Tag: Q&A

Author Interview with Alick Simmons: Treated Like Animals

Treated Like Animals, by Alick Simmons, provides an incisive look at the way we treat animals and highlights the many ways in which we are complicit in their exploitation – whether that is via the food we eat, the pets we keep as companions, the medicines we take that rely on animal research, or the wildlife that is ‘managed’ on our behalf.

Although many laws are in place that protect the rights of certain animals in certain situations, many of these do not take into account the science behind the animal’s ability to suffer, nor the humaneness of the methods used. In this book, Simmons calls on us to face the facts about how animals are exploited and to form our own, educated opinions about these issues.

Alick Simmons is a veterinarian and a naturalist. During a career spanning 35 years he held the position of the UK Government’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer (2007-2016) and the UK Food Standards Agency’s Veterinary Director (2004-2007). In 2015 he began conservation volunteering, and has been involved in survey projects for both waders and cranes. He is currently chair of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare and the Humane Slaughter Association. He also serves as a Trustee of the Dorset Wildlife Trust and chairs the EPIC disease control steering group on behalf of the Scottish Government.

In this Q&A, we chatted with Alick about the book and about how our opinions on animal welfare and ethics can and should be a priority.

Our attitudes to animal welfare are heavily influenced by our culture, and our opinions and values often reflect those of our families, peers and country/region rather than being based on objective facts (for example, you mention early on in the book the difference in our reactions to eating a lamb compared to a puppy). Do you think this is a significant barrier to people creating an objectively valid personal code of ethics?

Culture influences our attitudes to animals, without a doubt. It varies between countries: most Brits loathe the idea of bull fighting but it has been an important part of popular culture in Spain for centuries. However, attitudes are not fixed and can change over time: 93 per cent of 16- to 24-year-old Spaniards now say they don’t support bullfighting.

Culture also drives differences in attitudes towards certain species: the horse enjoys an exalted status in Britain with several very well-heeled charities dedicated to their support. Nothing similar exists for cattle and sheep. And the idea of eating a horse is simply abhorrent to most people. The law protecting horses in transport, on farm, etc is much tighter than it is for farmed animals. There is no logical explanation for this.

When it comes to research animals, the majority of us reluctantly accept the need to use mice and rats, but are opposed to the use of dogs, cats and primates despite the better data they yield in some fields of research. Yet, the capacity to suffer for these species is very likely to be similar.

So, yes, culture is a barrier to the scientifically and ethically sound treatment of animals. We need to ignore cultural norms and prejudices, give animals the benefit of the doubt and assume that all vertebrates (and a growing number invertebrate species), regardless of their ‘use’ or circumstances, have the capacity to suffer.

In writing this book and considering the issues discussed within, did you find it hard to separate emotion from fact? Or do you think that it is important to not separate the two, since emotion is an important prerequisite to having compassion and empathy for the experience and lives of other species?

We are emotional beings, capable of empathy. Although we can’t directly experience the pain and suffering of other people, it doesn’t stop us wanting to help, to relieve that suffering. Indeed, our emotions, our empathy, it can be argued, are part of the bedrock of our society and why we exhibit altruism.

However, separating emotion from fact is difficult, perhaps impossible. Which is why most of us behave inconsistently when it comes to animals. We appear to care more about the fate of a kitten than that of a rat. Instead of concentrating on the differences, real or imagined, between the two – one is cute, the other carries disease – remember that the nervous systems of both are very similar – if the kitten has a sophisticated brain, has defined pain pathways and the cognitive capacity to suffer, then so does the rat. That doesn’t mean we can’t intervene against the rat if it threatens our health. But it does mean we should strive to reduce the need to intervene and do it humanely when all else fails.

How much of a problem do you consider it to be that we are increasingly reliant on social media as our main source of news and information – much of which may be incorrect, misleading or extremist in nature?

I use Twitter but no other social media. Twitter is, like fire, a great servant but a poor master. A substantial number of the lovely reviews of Treated Like Animals came from people I’ve been interacting with on Twitter. It is unlikely that we would have ‘met’ otherwise. But social media is useless for discussing complex and controversial matters – like animal welfare – because nuance, uncertainty and subtlety are difficult to convey in 280 characters. I try to avoid getting into convoluted interplays because it rarely concludes well. I’m not always successful. However, despite these drawbacks, Twitter is great for signposting to new publications, blog posts and for advertising conferences and even jobs. Use it wisely and be wary of getting drawn into over-simplified arguments. Difficult, complex issues rarely have simple solutions.

Author Alick Simmons has been involved in conservation projects such as crane ringing. Image by A Simmons.

Do you have any concerns that the current pressures in people’s lives, such as the cost of living crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, climate crisis etc., are impacting people so much that they don’t feel as though they have the time, energy or money to prioritise animal rights and ethics? For example, if someone is struggling to make their food budget last the month, then purchasing cheap meat with poor welfare standards may be the most feasible option at that time.

It has been said that a concern for animal welfare is a luxury indulged in by the affluent. I disagree. Society has set animal welfare norms much of which are coded in legislation – which should be observed no matter how straitened our circumstances. The first few of these norms were set when living standards were much lower than they are today. That said, we live in difficult times and with less buying power, people have difficult choices to make. The cheapest meat is chicken and it’s also the world’s favourite. The meat chicken (known as the broiler) may have won the post-WWII race to produce the most abundant animal protein but at what cost? As Chapter 5 of Treated Like Animals details, broiler welfare is generally poor and alternative, less intensive rearing systems meet the birds’ needs better. However, the meat is more expensive. I argue that it is better for you (and the birds) to eat smaller amounts of better quality, slower grown meat than to eat larger amount of cheaper meat where standards are generally poorer. The difference can be made up with proteins from plant-based foods.

In terms of your own personal code of ethics, what troubles you the most? Or, to put it another way, what issue have you found the most difficult to reach a satisfactory position or opinion on?

There are two: First, while I still eat animal products, albeit less and less, the colossal scale of some farming systems used to rear pigs, fish, dairy cows and chickens does bother me. No matter how cleverly designed the buildings, how good the system, these animals cannot be cared for in the way that smaller operations allow. It’s simply not possible. Add to that, given the barren environments which hinder normal behaviour, one has to question whether these systems are acceptable. However, after a lifetime of eating cheese I am finding it difficult to switch to the alternatives.

The second is research. I find it difficult to justify the use of primates for basic neuroscience research (that is, research with no immediate practical benefit) because of its protracted and invasive nature. On the other hand, it is argued, without a comprehensive understanding of the architecture and function of the brain, our ability to eventually tackle degenerative nervous conditions like Alzheimer’s disease will be hindered. I find I can’t reach a position on this.

Simmons dedicates an entire chapter of his book to the ethics surrounding the ‘management’ of wildlife. Image by A Simmons

If, upon reading your book, people would like to take a more active role in promoting positive animal welfare in the UK, what might be the most important and impactful steps for them to consider?

There are two main ways where you can make a difference: First, vote with your feet. Avoid the products which, based on your own ethical position, you object to. Chapter 11 includes my own ethical framework and this can be adapted to your own position. Better still, get engaged and active. For example, join an organisation that campaigns for better animal welfare, get better informed, lobby your MP, etc. Voting with your feet, particularly if it snowballs, does make a difference – you only need to look at how supermarkets change their offer – to free range eggs and a growing range of vegan products, for example. But avoiding certain products won’t be effective against other welfare concerns where consumer-led action has little or no impact. Take for example, the killing of wildlife. Most are killed using methods which are demonstrably inhumane: spring traps, snares, live capture traps, glue traps and poisons. Very few of us see what goes on but take it from me – this is largely unregulated, poorly scrutinised and involves perhaps millions of animals dying in a way that we would not tolerate for research animals, farmed animals or our pets. There are no products to boycott here (except perhaps ‘game’ birds), but you could do a lot worse than getting involved with organisations which lobby government and research alternatives such as the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, OneKind and Humane Society International.

