Part 8: Losses and recoveries

 

Skylark

Around 40,000 years ago the last glaciation culminated in the Last Glacial Maximum. Modern humans by this time had already reached Australia, and this time saw the end of the Neanderthals, Denisovans and other pre-modern humans who had lived all across the world. They did not disappear entirely however – before they vanished as separate peoples they produced children with modern type humans and their DNA lives on in all of us to this day.

Grey Partridges

How much modern humans were the direct cause of the total extinction or range restriction of the animals I have talked about is not always clear, but a combination of rapid climate change and the selective targeting or large animals by modern humans (who unlike Neanderthals had developed distance weapons such as arrows and other sophisticated technology) must be a main contender. The extinction of elephants and rhinos especially would have resulted in massive expansion of close-canopy forest as the climate warmed compared to earlier periods, a disaster for animals and birds adapted to warmer grasslands. Ironically, it was the invention of agriculture that might have helped them, as fields would have sufficiently emulated the old elephant-created open grassland to provide habitat for what we now think of as “farmland” birds such as Skylarks, finches, buntings, partridges or even Great Bustards.

Great Bustard

In the past few decades an increasing number of different species rendered extinct in this country being reintroduced or having their numbers greatly supplemented by additional released animals. For example, Red Kites were restricted entirely to Wales and were on the verge of extinction until a carefully planned and monitored release programme extended them across the UK and they are commonly seen along many of our motorways as they scan for roadkill. More recently an equally successful reintroduction of White-Tailed Eagles has restored them to Scotland, and a release programme has started on the south coast of England where the first released juveniles are approaching breeding age.

White Tailed Eagle

More problematic is the reintroduction of mammals.  Beaver reintroductions were controversial for a long time – not without reason from the point of view of a farmer whose fields of maize border a river – but they are now in several areas as either fully wild animals or at least as self-supporting animals in fenced areas. The next big areas will be carnivores, of which Wild Cat and Lynx are possibilities. True Eurasian Wild Cats are almost extinct in Scotland as a result of persecution and hybridisation with domestic cats, but their natural range was throughout the UK. There are discussions of possible reintroductions either in Wales or the South West. Lynx are key predators of Roes Deer, which will certainly get them points with arable farmers and foresters, but they are unfortunately also quite capable of killing sheep and as a result sheep farmers are putting up a lot of opposition. Larger predators such as Wolves are talked about, but outside of a fenced enclosure I cannot see wild Wolves being let loos in the UK sadly, although in western Europe Wolves are actually doing very well at the moment – in fact they have already reached the North Sea coast and if they were only slightly better long distance swimmers they would be showing up in southeast England in the next few years.

Eurasian Beaver

The crowded and heavily farmed areas of Britain make rewilding over truly large areas in this country very difficult, but on a smaller scale quite a lot can be done. Conservation grazing is standard practise on reserves to preserve habitat, but usually this involved domestic livestock of various “primitive” breeds such as Exmoor Ponies, Highland Cattle, or indeed, as in the Avon Gorge, Domestic Goat. In 2022 the Wilder Blean Project in Kent plans to use European Bison (inside a large, fenced enclosure) for the same purpose. However, the largest rewilding type project in the UK is currently the Knepp Estate, which has pioneered many new ecological practises by using a mixture of domestic livestock (Longhorn cattle, Exmoor Ponies, Tamworth Pigs) plus deer (Red, Roe, Fallow) to affect the habitats. As a result, Knepp is now home to the largest colony of Purple Emperor butterflies in the UK, and is also a successful site for the Turtle Dove. Knepp is also home to a reintroduction project for White Stork, which became extinct in the UK in the Middle Ages and has now bred successfully (14 chicks fledged in 2021). Knepp is now a role model for what rewilding might look like in a crowded island like Britain in which there is little room for majopr landscape-scale projects in much of the country.

White Stork in Sussex

This brings an end to this series of discussions, I hope readers have enjoyed them, over the next few months I will be looking at the histories of reintroductions in the UK and the lessons that can be learned from how they turned out.

Book Review: Tuatara: Biology and conservation of a venerable survivor by Alison Cree

There are very few species of small(ish) reptile which are famous outside their native range unless they are venomous or brightly coloured, but the Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus of New Zealand is certainly among that select number. Their fame is due to their being the sole survivor of a unique lineage of reptiles separate from the turtles, the archosaurs, and the lizards, although they are most nearly related to the last, although since they split from the common ancestor with the lizards well over a quarter of a billion years ago even that is not close. The book reviewed here is a summary and survey of the whole of tuatara-related research, and covers not just the biology and ecology of the living animal, but its evolutionary history, interactions with humans, and their past, present, and future conservation status.

