order that includes wasps, bees
and ants (11)
7 Painted ___, wild canine that is native to
Sub-Saharan Africa (3)
9 Flatworm larva (5)
10 Long-legged wading bird, Ardea cinerea,
commonly seen in the UK (4,5)
11 Small wader that might be red-necked, grey
or Wilson’s (9)
12 Male duck (5)
13 See 28
15 Earthworm habitat (4)
18 Leg or arm; branch (4)
20 Poisonous plant that also goes by the
name stinking nightshade (7)
23 Freshwater fish related to carp (5)
24 Another name for the k k p (3,6)
26 Large flightless bird of Australia and New
Guinea, with a colourful head (9)
27 Chlorella and kelp, for example (5)
28/13 Spiny marine echinoderms (3,7)
29 Soft-bodied marine predators in the
phylum Cnidaria (3,8)

DOWN 17 Hovering falcons (8) March answers
19 A term for scientific information about
1 North American fish with barbels, also called living things (7) Across: 6 roaring, 7 Florida, 9 clock,
the brown bullhead (8) 20 Archaic name for a kingfisher (7) 10 Alexander, 11 eelpout, 13 silver, 15 Indian
2 Period of early spring when the first 21 Spring flowers in the iris family (6) bustard, 19 abloom, 20 Diptera, 23 High Weald,
wheatears arrive in the UK (3-5) 22 Tree with aromatic bark, also called 24 Acari, 26 roe deer, 27 catfish. Down: 1 sago,
3 Spiral-horned African antelope (5) Chinese cinnamon (6) 2 Ginkgo, 3 eglantine, 4 botanist, 5 biodiverse,
4 Feral ___, city-living birds (7) 25 Warning call, such as that often made 6 rocket, 7 feet, 8 aurora, 12 long-legged,
5 Characteristic of the Mexican tetra or blind by the blackbird (5) 14 ruddy duck, 16 ironweed, 17 dasher,
cave fish (7) 18 radish, 21 plants, 22 parr, 25 acid.
6 Larva of the green lacewing (5,4)
7 Term for the fin on the back of a fish (6)
8 Male goose (6)
14 Species of red 27 Across (5,4)
16 Herb in the sunflower family (8)

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

GETTY

Puffins arrive in the UK in spring to breed and can be found in coastal spots such as Bempton Cliffs in North Yorkshire or on islands such as
Shetland and Orkney. Five changes have been made to this pair. How many can you spot? Answers can be found on page 101.

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 99

Deer stalking and The origin of the ovipositor
grouse shooting takes
place at Balmoral, the I am writing to comment on a short article
royals’ Scottish home that you had in the November 2021 issue,
Origin of Pieces, Wild Times.
The ‘greening’ of the royal
family is too little too late It is true that the sting of the honeybee
is derived from the ovipositor, but that is
J F’ point out that it did not fully address whether about the only aspect that is correct. About MOORLAND: ALAMY; PUFFIN: TONY BECK/GETTY; BUTTERFLY: VINCENT POMMEYROL/GETTY
estates (Royal Report Card, March traditional country sports and enlightened 200 million years ago, a group of wasps
2022) was very interesting, with conservation management are incompatible. evolved a separate hole from the oviduct
some entertaining ideas; few of That is perhaps an issue for another day. for depositing their eggs, and the ovipositor
which will become realised. became the sting. These include many
However, he did largely ignore Tarpans aren’t wild common wasps, as well as other groups that
the elephant in their estates: the shooting have evolved since, such as ants and bees.
of wildlife and release of captive-bred I enjoyed seeing some ponies mentioned
pheasants and partridges. It would be in relation to the rewilding of the royals’ While it is true that the queen honeybee
interesting to know how many birds are Sandringham estate (Royal Report Card, is the only hive member that can lay a
released for shooting, but it would also be a March 2022). It’s refreshing to see the value fertilised egg that will become a daughter,
major step forwards if the use of lead shot native ponies provide as a proxy to their all the unmated workers can indeed “posit
was banned on the estates. I imagine moves extinct wild counterpart. ova” which will become sons. Thus, the
have been made in this direction, but I was evolution of the ovipositor into the sting
unable to find out any details. However, recent research has has nothing to do with the social nature
demonstrated that the tarpan is no longer of honeybees.
Finally, shooting and the royals considered to be a wild horse (as stated in Cole Gilbert, Cornell University, USA
seem indelibly linked, with Prince the article). It is more accurate to refer to
William (patron of the British Trust for the extinct wild horse as just that: extinct STUART BLACKMAN REPLIES:
Ornithology) taking his son on his first European wild horse. The tarpan was You are correct and I’m grateful for the
grouse-shooting party. Things have changed more likely the domestic/feral horses that correction and the far more interesting
a lot since Prince Philip shot a tiger for replaced the wild horses, and is therefore account than the one I wrote. That will teach
sport, but the ‘greening’ of the royal family similar to the ponies of today, such as the me to rely on hazy recollections of lectures
is too little too late. Perhaps all their estates Exmoor, highland, fell, etc. from university days rather than research the
should be handed over to Natural England Ruth Chamberlain, via email subject anew.
to be managed for wildlife. Now that would
make a difference. JAMES FAIR REPLIES: Why so many mammals?
John A Burton, via email
The point about the tarpan being a feral horse Your front covers are both beautiful and
JAMES FAIR REPLIES: as opposed to a genuinely wild ancestor is arresting. But I wonder if you suffer from
a good one. In this instance, I was using the some form of unconscious bias in their
My piece did refer to deer stalking at Balmoral word tarpan as a kind of shorthand, as there selection? Your advertisement in the
and the shooting of pheasants, partridges and wasn’t room within this particular feature to December issue shows 17 covers, dating
grouse in the Forest of Bowland, but it’s fair to explain all the nuances of domestic and wild from the 1960s to 2021. And 16 of them
horse taxonomy. are pictures of mammals. One solitary frog
represents the rest of the world’s living
organisms! Where are the fish, reptiles,
invertebrates, plants and fungi? I hope you
are blushing in shame!
Clare Passingham, Oxford

JO PRICE REPLIES:
Historically, mammals have often appeared
on the front of the magazine but we now
celebrate a real diversity of species on our
covers. In the past two years, insect cover
stars have included two bees and a butterfly,
while we’ve also featured an octopus,
a shark, The Green Planet (and Sir David
Attenborough – admittedly another mammal)
and two reptiles – a chameleon and a turtle.
Fungi have yet to feature but we’ll work on it!

Family entertainment

Recently, it has brought me and my family
great pleasure to watch the sparrows at the
end of our garden venture down from the
trees to have a wash in the water sitting

100 BBC WILDLIFE Spring 2022