Finally, what’s in store for you next? Do you have any more books planned?

I’d like to see how much of a success this book is first but I am keen to investigate the interface between animal welfare and conservation (and other types of land management). Chapter 7 of Treated Like Animals goes into this relationship but there is a great deal more to explore – for example, how our attitudes to abundant species differ from scarce ones, the demonisation of some species to justify the routine killing of others, and the apparent indifference that society shows to wild rodents. I’ve got a collaborator in mind but he doesn’t know it yet!

 

 

Treated Like Animals by Alick Simmons is due for publication in February 2023. It is published by Pelagic Publishing and available from nhbs.com.

 

2022 author interviews, book reviews and field tests

At NHBS we love nothing more than chatting with the authors of our favourite books about their lives, passions and publications. Interested in the authors we talked to in 2022? Here we’ve listed all of the books that we were fortunate to cover this year along with the titles that have been reviewed on our blog and the equipment that we tested in our regular ‘In the Field’ series.

Author Q&As

The Secret Perfume of Birds with Danielle Whittaker

“I started out with simple, clearly defined experiments to test the birds’ reaction to odours from other birds. Then moved on to working with chemists to analyze the information content present in the odours given off by birds. Little by little, the scientists who heard about work in this area started to pay attention…”

 

Otherlands with Thomas Halliday

“We mustn’t fall into the trap of thinking that humans can only be destructive, or that we are separate from the ecosystems we live in…This is the Earth we live in, and we are part of this world, but worlds can change in a moment.”

 

The Secret Life of the Adder with Nicholas Milton

“The book is my attempt to conserve the species using a 10-point adder action plan, and wake up the government, its nature conservation agencies, the media and the public to its plight before it is too late.”

 

Field Guide to Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises with Mark Carwardine

“It’s true to say that our knowledge of cetaceans has grown from virtually nothing to just a little bit – despite decades of wild whale research. They are incredibly difficult animals to study, because they spend most of their lives underwater, often live far out to sea and regularly travel vast distances.”

Why Sharks Matter with David Shiffman

“As a marine conservation biologist who studies sharks and how to protect them, I know that we need the public to not only no longer fear sharks, but to value the role they play in the ecosystem and to want them around.”

 

Wildlife Photography Fieldcraft with Susan Young

“Wildlife photography is hugely important as photographs can convey an emotion or fact better than words, and in particular can illustrate features or situations in a compelling, thought-provoking way, or simply attract by their beauty.”

 

The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur with Michael Stephen Clark

“Perhaps, more alarmingly, the mongoose lemur has unwittingly become a prima-facie example of something disquieting; namely, a growing acceptance that nature will be allowed to persist only in places of our choosing.”

 

Book reviews

• Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet by John W. Reid and Thomas E. Lovejoy
Reviewed by Hana Ketley

• Birds, Beasts and Bedlam: Turning My Farm into an Ark for Lost Species by Derek Gow
Reviewed by Hana Ketley

• Abundance: Nature in Recovery by Karen Lloyd
Reviewed by Hana Ketley

• Fen, Bog & Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and its Role in the Climate Crisis by Annie Proulx
Reviewed by Luanne Wilkes

• Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the Forest by James Aldred
Reviewed by Hana Ketley

‘In the Field’ equipment tests

• Elekon Batlogger M2 – tested by Hana Ketley

• Kowa TSN-501 Spotting Scope – tested by Joshua Smith

• Elekon Batlogger S2 – tested by Alex Jackson

• Browning Spec Ops Elite HP5 & Browning Recon Force Elite HP5 – tested by Andrew Molin-Wilkinson

• Batbox Baton – tested by Antonia Peacock

• Kite APC Stabilised Binoculars – tested by Simon Palmer

Author interview with Michael Stephen Clark: The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur

The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur is a book about a critically-endangered species, fractured ecosystems and the global war on nature. It is a compelling story in which author Michael Stephen Clark reveals the fundamental paradox of the mongoose lemur’s natural history.

In this post we chat to the author of this important and timely book about his work with mongoose lemurs, the problems withthe way that conservation is reported in the mainstream media and his hopes for the future given the alarming loss of biodiversity and rate of extinctions we are currently experiencing.

Author Michael Stephen Clark

Your book is described as a modern natural history, but it also conveys a larger message that is of relevance to our relationship with all wild species. Why did you choose the mongoose lemur as your focal species – what is it about this primate that makes it suitable for illustrating more widespread issues?

I first became interested in the mongoose lemur when I worked with an aged and overweight pair at London Zoo in the 1980s and 1990s. They were being kept off-exhibit, which I thought was inappropriate given their endangered status. In due course, we were able to move them into a larger, outdoor enclosure, but only after an operation had been performed on both of them to remove excess adipose tissue. It was all very invasive, but the animals were much fitter, healthier and happier as a result. Shortly afterwards, I discovered that the captive breeding programme for the species lacked co-ordination, so I established the first international studbook for the species in captivity. There wasn’t a great deal of information about them in the literature and relatively few researchers and institutions had sought to remedy that. It quickly became clear to me that the mongoose lemur was fast becoming undervalued and potentially overlooked as an endangered species. I’ve been concerned about them ever since, probably because my sympathies often lie with the ‘underdog’.

I’d long been aware that the mongoose lemur could illustrate very directly the profound disruption caused by human alteration of the natural continuum. Human attitudes to wildlife contain a raft of contradictions that result in contradictory outcomes. This is particularly true of the mongoose lemur. In common with virtually all lemurs, it is a critically endangered species that exists in compromised and/or fragmented habitat in the wild. Perversely, however, it appears (on the surface) to be more numerous and relatively safe as a naturalised alien species on the Comoros Islands of Anjouan and Moheli. Lemurs in captivity are generally viewed as a conservation priority, yet the mongoose lemur ranks lower in importance than some of the more enigmatic lemur species. Already, without digging too deeply, we can see that the mongoose lemur has experienced displacement at every point where it has come into contact with humanity.

Perhaps, more alarmingly, the mongoose lemur has unwittingly become a prima-facie example of something disquieting; namely, a growing acceptance that nature will be allowed to persist only in places of our choosing. It’s a situation that has led to questionable decisions around relocation, translocation, restoration, rewilding, and re-introduction. To my mind, these things invite compromise, not least where species such as ring-necked parakeets in England and mongoose lemurs on Anjouan are inter-changeably considered wild, free-living, native and/or naturalised. These compromises ominously signpost natural systems by human design. Presently, the momentum is behind stand-alone programmes, projects and initiatives that are, of necessity, limited in scale. This may well lead to the ultimate breakup of biodiversity and an end-point where our natural world has become little more than a ‘zoo in the wild’.

Do you think that the way conservation and the plight of endangered species are reported by the mainstream media is problematic? I’m thinking, for example, in terms of how the public, conservationists and governing bodies might go on to perceive the state of the natural world as a result?

I actually think it’s a massive problem for conservation. Once upon a time, the adage was ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity.’ In recent years, the mainstream media has shifted away from the substantial to the superficial reporting of wildlife conservation matters. Social media and the wider online milieu all feed into that, of course, but far too many stories are either half-told, poorly-told, or just plain misleading. It’s actually worse than not telling the story at all. This is especially disruptive for governing bodies and NGOs that can so easily find themselves painted into a corner by media-generated hubris. I’m not sure that a proliferation of conservation news portals, websites, blogs, podcasts and influencers is useful either. It is more likely that conservation stories will become even more distorted, diluted and diffuse as result.

I think the effect of all this on the public, among conservationists, and within governing bodies is potentially quite dangerous. It could make identifying priorities and taking effective action a minefield of conflicting imperatives. The recurring controversy over the Ramsar site at Coul Links in Scotland is a good example of media hubris threatening not only to drown out voices of reason, but also to trample the letter of the law into the ground. It took the combined firepower of a self-generated media campaign by a coalition of Wildlife Trusts and NGOs to beat back an existential threat to unique (and legally protected) dune habitat. I suspect that such coalitions will have to establish permanent media entities if they are to fight the war on nature across several (media) fronts.

