Articles in ‘Europe nature’
Loss of lions in Kenya blamed on policy
September 18th, 2009
Researchers from the Kenya Wildlife Service have reported that Kenya is losing about 100 lions each year, and that there are and now just 2,000 lions left in the country. Some observers, perhaps somewhat alarmist, have believe lions might be extinct in the next 10 to 20 years. The cause of the rapid decline of the country’s lion population is conflict with people. They are a threat to people’s lives and livelihoods, and locals retaliate by killing lions, often poisoning them with by a pesticide called Furadan. But this excellent article believes the root cause of these conflicts lies linked to Kenya’s wildlife conservation policies.
Although lions are costly to local communities and private landholders especially those who raise livestock, these renowned predators are very valuable economic assets.
Economists have estimated the value of a single male lion in Amboseli National Park in relation to tourism activities at over $500,000 during the course of the animal’s lifetime. More recent estimates suggest that Kenya’s remaining lions may be worth over $30 million annually.
Certainly, lions are a foundation of a national tourism industry that accounts for up to 10 per cent of Kenya’s GDP.
The fact that lions support flows of revenue and economic activity, yet are rapidly disappearing from Kenyan landscapes represents what economists call a ‘market failure’.
The marketplace, as currently structured, does not translate lions’ economic value into incentives for their production–hence their widespread decline.
At the root of this market failure is the reality that the beneficiaries of lions– mainly the government and private companies such as hotels, airlines, and safari outfitters–do not control the production or maintenance of lion populations.
Rather, the status of lion populations is effectively determined by the rural landholders and communities who live alongside lions.
Those landholders, however, are not the principal beneficiaries of the tourism industry and do not capture most of the revenue that lions generate. As a result, local people generally have incentives to exterminate lions rather than producing or conserving them.
Croatia and Hungary to protect rivers
September 18th, 2009 Croatia and Hungary have agreed to establish e a trans-boundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve to protect a 500km stretch of the Mura, Drava and Danube rivers, covering some 630,000 hectares. The project has been acknowledged with an award from WWF. The area is home to the highest density of breeding pairs of the white-tailed eagle in Europe and endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otters and sturgeons. It’s also an important stepping stone for more than 250,000 migratory waterbirds every year. The river ecosystem is also essential for people of the area as it is a major source of drinking water, and provides natural flood protection, sustainable forestry, agriculture, fisheries and eco-tourism.Insectivorous bats found hunting in the day
September 14th, 2009 A small group of soprano pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) has been discovered hunting during the day in a mountain canyon in Italy. The bats routinely come out to feed well before sunset, looking for gnats, wasps and bugs. Such behaviour is extremely rare for insectivorous bats, as it makes vulnerable to being caught and eaten by predatory birds. Note: Individual bats are sometimes seen flying during the day, but they usually do so soon after hibernation, when they are starving and need to replace fat reserves depleted during the winter. What the researchers in Italy have found is different: systematic hunting behavior by a whole colony. More from the BBCPolar bears on Kongsøya
September 9th, 2009
Polar bear inspecting researcher’s toilet on the island of Kongsoya, Svalbard. I wonder if anybody is inside? Taken from researcher Ólafur Ingólfsson’s page here on Svalbard wildlife.
Kongsoya has the highest recorded density of polar bear dens in the world: in 1980 at Bogen on Kongsoya there were 12 dens per km² and in August 1984, 168 bears were observed on the island!” Here
Venomous snakes of Europe
September 4th, 2009
Europe does not have the range or potency of the venomous snakes of other continents, but there are still a number of species which can cause human deaths. I’ve not included all the numerous species occurring in Russia and Turkey. This article here claims 30,000 people are bitten by snakes every year in Europe but these are responsible for only 30 fatalities. The only truly venomous snakes in Europe all belong to the Viper family
- Vipera ammodytes - Nose-horned viper. Occurs in south-eastern Europe, from Hungary and Austria to Italy, Romania, former Yugoslavia, and northern Albania.
- Vipera aspis - Asp viper. south-western Europe: northeastern Spain, Andorra, most of France- inckuding in the Ile de Re and Oleron islands -, Monaco, Italy, the islands of Elba, Montecristo and Sicily, San Marino, Switzerland; northwestern, Slovenia and extreme southwestern Germany
- Vipera barani - Turkish viper
- Vipera berus - European viper or the adder - extends from Western Britain all the way to the Pacific coast of Russia.
- Vipera latastei - Lataste’s viper, snub-nosed viper - Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa-
- Vipera seoanei - Seoane’s viper. Extreme southwestern France and Cantabrian mountains in Spain
- Vipera ursinii - Ursini’s Viper. South-eastern France, Central Italy, western Balkans, northern Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Germany.