Nature of Corsica 9: Mammals

Free range domestic pig

Unfortunately, the only mammals we actually saw on Corsica were domesticated pigs and goats. One wild mammal however features very prominently in Corsican ecology, culture, and cuisine – the wild boar Sus scrofa. Hunting is a major pastime on Corsica, and when we were there it was a peak of the hunting season. More or less every day we would see trucks go by with hunting parties, and often heard shots from the hunters. I have to say that wild boar stews are extremely tasty. For those who have not eaten it, wild boar is a very dark, lean meat more like venison than pork.

Book Review: Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island's Past

Details: Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Islands Past by Steven M.Goodman and William L.Jungers, plates by Velizar Simeonovski. Available from Amazon.

Red Bellied Lemur

I thought I would add an occasional post for book reviews that might be of interest to readers, so I am starting with this one. It is an overview of the recently extinct fauna of Madagascar, of which there is sadly far too much, as anyone who is interested in the current ecological disaster on the island will be well aware. Part 1 covers the geological history, colonisation history (both animals and humans), and the vegetational types on the island. Part 2 is structured around a series of colour plates of sites where subfossil remains of the fauna have been located, accompanied by descriptions of the animals illustrated and what the various sites mean for the complex history of the island over the 2000 or so years since human beings colonised the island.

Wildplace 6: Boreray Sheep

Boreray Sheep

One of the minor but more curious stories in the complicated history of Britain is the story of St Kilda. Located in the Outer Hebrides, it is the most isolated of the archipelago, and today at least is uninhabited except for sea birds, which have the largest colonies in Britain. Up until the 1920’s it had been continually inhabited since at least the Bronze Age, if not earlier, but contact with the outside world for the few hundred (at most) inhabitants was only every few months at best, and in the winter storms they were cut off for much of the year. By historical times they were Gaelic-speaking, living a subsistence=level existence based around small farms, a few sheep, and harvesting young from the vast seabird colonies that are still a feature of the island and its associated offshore sea stacks.

Wildplace 5: Grey Wolf

Part of the aim of Wildplace is to show animals which were once part of the natural fauna of Britain, and one of the most iconic of all extinct British animals is the wolf. Once so numerous in Britain that tributes were levied in wolf skins, and guards were employed to protect sheep flocks, they became extinct in England by the 15^th century, and in Scotland by the late 17^th century. In Ireland they persisted until the 18^th century.

Quest for the Wild Canary 12: Pipits, Wagtails, Thrushes and Chats

A.berthelotti

There is a wide range of endemic or near-endemic species and subspecies of insectivorous passerines on the Canaries, which reflects the complicated ecological history of the islands. As the only breeding pipit in the region, Berthelot’s Pipit Anthus berthelotti is found on the Canaries, Madeira, and some nearby smaller islands. I found it very confiding – the photo at the top of this post was taken from only a few feet away as it hopped around our feet in a car park on Fuerteventura. As with almost all pipits’ it is a ground nesting bird, which must make it vulnerable to feral cats, but despite this the species is doing well in its range, and is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Quest for the Wild Canary 11: Larger Passerines

Common Raven

There is a wide variety of endemic or near-endemic passerines on the Canaries, but the most prominent large bird to be seen is the very widespread Common Raven. This is of a different race to the form found in Britain, and is classified as Corvus corax tingitanus, which is the same subspecies as is found across North Africa, and has a higher pitched call than the nominate subspecies. As a generalist and adaptable feeder, it must be a major nest predator of all species both native and introduced, and no doubt also feeds at rubbish tips or anywhere else food can be found. The one I photographed here was hanging around a coach stop on Fuerteventura and was obviously used to being fed by tourists.

Lemurs at Bristol, Part 1: What is a lemur anyway?

Ring-Tailed Lemur

One of the most important groups of primates to be seen at Bristol or any other zoo is the lemurs of Madagascar. Confined only to that island (with human introduction of one species to the Comores) they represent a unique radiation of primates in isolation from other primate species, a process which has been going on for many millions of years, possible even before the extinction of the dinosaurs. After thriving on the islands for all that time, around 2000 years ago they encountered disaster in the form of human colonists (not from nearby Africa, but from clear across the Indian ocean in Indonesia). Since that time, many species have become extinct, and the rest are all highly threatened.