Given the alarming rate of extinctions and global diversity decline, what would you like to see happen, both on a local and an international scale, to begin dealing with this? And would you describe yourself as broadly hopeful or pessimistic about this crisis?

I’m afraid that I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the future. I know it’s a cliché, but I think the future is already here. The important decisions now (as ever) will lie with young people, many of whom are not only well-educated and eminently qualified, but savvy as well. I recently rejoined Linkedin after a long absence and the sheer number of extremely active, professional wildlife conservationists around the world is really quite dazzling. In the short-term, issues around job security, personal security, career development, and establishing substantial permanent facilities in the field need to be addressed.

Frankly, I think that’s primarily the top-down responsibility of pan-national institutions such UNEP and the World Bank. The scale of accelerated extinction events forewarns us of a looming biodiversity crisis that could very easily become an existential threat in just a couple of generations. It requires a global response and the money really has to start flowing from global institutions if we are to empower and support our highly motivated international conservation professionals. To my mind, food security, health, climate, biodiversity and species conservation are equal priorities. I don’t understand how this became a hierarchy of aspirational goals because the response they all require is equally urgent.

In the medium term, it is not news to say that we have to invest in future generations, but ‘hope and inspiration’ aren’t enough. I think that young children generally receive a good grounding in natural history in their pre-school and primary school years. With a little support, that can happen in a developing country as easily as it can in the UK. But, young people need to have pathways they can follow in order to learn more. From there, they can gain a rounded understanding of natural history, which would inevitably include an elementary form of conservation biology. I’m a bit surprised that some of the more prominent NGOs aren’t lobbying for this with a draft curriculum. Nature conservation education for school-age children has to graduate from photocopied fact-sheets and elevate itself as the most valuable ‘eco-system service’ available.

As a zoological professional you have studied and worked in several esteemed organisations including the University of Bristol, London Zoo and Oxford-Brookes University. What do you consider to be the most significant highlights of your career so far?

Anyone who has ‘hands-on’ experience of working with wild animals in the field and/or captivity will tell you it’s a life full of great highs and lows. It doesn’t do to dwell on the lows so I’ll concentrate on things that I considered achievements. As I explain in my book, the time I spent on Anjouan in the Comoros Islands was a very special career highlight. It was a great privilege to be trusted with the capture and care of Pteropus livingstonii, one of the rarest bat species in the world and, of course, to encounter free-living mongoose lemurs first-hand. I’m especially gratified that several papers, features and articles that I authored or co-authored were published in the course of my work at the Zoological Society of London. These included my account of mongoose lemurs on Anjouan, the jointly written history of black-footed penguins at London Zoo, and a report on breeding Leadbeater’s Possum at London Zoo. Getting up close and personal with urban foxes and badgers in the course of fieldwork for Professor Stephen Harris at Bristol University was memorable, and I very much enjoyed my brief role as a visiting lecturer at Oxford-Brookes University. It was quite an honour to be there at the beginning of the now prestigious Primate Conservation MSc course.

The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur is, in large part, a species-specific natural history – a format that is perhaps less popular than it has been in previous years and decades. The book was also published independently. How did you find the process of planning, writing and publishing the book and what were the main challenges you faced?

It’s correct that the species-specific natural history books have fallen out of favour with mainstream publishers, but I’m not convinced that readers feel the same way. In (apparently) normal circumstances, the life history of a species will appear to be relatively constant. In natural history classics such as David Lack’s ‘Life of the Robin’ and Sarah Churchfield’s ‘Natural History of Shrews’, the subjects live in a self-contained world that is full of challenges, yet seems immutable. The world today, in the age of the Anthropocene, rarely allows for ‘normal circumstances’. Wild animals will live, prosper, suffer, die or become extinct largely at our discretion, which means that their life histories now have to take account of the rapid, ongoing changes wrought by hyper-accelerated, unregulated human activity. That’s why I think it’s valid to revisit species-specific natural history writing and place it in a much wider context.

There was a time when my book would have been titled ‘The Mongoose Lemur in its World’, but that world no longer exists. It more accurately lives in a fragmented world of our making. This is happening to species the world over and those that are able to adjust may live, while those that can’t will surely disappear. We need to understand what makes the difference between the two potential outcomes in order to construct a meaningful response. I think this can emerge from species-specific natural histories that draw from a deeper well of scientific, philosophical and practical resources. I think it’s too often wrongly (and condescendingly) assumed that readers either can’t or won’t respond to stories that cast the net widely and speculate, as I have done, about ‘Propects and Perspectives’.

I’m fairly comfortable now with the process of independent publishing and I’ve never seen it as a poor relation to using an established publishing house. I would describe it as a slow, gentle learning curve rather than a steep and arduous one. The early stages of planning and writing are the most fun, but luckily I quite like editing, proofing and polishing too. I’m quite experienced in that regard but I find that editing your own work means that you really can’t rush it. Familiarity breeds oversight. I usually keep sharing with others to a minimum, but for this book I got a lot of help on specific chapters. I needed it too, and their input was invaluable as the acknowledgements section of the book will attest.

If I had to identify a single challenge that was really testing, I would say that maintaining a consistent, balanced style of writing throughout gave me the most sleepless nights. I wanted to hold the reader’s interest with an engaging narrative but still maintain a firm grip of the factual material. I also wanted the book to be a bit provocative. I always think I’ve read a good book if it leaves me with as many questions as it does answers.

Finally, what is in store for you next? Do you have plans for further publications?

At the moment, I’m doing the preparatory work for events in support of the book. I’ll be using my original colour slide transparencies from Anjouan to illustrate my presentations and I recently bought a very old colour slide projector for that purpose. It’s a bit quirky, I know, but I think it will make things a bit more interesting.

In terms of writing and publishing, I have a couple of things of my own in development, but I’d be interested in collaborating with others to produce further modern natural histories. I’d like to keep the focus on primates, mainly because they’re exposed to lots of different pressures in a variety of situations where they come into close contact with us humans. Their stories challenge us to think about the relationships we have with nature generally and how we are going to rescue biodiversity from our worst excesses. Species such as pygmy slow loris, Cat Ba langurs and Kirk’s red colobus spring to mind, although there are countless others.

Print-on-demand and increasingly accessible typesetting software mean that there are few obstacles to producing books like this. If there is a problem then it is persuading authors to enter a publishing relationship that is unconventional, yet fairer and more equable than the conventional model. Publishing independently also means that your book need never go out of print, something that frustrates many published writers who find themselves out of contract.

The Fragmented World of the Mongoose Lemur by Michael Stephen Clark is available now from NHBS.

Author Interview with Susan Young: Wildlife Photography Fieldcraft

This unique book describes a straightforward system for how to successfully locate wildlife, the most difficult aspect of wildlife photography. Photographing the stunning natural world around us can be a challenging process. Not only does getting the perfect shot require a complex mixture of skill and luck, but there is little practical advice available on how to find the wildlife you’d like to photograph. While patience and persistence have to come from you, being equipped with the right fieldcraft knowledge, offered in this book, can increase your chances of getting the results – and the special moments – you are looking for.

Individual chapters offer guidance on how to photograph birds, mammals, butterflies and dragonflies, as well as reptiles and some of our more elusive species. Various habitat types are discussed, along with tips on equipment, technical specifications and guidance suitable to both newcomers and more experienced wildlife photographers. While sharing some of her most successful and beautiful images, Susan Young also gives useful examples of when things didn’t quite work out – reflecting on how things could have been done differently to get a better outcome.

Susan Young speaks with us about why she chose to write this book, her process for researching each chapter and why wildlife photography is so important for engaging the public with the environment and conservation.