- Akistrodon halys- Pallas’ Viper. Southeastern Europe
- Vipera nikolskii - Nikolsky’s Adder or Forest-steppe Adder. Endemic to central Ukraine.
- Macrovipera schweizeri - Milos viper Macrovipera schweizeri- limited to the Greek islands of Milos, Kimolos, Polyaigos, and Sifnos.
- Malpolon monspessulanus - Montpellier snake - Not a viper and unlikely to inject venom as fangs are at the back
See
- Europe’s Most Venomous Snakes - excellent
- http://www.reptileallsorts.com
- And the remarkable Venomous Animals and Plant Lists per Country
- Reptiles in Spain
European wildlife news 1
September 2nd, 2009- Fin whales have not returned this year to the Bay of Biscay in as many numbers as usual, raising concerns over the state of the fish stocks they feed on, and the health of this important marine ecosystem. Here
- Sweden has introduced a shoot to kill and cull campaign in an attempt to reduce the number of vehicle accidents and damage to forests due to the increasing moose population in the country. 42 people have been killed and almost 2,000 people have been injured in road collisions involving the animals over the past five years. Here
- Thousands of birds have died as a result of one of Norway’s worst oil disasters which happened 100 miles south of Norway’s capital city, Oslo, after an oil tanker ran aground in bad weather. Birdwatch
- France faces an invasion of Chinese hornets that could hasten the decline of the honeybee population. BBC
European bisons genetically on the edge
August 4th, 2009 Despite the numbers of wild European bison rising in the last 50 years, the species remains extremely vulnerable to extinction. One of the two remaining wild herds of pure bred European bison is now formed by 800 individuals but in terms of genetic diversity it is down to an effective population size of just 25. European bisons survive in the wild in just two herds, each living on either side of the Bialowieza forest which straddles Belarus and Poland. BBCDeaths from ticks in Turkey
July 23rd, 2009
An outbreak of bites by ticks in Turkey has led to the death of 31 people from Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever so far this year. The Turkish authorities are considering releasing partridges which feed on the ticks to control the disease. (Público). 3128 Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever cases with 5% of case-fatality rate have been reported by the Ministry of Health of Turkey between 2002-2008. Wikipedia
German border nature reserve
July 22nd, 2009A large strip of land between East and West Germany formed was abandoned during the Cold War as the the frontier area. Nature took over. Around 600 threatened species of animal and plant life were given a free rein in a no man’s land overshadowed by minefields, metal fences and watchtowers. Today it forms a unique and extraordinarily rich chain of nature reserves running for nearly 1,400km in a gentle zigzag from the Vogtland region, near the German-Czech border in the south, to the Baltic Sea in the north, and interlinked to form what the Germans call a grünes band, a green belt.
The borders continue through all the old East-West frontier down to what was Yugoslavia and across to the Greek-Bulgarian border. This now forms what is called the European Green Belt
“The ‘Iron Curtain’ divided Eastern and Western Europe for almost 40 years cutting off contacts between people on both sides. Nature seized the deserted border areas. Today a string of beautiful habitats with rare plants and animals connects European landscapes and forms a living monument of European history”. Official site
And
The European Green Belt inititative has the vision to create the backbone of an ecological network that runs from the Barents to the Black sea, spanning some of the most important habitats for biodiversity and almost all distinct biogeographical regions in Europe. European Green Belt
With breathtaking views of the Himalayas, you can soar alongside Egyptian Vultures and Black Kites who will approach to take food out of your hand. They are specially trained rescue birds who can’t be returned to the wild. Among them is Kevin the young Egyptian Vulture, famous for his scrapes with Steppe Eagles. The ultimate aim of the venture is to draw attention to the serious decline of Asian vultures, being poisoned to extinction by vet-prescribed drug Diclofenac. Visit 
This year breeding conditions have been exceptionally good for budgerigars in Queensland, Australia. Heavy rain and river flooding revived the land, providing plenty of grass seeds for the birds to feast on. When all the available trees with the best nesting sites had been taken, budgerigars were laying their eggs on the ground. And now local people are marvelling at the unprecedented size of the flocks, turning the sky green. 
Customs officials first suspected the 22-year old Norwegian, who’d just stepped off a ferry from Denmark, when they spotted a tarantula scuttling inside his bag. They then noticed “his whole body was in constant motion”. The wriggling movement was due to the 14 baby royal pythons tucked away in socks strapped to the man’s torso. That wasn’t all: when the officials made him drop his trousers they found 10 cans taped to his legs, each containing an albino leopard gecko. As Norway bans the import of reptiles, including unendangered species like these, he has been fined 12,500 Norwegian crowns (£1,800). 