Review of the year part 1 - Bristol 2012

We are nearly at the end of 2012 so we will finish off the year with some of the new highlights from the last twelve months, starting with Bristol Zoo in this post and finishing off with some round the world news next week

January

Newborn stingray

Babies have been born to two new stingrays which arrived at Bristol Zoo last summer.

Nine ocellated freshwater stingray pups were born last week after two new females were introduced to the Zoo’s male stingray last year.

The new females, sisters named Catalina & Genevieve, arrived at Bristol Zoo from

Weston Seaquarium and have wasted little time in breeding. Catalina has produced six pups and three pups are from Genevieve.

Galliformes 11: The Capercaillie

Male Western Capercaillie

One of the largest birds in Britain is also a close relative of the Black Grouse, the Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus. Among other distinctions, it was the first native species to be reintroduced to this country after having been exterminated by human activity (mostly deforestation and over-hunting). Although the reintroduction was at first highly successful, today the species is in trouble once more, and a good deal of intervention is underway to prevent it going extinct a second time.

Lost Frogs of Britain

Today there are three native species of tailless amphibian in the UK, the Common Frog, Common Toad and Natterjack Toad. Even 20 years ago however there were four, and in Roman times there may have been as many as seven. This is the story of those lost species.

The Pool Frog Pelophylax lessonae

This is the most recent extinction, and particularly unfortunate as it could have been saved. However, these large, green, water loving frogs were believed to have been an introduction in the 19th century, and so no special measures were taken to protect them in their last site in the Norfolk Broads until it was too late.In the last few years a reintroduction project has been undertaken using frogs from Sweden, which are the most closely related to the extinct British form. It is not endangered on the continent, and with the closely related Marsh Frog P.ridibunda (which was introduced in the early 20th Century to Romney Marsh where it still survives) it hybridises to produce the fertile hybrid known as the Edible Frog, which was the main supplier of the famous French delicacy

Green Tree Frog Hyla arborea

There is a possibility that this species may be, like the Pool frog, a neglected former resident. Several times (before it was made illegal) there were attempts to introduce this species to the UK, but one very old colony (now extinct) was known from the New Forest. Green Tree frogs are assumed to be a warm climate animal, but they reach the coast of France. The introduction attempts mostly failed or did not persist for long, probably because most of the individuals released were males, which are easier to locate by their calls, and also because the wrong habitat was chosen – the northern green tree frogs prefer shrubby or herbaceous vegetation and warm, fish-free pools to spawn in.

Agile Frog Rana dalmatina

Unlike the previous two species, this does survive in the UK, with a single, highly threatened population on Jersey which Jersey Zoo is working to preserve. However, remains from 7th Century deposits suggest this long legged (it can jump 2 metres) relative of our common frog once also could be found on the UK mainland. As its centre of distribution is mainly France, with the Jersey individuals on the extreme north of the range, its loss from the UK was probably due mainly to the cooling of the climate during the post-Roman period. Its preferred habitat of wet grassland, woodland close to water and pools to spawn in are however classic Beaver habitat, and the loss of this from the UK may have had a knock-on effect on the remaining population

Moor Frog Rana arvalis

Known only from the remains of a single individual, this close relative of the Common Frog was probably never common in the UK. A primarily Eastern European species, with a preference for extensive shallow wetlands to breed in, the gradual post glacial transformation of the Norfolk Broads into a reedbed probably removed its habitat, and its preference for a more continental climate resulted in it dying out in the UK

Others

These are the species known or reasonably believed to have been resident in the UK. However, it is becoming clear that the relatively small numbers of species of reptile and amphibian in the UK compared to mainland Europe are not simply a result of the formation of the Channel preventing them colonising, but also extinctions resulting from climate change, in particular a cooling of the climate in the last few thousand years culminating in the Little Ice Age. Amphibians have delicate bones, and small animals with restricted ranges or habitats may disappear without a trace. For example, Midwife Toads are in Germany mainly associated with Beaver dams, and the Yellow Bellied Toad prefers warm, shallow ponds or ditches. Small colonies of these species have bred on several occasions in the UK, and the Midwife Toad has survived in a colony in Bedfordshire for at least a hundred years. Possibly these were once also native in the UK?