Your new book, Wildlife Photography Fieldcraft, is a unique guide to how to successfully locate wildlife. What drew you to wildlife photography and why did you choose to write this book?

I have had a keen interest in nature from an early age. I originally took up (digital) photography for landscapes, but it was a natural progression to wildlife photography so I could keep a record of my finds. When I started with wildlife, I found it very difficult to find suitable subjects, especially the less common ones, and of course many mammals are nocturnal. I studied many books on wildlife photography, but they all seemed to concentrate on photographic techniques and gave little or no information on how to find wildlife. I had written books before on subjects not previously covered, so decided to write the book I wished I had been able to find when I was looking.

You mention in this book that a lack of knowledge on how to find wildlife to photograph may be just as risky as providing too much information, could you expand on this?

This is related to disturbance. If photographers know very little about the subject of their photographs and do not understand the sensitivity of wildlife, they could disturb a bird, for example, and cause it to abandon its nest, or frighten a deer so it runs off and becomes injured.

On the other hand, if too much information is given out, particularly of a detailed location, photographers can flock to the area in large numbers. This has happened with rare birds, for example, and the birds have become very distressed.

Ptarmigan by Susan Young

This guide is broken up into chapters covering different species groups, all of which are richly detailed, covering descriptions, diet, breeding, habitats, population estimates and more. What was your process for researching the different chapters, and why did you choose to go further to cover topics such as how to make a portable hide and thermal and dynamic soaring?

The whole focus of the information was on what factors influenced where, when and how to find wildlife. Population estimates and habitats, for example, influence where the subject might be found in a broad sense. Breeding and its rituals have a great effect on when certain species are most active and thus most likely to be seen. Description, diet and habits are more detailed indicators allowing the photographer to fine-tune the search, for example. Goldfinches like thistle seed (diet), they are often in flocks (habits) and have distinctive colouring (description), so a photographer situated near a patch of large thistles, at the right time of year, could have interesting photographs of goldfinches balancing on thistles and interacting with each other.

My process was to think of each category for different species and, based on my experience, record the facts for each species and describe how to use them to find wildlife. I then studied reliable sources to add further detail and confirm that what I already had was accurate.

Young Roe jumping by Susan Young

Hides are extremely valuable as they allow the photographer to get close to nervous or rare species without disturbance. Portable hides are particularly useful. I found it difficult to get a flexible, sturdy, inexpensive portable hide that would be comfortable if sat in for some time. My design was based on the plastic pipes I had seen on an American trip, and can be tailored to the individual very easily, and is strong but not too heavy.

Photographing birds in flight, especially birds of prey, is very difficult. By understanding thermal and dynamic soaring, the photographer is equipped to predict the best position to photograph a bird in flight i.e. when the bird is moving more slowly and at the correct height.

How important do you think wildlife photography is in increasing public engagement with the environment and conservation?

Wildlife photography is hugely important as photographs can convey an emotion or fact better than words, and in particular can illustrate features or situations in a compelling, thought-provoking way, or simply attract by their beauty.

Sand Martin and chicks by Susan Young

Your case studies provide a wonderful insight into your photography process. Are there any species that you haven’t yet photographed but would love to?

Pine Martens are at the top of the list. They are beautiful and intelligent but, at present, rare in England. Beavers are another species I would like to photograph, and hopefully, this will become easier if they are introduced to other parts of the UK.

Do you have any current or future projects that you would like to tell us about?

At present I am developing interactive online mini-courses for the Mammal Society using photographs, videos and interactive features. The aim is to attract and engage with more people to gain their support in the quest to learn more, and use the knowledge to try to halt the decline of UK wildlife. I am also developing a course to encourage the use of CCTV systems to monitor wildlife.

Wildlife Photography Fieldcraft
By: Susan Young
Paperback | August 2022 | Pelagic Publishing

 

 

 

 

Author Interview with David Shiffman: Why Sharks Matter

Sharks are some of the most fascinating, most ecologically important, most threatened, and most misunderstood animals on Earth. In Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator, marine conservation biologist Dr David Shiffman explains why it’s crucial that we overcome our misconceptions and rise above cinematic jump scares to embrace sharks as the critically important species that they are.

Exploring the core tenets of shark conservation science and policy, Shiffman synthesises decades of scientific research and policymaking, weaving it into a narrative full of humour and adventure. Approachable and informative, Why Sharks Matter is perfect for shark enthusiasts, explaining why sharks are in trouble, why we should care and how we can save them.

Dr David Shiffman recently discussed his new book with us, explaining how he became fascinated with sharks, what is being done to change public opinion and why social science research is so important to shark conservation.

Courtesy of Dr. David Shiffman

Firstly, could you tell us how you became fascinated with sharks and the inspiration behind this book?

I’ve loved sharks for as long as my family can remember, there are pictures of me when I was barely old enough to walk with shark t-shirts and shark toys. I think most kids go through a shark thing or a dinosaur thing, and I never grew out of mine. When I give public talks, inevitably someone will come up to me afterwards and say “I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a kid”- and I always reply “Me too!”.

In my experience speaking to the public, I’ve realized that lots of people want to help sharks, but don’t necessarily know the most effective ways to do that. And while there are lots of shark books out there, there was nothing that comprehensively lays out the case for having healthy shark populations off our coasts, systematically reviews the different threats to shark species, and thoroughly reviews the different ways that scientists, environmentalists, and the public can help sharks. In short, I wrote the book that I always wished existed, because I know there’s a need for it.

Courtesy of Dr. David Shiffman

The book does an impressive job of debunking the public image of sharks as dangerous and violent predators. Outside of your own work, what is, if anything, being done to change public opinion about sharks?

As a marine conservation biologist who studies sharks and how to protect them, I know that we need the public to not only no longer fear sharks, but to value the role they play in the ecosystem and to want them around. And I also know that it matters what people do to help, and that there are lots of things that people do while trying to help that are not really helping. I use this book as a chance to bust some myths not only about sharks as mindless killing machines, but also myths about threats to sharks and solutions to these conservation challenges. The subtitle doesn’t call them “the world’s most misunderstood predator” for nothing! In the book, I introduce readers to some of my favourite environmental non-profits who are working to educate the public and persuade policymakers that we need new and stronger laws. If you’re looking for good groups to support, I am happy to recommend them to you.

What do you think is the biggest threat to sharks and what can the average person do to help?

The science is clear on this point: the biggest threat to sharks is unsustainable overfishing, including but not limited to the shark fin trade (which many well-intentioned shark-o-philes wrongly believe is that only threat to sharks). The single most effective thing that an individual consumer can do to help not only sharks but the whole ocean is to not eat unsustainable seafood. Notice that I did not say “give up all seafood and become vegan,” because while that’s a perfectly valid personal choice, the people claiming that we all need to do this or the oceans are doomed are not telling the truth. If you, like me, love seafood, just choose to buy sustainable seafood.

A steady supply of seawater is pumped through the shark’s mouth to help sustain it while measurements and samples are taken before it is released. Courtesy of Dr. David Shiffman

You share a range of scientific tools used to monitor sharks, from eDNA to telemetry tracking, but you also highlight the importance of social science research. Why do you think this approach is important to shark conservation?

A major goal of the conservation movement is passing new laws or regulations to protect endangered species, but notably these laws do not limit what the animals can do, they only control humans. Therefore, we need to understand what humans want, what humans do, and what humans know–and these are questions that the social sciences are designed to answer.

Courtesy of Dr. David Shiffman

What is your vision for the future of shark conservation? Are you hopeful or pessimistic?

I am cautiously optimistic about the future of the ocean. More people care and want to help than ever before, and if we can channel that energy into something productive, we can move mountains!

And lastly, do you have any current projects or plans for the future that you would like to tell us about?

I’m always on the move, always up to some new project. If anyone would like to follow my adventures, or to ask me anything you want to know about sharks, I invite you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @WhySharksMatter.

Courtesy of Dr. David Shiffman

Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator
By: Dr David Shiffman
Hardback | May 2022 | £18.50

 

 

 

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Author Interview with Mark Carwardine: Field Guide to Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises

Practical and portable, this is the ultimate field guide to the world’s cetaceans. This is the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date guide to whales, dolphins and porpoises. Containing more than 500 accurate illustrations – complete with detailed annotations pointing out the most significant field marks – this new field guide covers all 93 species and every subspecies in the world.

The informative text, produced in collaboration with many of the world’s most respected whale biologists, is accompanied by distribution maps, size demonstrations, dive sequences and additional information such as comparisons of silhouettes and illustrations of barnacles, lice and callosities.

Cetacean expert Mark Carwardine kindly took the time to discuss this new field guide with us, discussing how the outlook for cetaceans has changed since he first began to study them, why he chose to use illustrations over photographs and what he is working on now.

What inspired you to write this new field guide and how does it differ from your previous handbook?

The Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises was the culmination of a life’s work, really, and took six years to research and write. It was designed as a comprehensive reference book to be used at home or in the office – and, consequently, weighs almost as much as a small porpoise. The pocket-sized Field Guide to Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises is an abbreviated (and fully updated) version, focusing more on identification, and it has been designed specifically to take into the field. Since our knowledge of cetaceans has improved so much, with new behaviour and many new species described in recent years, previous field guides (my own included) are drastically out of date. I think a new guide was desperately needed.

Dusky dolphin by wanderstruck via Flickr

Your book includes a number of threatened species, including the functionally extinct Yangtze river dolphin and the vaquita, many of which we may lose entirely over the next decade. How has the outlook for whales, dolphins and porpoises changed since you first started to study cetaceans?

There’s no doubt that for many cetacean species, if not most, the outlook is worse than it was when I started working in this field. Some – the humpback whale is a good example – are doing surprisingly well, against all odds. But many others are not. The vaquita, we believe, is down to the last 10 individuals and is almost certainly the next (after the Yangtze river dolphin) doomed to extinction. Sadly, though, it’s not alone. The North Atlantic right whale comes to mind – there are fewer than 350 survivors and, with numbers continuing to decline, we fear for its future. Countless others are on the verge of extinction or have all but disappeared from many of their former haunts. Sometimes, I am surprised that any survive at all, given the shocking number of threats they face, such as commercial whaling and other forms of hunting, myriad conflicts with fisheries, pollution, habitat degradation and disturbance, underwater noise, entanglement in or ingestion of marine debris, ship strikes and climate change.

This field guide is full of beautiful and detailed illustrations. Why did you choose to include these rather than photographs?

I prefer the use of illustrations in field guides, because I think they demonstrate the key identification features more effectively. Also, there is a huge amount of variation within each species of cetacean – geographical variations, races and sub-species etc – and good photographs do not exist of many of the most critical ones!

Relatively little is known about the population estimates or trends of many of the species listed in this book. Why do you think this is the case, and is there ongoing research taking place to fill these knowledge gaps?

It’s true to say that our knowledge of cetaceans has grown from virtually nothing to just a little bit – despite decades of wild whale research. They are incredibly difficult animals to study, because they spend most of their lives underwater, often live far out to sea and regularly travel vast distances. They are even more difficult to count. I take people to see the friendly grey whales in San Ignacio Lagoon, Mexico, every year and we have fun trying to estimate the number of whales within the relatively small lagoon. Everyone comes up with wildly different numbers. Just imagine trying to estimate the number of minke whales, for example, in the North Atlantic. In some cases, a species is so rare that we know every individual and have an accurate population size. But in many cases it’s an informed guesstimate. The key thing is to be able to compare these guesstimates from time to time and place to place to get relative population trends. And, with some exceptions, I do think we have a pretty good idea about which species are declining and which are doing relatively well.

Minke whale with a satellite tag, image by Oregon State University via Flickr

Is there anything that you are currently working on or do you have any plans for future projects that you would like to tell us about?

Well, I’ll never stop spending as much time with whales, dolphins and porpoises as possible! And I’ll be keeping the field guide up-to-date, of course, for future editions. But I’ve also been working on a book closer to home, called RSPB How to Photograph Garden Birds, which will be out early next year (to tie in with the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch). It started as an excuse during lockdown to photograph my own garden birds but, as I developed and discovered more tricks and techniques, it gradually turned into a book. One thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to travel to far-flung corners of the world to take great pictures of wildlife. Indeed, some of the most memorable and eye-catching images I’ve ever seen – especially while judging umpteen wildlife photography competitions over the years – have been of common and familiar species taken close to home. Yet these more ‘ordinary’ subjects tend to be ignored by many photographers. They are considered too obvious or insufficiently compelling (although I’ve never understood why because, by any standard, many of our garden birds are strikingly beautiful). While there are countless awe-inspiring images of polar bears and humpback whales, when was the last time you saw a truly inspirational image of a house sparrow or a robin, for example? Exactly. Hopefully, that’s where this book will help and inspire.

Field Guide to Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
By: Mark Carwardine
Paperback | May 2022 | £12.99 £16.99

 

 

 

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Author Interview with Nicholas Milton: The Secret Life of the Adder: The Vanishing Viper

In 2019, the most comprehensive survey ever of adders was published. According to ‘Make the Adder Count’ the species will disappear from most of Britain in the next 15-20 years unless we take action now. But despite being a priority conservation species under the Biodiversity Action Plan, not a single nature reserve in Britain has been specifically designated to protect adders. The Secret Life of the Adder contains a 10-point action plan which, if implemented, could help to restore the adder to its former range across Britain. With a foreword by BBC’s Iolo Williams, this book is a story of our time, one which typifies the age of extinction through which we are all living and are all responsible.

Author Nicholas Milton recently took the time to discuss his new book with us, explaining the inspiration behind it, his opinion on current ecological guidelines and his advice to naturalists that might want to get involved in reptile monitoring.

Could you tell us a bit about your background and what inspired you to write The Secret Life of the Adder: The Vanishing Viper?

I graduated with a degree in Environmental Science in 1989, and then worked in the environmental movement. My first job was with the RSPB and afterwards I worked for the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (now sadly defunct), The Wildlife Trusts and Greenpeace. I’ve been fascinated by adders since childhood and at the RSPB I was lucky enough to spend time with the late Ian Prestt. As well as being the Director of the RSPB, Ian was also a leading authority on adders (his M.Sc. was on vipers as he liked to call them). Every week we would go looking for adders and he taught me a lot about them. Sadly, Ian passed away in 1995 and since then the adder population has crashed. This was confirmed in 2019 when the most comprehensive survey ever of adders was published. ‘Make the Adder Count’ showed that the species will disappear from most of Britain in the next 15-20 years, so I decided that in Ian’s memory I had to do something about it. The book is my attempt to conserve the species using a 10-point adder action plan, and wake up the government, its nature conservation agencies, the media and the public to its plight before it is too late.

Credit: Nicholas Milton

As well as authoring this book, you work as a freelance journalist for a variety of publications. Among your work are articles promoting the conservation and public image of the adder. How have you found the reception of such pieces?

It’s not easy to make the case for a venomous snake in Britain because we live in a small and crowded island with increasingly little space for wildlife. Every year there are a plethora of completely irresponsible adder ‘horror’ stories in the media which reinforce the mistaken impression that the adder is a dangerous species. No one has died from an adder bite in over 40 years and these stories rarely, if ever, mention that the species is on the verge of extinction. In reality the adder is a shy and sensitive snake which will always avoid interaction with people unless it is molested.  The good news is attitudes towards adders are slowly changing, spearheaded by organisations like the Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK and the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust who do fantastic work telling people about how wonderful adders are and conserving their remaining colonies.

There are many beautiful photographs in The Secret Lives of Adders, a notable majority of which have been taken in-situ. This is in contrast to images in many other herpetological titles. What were the reasons behind this decision?

I can’t claim credit for most of the images in the book which were taken by the photographer Roger McPhail. He very kindly donated them for free as he wanted to help conserve the species. By being taken in-situ the pictures really help to bring home how amazing adders really are.

Credit: Roger McPhail

In the first chapter, you give an overview of how our tumultuous relationship with reptiles and amphibians in the UK has changed over the last hundred years (and beyond). Do you feel that our native herpetofauna is sufficiently catered for in ecological guidelines today?

The history of the adder in Britain is sadly one of relentless persecution, from Biblical times to the point we have arrived at today where the species could be extinct across most of Britain in the next 15-20 years. There are a lot of good guides to our herpetofauna but not many address the difficult conservation issues facing our reptiles and amphibians, from climate change and persecution to the release of millions of non-native pheasants and uncontrolled dogs on nature reserves. I expect the book will prove quite controversial as it advocates a 10-point adder action plan which includes protecting in law all remaining adder sites, reporting sensational and negative news stories to the press regulator, banning dogs from sites where adders occur and making it illegal to release game birds within a mile of adder colonies.

Credit: Nicholas Milton

Over the course of your career you have written several books, including natural history titles and a historical biography. How does writing in two such different fields compare?

I love writing about history and wildlife – my first two books were ‘Neville Chamberlain’s Legacy’ which included his love of wildlife (his way of coping with Hitler was to go birdwatching in St. James’s Park) and the Role of Birds In World War Two (How Ornithology Helped To Win The War) which has just been published by Pen and Sword. History books require painstaking research and you are often working with a limited amount of material. In contrast with natural history books, you can access new research, talk to experts in the field and build in your own observations, allowing you to really write from the heart. What all the books have in common though is how important wildlife is to all of us in terms of our mental health and the solace it brings even in the most challenging times.

Chapter three – The Ecology of the Adder – gives a fascinating view into the lives of these enigmatic reptiles. What advice would you offer to naturalists who would like to proactively contribute to monitoring and/or conservation efforts, or just to observe them in the field?

Adders are truly amazing. They are our only venomous snake which means they hold a very special place in our wildlife – it would be a tragedy if they went extinct across most of Britain in our lifetime. While we know a lot about the secret life of adders from research, there is still much we need to learn about how our dwindling populations are reacting to new threats like climate change and the millions of pheasants we release into the countryside every year. So amateur naturalists can really help us by monitoring sites where they occur. Anyone who is interested in doing this should join the Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust or the British Herpetological Society and submit any sightings to Make the Adder Count.

Credit: Nicholas Milton

In chapter five – Conserving Adders – you mention the importance of rewilding to the recovery of adders. We hear plenty about reintroductions of beavers and birds of prey, but the movement’s potential benefits to our more overlooked wildlife can often be forgotten. How can rewilding projects help our reptiles?

Rewilding targeted to the right places could help adders a lot. Rewilding tends to be associated with high profile species but it is also a way of helping all our wildlife. In the case of adders, Make the Adder Count showed that 90% of the sites where adders now occur in Britain have 10 or less adult snakes. This makes them very vulnerable to any catastrophic event, such as the destruction of their hibernaculum and also genetic defects due to inbreeding. As sites are often isolated from other colonies, joining together the small and scattered populations must now be a conservation priority, particularly in those areas where the species is on the verge of local extinction.

Credit: Roger McPhail

The Secret Life of the Adder: The Vanishing Viper
By: Nicholas Milton
Hardback | May 2022 | £21.50 £24.99  

 

 

 

 

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Author Interview with Thomas Halliday: Otherlands

Otherlands is the exquisite portrayal of the last 500 million years of life on Earth. Palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday takes readers on an exhilarating journey into deep time, interweaving science and creative writing to bring to life the unimaginably distant worlds of Earth’s past. Each chapter is an immersive voyage into a series of ancient landscapes, throwing up mysterious creatures and the unusual landscapes they inhabit.

Thomas Halliday has kindly taken the time to answer a few questions for us below.

Could you begin by explaining what you mean by ‘otherlands’? How did your fascination with these ‘otherlands’ begin and what drew you to write about this?

The word ‘otherlands’ came about in trying to come up with a title that reflected some level of familiarity and strangeness. It falls somewhere between the idea of something being ‘otherworldly’, but also recalls ‘motherland’ – a safe, familiar home. I think all palaeobiologists, whatever subdiscipline they are part of, have the shared goal of understanding how life used to be. Biomechanists might concentrate on the engineering of a skeleton to understand the behaviours it would have been capable of, and phylogeneticists are interested in how living things are related and changed over time, but all of it adds up into a picture of past life. I’ve always been more interested in big picture, ecological questions rather than the minutiae of anatomy – as important as anatomical knowledge is – and so writing through an ecological lens made most sense to me. In essence, it’s just putting down on paper what we as a community have discovered about life at different points, which is a useful exercise in bringing together science from groups who don’t necessarily read one anothers’ papers. I can’t visit these places except through some creative process – whether that’s a painting, an animation, or text. And I can’t paint or animate.

It is a great feat of work to bring Earth’s deep past to life and to render the unseeable things seeable through prose. How did you approach such an immense task from not only a literary perspective, but a philosophical and scientific perspective too?

Every site in the book has some kind of layout in my mind. It may be known to a fairly high degree of accuracy scientifically – the extent of the playa lake in Moradi, just over 250 million years ago in what is now Niger – is sketched out in papers on that site, so we can get an estimate of how big it was, and which way the water was flowing from. In others, our knowledge is a bit more generic but I have a mental map of where the different beats take place. The line of the story in each place moves through that space, which means that I can be consistent in timing, sights and so on. I think this internal consistency of a place is essential to making it seem immersive. Most of the actual visual descriptions of the animals and plants I use, though in my own words, are no more detailed or evocative than those of other writers, so if I have managed to create a better sense of things being ‘seeable’, as you suggest, then I think that it is everything else around it that make the scene believable. If the scene has been describing the smell of a limestone cave, that colours the subsequent description of the next animal, because mentally you begin to frame it as seen while emerging into the light. We experience an environment through all our senses, and so appealing to those other aspects of reality brings out the realness of an organism.

Credit: Penguin Random House

One of the things I most appreciated about Otherlands was how you focus on landscapes, the settings that are necessary for life to evolve, versus our society’s sensationalised image of the prehistoric world that typically conjures up images of monstrous creatures. What is it that draws us to the dinosaurs compared to the often forgotten plants, fungi, invertebrates and other species?

I blame Gideon Mantell. Well, not really, but the early pioneers of popular geology at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century drew crowds because of the enormous creatures they could put on display. The first fossil animals to be displayed in sensationalist shows were mastodons – relatives of elephants – and giant ground sloths. You have to remember that this is a pre-Darwinian time, when extinction has only recently been recognised, and when the timescale of the age of the Earth is still very much debated. They drew in the crowds with claims of antediluvian monsters from some barbaric era, and I think a lot of the popular depictions of the past have remained since then. If you think of the most influential European and American artistic works featuring palaeontology over the last – Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, Disney’s Fantasia, all the way through the Ray Harryhausen B-movies to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, there’s a common thread of violence and peril, which is undoubtedly a crowd-pleasing approach but doesn’t really reflect what biology is typically like.

That doesn’t quite explain why many fossil mammals or crocodilians, for instance, are poorly known by the public. Dinosaurs do have the advantage of being typically very large compared with the biggest land animals of today – and indeed the recent past – so if you’re going into a museum it’s a lot harder to miss the big Diplodocus than the display of fossil horsetails. There is something awe-inspiring in size, but I hope that people can take the time here to recognise the wonder in the very small things that are going around. I do of course have dinosaurs in the book, but because they have been covered so extensively, I didn’t want to deal with many of the clichés. There’s a dinosaur hunting for food, sure, but it ends in failure. The big tyrannosaur has a drink and scratches off some dandruff against a tree. There’s more to dinosaurs than violence.

I was struck by the level of detail that is revealed from the fossil record, to the point that we can know the presence of different types of insects based on the distinct ways in which they damage leaves. As you collated such an array of research for the book, were there any particular findings that captivated your imagination the most?

One piece of information that I really enjoyed learning about, just because of the implications throughout, was one that I picked up at a conference talk (and which has since been peer reviewed and published). Oviraptorosaurs are a group of dinosaurs that have been associated with nests for a long time. The name means ‘egg thief reptiles’ because it was initially assumed that they were eating the eggs, but more and more finds have accrued, including of parents sitting on the nests at the time of burial, that show that these are their own nests that they are caring for. We can reconstruct how the nests were built based on the arrangement of eggs and the nest mound – a ring of eggs was laid, and then buried, and another ring later added. But what is wholly remarkable is that we can chemically analyse the eggshells even now, and identify different isotopic ratios of calcium in each layer. The isotopic pattern is a sort of chemical signature that is tied to the individual mother that provided the raw material for the eggshell. What this means is that each nest contains the eggs of more than one mother. There are a couple of possible explanations for this, but the best modern example of communal nesting like this is in ostriches, where a single male builds and guards each nest, and several females lay eggs in the same nest. In ostriches, the males then rear the chicks once hatched – I don’t go so far as to claim this for oviraptorosaurs, as this could only be speculation, but I think the best examples of fossil record detail are those where a preserved detail of chemistry opens up a whole trove of behavioural implication.

Thomas Halliday. Credit: Desiree Adams, Penguin Random House

Scientist Robert H. Cowie writes: “Humans are the only species capable of manipulating the biosphere on a large scale. We are not just another species evolving in the face of external influences. In contrast, we are the only species that has conscious choice regarding our future and that of Earth’s biodiversity.” Speaking to this, how can our current epoch defined by destructive human influence be compared to these past worlds, and what lessons might be learned?

Our epoch is known as the Holocene, and makes up the last 11,700 years of geological time. Human environmental influence extends past the beginning of the Holocene, but recently it has been both accelerating and fundamentally changing in type. With deep ocean dredging and drilling, we are disturbing ecosystems that had until now never encountered us, plastic is pervading every part of the biosphere, we are altering the atmosphere globally, and our consumption of resources has boomed. When we look to the past, we find a few occasions when some similar traits can be observed. New chemicals in an environment – from oxygen in the single-celled earth of the Proterozoic to wood in the Carboniferous – have disturbed the balance of the world, but ultimately incorporated in fundamental processes. The Great Oxygenation Event is widely suggested to have caused a turnover in microbial communities as those oxygen-intolerant species retreated to environments this new toxic gas could not reach. The delay between the origin of wood and the development of lignin-digesting bacteria has been suggested as a reason for the preponderance of peat forming swamps in the Carboniferous, although this is disputed. Whatever the reason, the laying down of peat – and then coal – changed the atmosphere radically, which led to greater aridity worldwide, ultimately destroying the suitable environment for the very trees that had caused that change. But the biggest effect we are having is that of disturbance, and for that we have to look to mass extinction events for parallels. Earth has existed in all kinds of climatic states over its history, but mass extinctions have occurred during times of sudden transition. From the end-Ordovician, when glaciers rapidly advanced and retreated from the poles, to the end-Permian, when unfathomably large volcanic eruptions deoxygenated the oceans and threw greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, to the end-Cretaceous, when the aftermath of a meteorite impact darkened the skies for years, rapid change is typically bad. Although life eventually returns, it can take millions of years, and the species that thrive afterwards are rarely those that had thrived before.

Our effects are often extreme and rapid, and part of the problem is that they are done with a short-term mindset. Some human modifications – such as the pre-Columbian cultivation of the Amazon rainforest, the development of clam gardens, or well-managed meadowlands – have increased diversity locally, and are sustainable in the long term. We mustn’t fall into the trap of thinking that humans can only be destructive, or that we are separate from the ecosystems we live in. But, looking to the past, it is clear what the consequence of destructive behaviours is. This is the Earth we live in, and we are part of this world, but worlds can change in a moment.

This book is a timely reminder of the impermanence of life on Earth, evocatively revealing the fragility of our existence. As a researcher of the past, what do you see for our future?

People often assume that I might answer this question in terms of biology of life after humanity, or of the evolutionary direction humans are heading in. Although speculation can be fun, I don’t think that’s a useful way of thinking, because as Earth history shows us, the broad strokes of biology will remain the same. There will always be the same patterns of energy flow through ecosystems, and amazing adaptations to environments so complex that to form any predictions of the truly long term is futile. But we must think ahead to our immediate future. Nobody is suggesting that humankind will become extinct any time soon – we are too generalist, too adaptable to any environment to suffer that kind of loss. But that doesn’t mean that people, societies, cultures will not suffer under the environmental change that is already underway. And of course, portraying climate change as something that is future is itself untrue; we have been feeling the effects of climate change for decades already, especially those of us in low-lying island nations, those prone to storms, or dependent on seasonal ice. The effects will continue to accrue and to spread, but I remain optimistic that we will do what needs to be done – cease extraction of fossil fuels, move to a less all-consuming society, and support less wealthy countries in improving quality of life through renewable energy rather than repeat the errors we have repeatedly made. I am optimistic, and hopeful, but it is not something that will just happen. I see hard work, and that it will be entirely worth it.

Otherlands: A World in the Making
Hardback | £19.99 

 

 

Author Interview with Danielle J. Whittaker: The Secret Perfume of Birds

In The Secret Perfume of Birds, evolutionary biologist Danielle Whittaker reveals how she came to dispel the widespread myth that birds cannot smell. Mixing science, history and memoir writing, Whittaker offers a humorous and compelling narrative to describe how birds smell and how scent is important for all animals. The book offers readers a rare opportunity to witness the unfolding journey of scientific research and the surprising discoveries it can make.

Danielle kindly agreed to answer some of our questions below.

How did you find yourself studying the science of avian scent?

I was originally studying how birds might choose their mates on the basis of certain immune genes, following the idea that animals could prefer mates with different genes than their own, leading to offspring with stronger immune systems. I was struggling to sequence these genes, and I complained to a colleague who happened to be studying bird brains. He said, “I don’t know why you’d study that in birds – information about those genes is sensed by smell, and birds don’t have much of a sense of smell.” I had never heard that before, and the idea that a whole group of animals would lack such an important sense seemed absurd to me. So, I started investigating.

The idea that birds lack a sense of smell has persisted for more than a century despite being disproved by yourself and others. How did you navigate tackling long-held assumptions in the scientific community?

I conducted rather slow, incremental research, following where the questions led me. I started out with simple, clearly defined experiments to test the birds’ reaction to odours from other birds. Then moved on to working with chemists to analyze the information content present in the odours given off by birds. Little by little, the scientists who heard about work in this area started to pay attention, and soon more people started researching bird smells!

Pink-sided juncos, female (left) and male (right)

I found the most fascinating part of your research to be the discovery that bird scents are linked to their microbiomes. How did you come to look into bacteria and could you expand on their important role?

When I first talked about my research with my now-collaborator Kevin Theis, he looked at the list of compounds I had found in bird odours and said, “those types of compounds are by-products of microbial metabolism. Have you looked at whether symbiotic bacteria are producing these odours?” I had never thought about that possibility before! Kevin studied the bacteria in hyena scent glands and how they produce the odours used by hyenas when they scent mark. Kevin and I teamed up to study the question in birds and we found out that he was right.

Danielle holding a male lance-tailed manakin in Panama

In this book, you demonstrated the importance of scent in bird reproduction. I wonder if human-related impacts on our environment are influencing changes to the unique scents of different species, with consequences for their reproductive success – is there any current research being done on this?

I am hoping to look at whether adapting to living in urban environments has affected the microbiome, and thus the scent, of bird populations compared to their non-urban counterparts. It’s very interesting to think about the long term consequences of such changes, but I don’t think there is much research about that yet in any animal.

Your work focuses on the dark-eyed junco, a bird commonly seen in North America. Is there a particular reason why you chose to study this species and do you have any plans to study other birds in this way?

I was a postdoc in Dr. Ellen Ketterson’s lab at Indiana University, and she has maintained a long-term study of dark-eyed juncos for many years. I quickly found that juncos were very easy to work with, and I appreciate that, in many ways, their biology and behavior makes them ‘typical’ northern hemisphere songbirds – which means they are a good model for understanding lots of bird species. I have studied odours in other species as well, in particular the lance-tailed manakin in Panamá. I am always interested in new birds!

Banded male Oregon junco

Where will your research take you next? Do you have any plans for further books?

Right now, I’m interested in how social behavior changes animal microbiomes through bacteria sharing, and how that might affect odours. I’m also interested in looking at how microbiomes and odours have changed in urban populations of juncos. Beyond my junco research, my professional life has taken yet another unexpected turn, and I am transitioning to a new job as managing director of the Centre for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) at Oregon State University, where they study Antarctic ice cores to learn about ancient climate change. Maybe I’ll get to visit Antarctica and write about my new adventures!

The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent
Hardback | £20.50

 

 

SCOTLAND: The Big Picture: Q&A with Peter Cairns

In response to the growing climate and biodiversity crisis, SCOTLAND: The Big Picture is working to drive the recovery of nature across Scotland through rewilding. Using positive storytelling, they hope to inform and inspire change, while also enabling practical rewildling through partnerships and collaborations. They see a role for everyone in creating a wilder Scotland, with a vision of a vast network of rewilded land and water where wildlife and people flourish.

Executive Director, Peter Cairns, has kindly taken the time to answer a few questions for us.

Peter Cairns © Nigel Atkinson / Wild Images

Could you tell us about the work that SCOTLAND: The Big Picture does and how the charity began?

Our core team has been involved in environmental communications for more than two decades so when the rewilding story really started to gain momentum in Scotland, probably about a decade ago, we were well placed to document it. The ‘R’ word (rewilding) remains contentious to this day, but as we embraced it at an early stage, we gradually – and unwittingly – became the voice of the movement, or at least one of them. That gave us a platform and in 2019, we became a fully-fledged charity, working to drive the recovery of nature across Scotland through rewilding, in response to the growing climate and biodiversity crises.

One part of your vision is creating a future for Scotland where people thrive, but development and industry can sometimes be in contention with wildlife. How do you think a nature-based economy could allow for long-term restoration of habitats without negatively impacting communities?

Pitching people against nature helps neither. We need to look for new ways to marry our economic systems with our ecological systems.

We believe the transformational recovery of nature can only be achieved with the support of local communities – rewilding will only work if people can see social, cultural and economic benefits that work in tandem with ecological recovery.

The original principles of rewilding were founded on the ‘3C’s’ – cores, corridors and carnivores, and there’s no reason why such a model can’t be explored in Scotland. ‘Cores’ means areas that are effectively given over to nature, allowing natural processes to shape and govern the land. Around these could be buffer zones, where a high degree of ecological functionality is maintained, but a range of nature-based economic activities, such as payments for natural capital, wild produce and diverse nature-based experiences, help support vibrant communities.

Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) feeding on red deer carcass, Assynt, Scotland © Peter Cairns

SCOTLAND: The Big Picture was a founding member of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance, how have you found the reception of this alliance amongst organisations? Are they generally in favour of large-scale rewilding in Scotland?

Rewilding has come to mean different things to different people and that can be a challenge, but it also provides opportunity for it to be rolled out at different scales and settings, while still making a valuable contribution to nature recovery. The members of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance are all at different stages on their journey, but all recognise that the traditional models of conservation have failed to arrest and reverse ecological decline, and are committed to a fresh, more ambitious, more holistic approach.

Outside of the Alliance, there is a growing appetite for change across Scotland, as land managers look at the social, political and economic horizon, and realise that business as usual is not an option.

Your upcoming feature-length documentary, Riverwoods, reveals the perilous state of Scotland’s salmon and presents the inextricable relationship between fish and forests. What are the main threats to this species and Scotland’s rivers, and why is salmon such a valuable species for forest ecosystems?

Atlantic salmon is a modern-day canary in the mine – an indicator of ecosystem health. The reasons for its spectacular decline, like so many species, are many and complex, and this film doesn’t attempt to address them all. Instead, Riverwoods tells the story of salmon – young salmon in particular -in our rivers, and carries a simple message: The health of our rivers and all the life within them, is directly dependent on the health of the landscapes through which they flow.

Glenfeshie © James Shooter

Perhaps to set the scene, I can quote from a recent article we produced on this very subject:

6,000 years ago, a rich, dynamic woodland ecosystem stretched across 60% of Scotland’s land area. These were diverse forests of Scots pine, oak, rowan, birch, aspen and willow; a complex community of shrubs and bushes, tall trees, tiny trees, dead and dying trees, all intertwined in a constantly evolving system.

Flanking Scotland’s rivers and lochs, these woodlands were shaped by beavers, creating fresh coppice growth, new wetlands and backwaters, raising the water table and toppling insect-laden trees into and alongside the river. The decaying timber provided food and sanctuary for more invertebrates, as well as casting dappled shade across the river’s surface.

Spent salmon, exhausted after an epic journey from freshwater to sea and back again, fed brown bears, wolves, eagles, ospreys and otters, before the precious marine nutrients found in their carcasses, were taken up by the soil nourishing fresh plant and tree growth.

In other parts of the world, the connectivity between river, forest and ocean, and the bountiful runs of salmon that still persist, creates a living, breathing, working system. Here in Scotland, just 3% of our native forest remains, clinging on in isolated, lonely fragments and despite their reputation for beauty and drama, the glens through which our rivers run, are often bare and treeless, reflecting the centuries of ecological decline that we have come to accept as normal.

Pine marten (Martes martes) foraging in pine woodland, Glenfeshie, Scotland © Peter Cairns/scotlandbigpicture.com

How do you think Scotland’s river catchments can be restored? What changes need to take place?

Fundamentally, we need to perceive and manage river catchments as a complete ecological system and not as a series of individual species and habitats. No species exists in isolation and again, the health of our rivers is dependent on the health of the surrounding landscape.

More immediately, many of Scotland’s rivers are getting warmer, some approaching the lethal limit for young salmon, so these fish are crying out for the trees that once shaded and nourished them. The roots of trees like alder and willow, which can live in the water, protect fish from the sun and provide hidey-holes during high flow events. Tree roots help stabilise riverbanks and woody structures like fallen trees in the river, create deep pools and riffles providing salmon with the structurally diverse riverbeds they favour. A lack of overhanging trees also reduces insect numbers which in turn, means less food falling from branches into the mouths of hungry fish.

For people inspired by your work, how would you suggest they get involved?

We normally recommend 3 actions:

WILD YOUR SPACE: It’s easy to imagine rewilding at a landscape scale but this is a journey that offers space for everyone. Parks, gardens and public spaces can all make a valuable contribution to a landscape rich in nature and passionate individuals and communities are already working together to create more space for bats, bees and butterflies. Everyone can get involved.

MAKE SOME NOISE: Rewilding is as much a change in mindset as it is a physical change to the land or sea, so it’s good to talk. Most people don’t realise that Scotland has become a nature-depleted nation. Talk to family, friends and work colleagues about the potential of a rewilded Scotland for nature, climate and people. Encourage them to join our Big Picture community.

PUT YOUR MONEY TO WORK: There are many ways to invest in rewilding. You can support businesses such as local farms that are working to restore wildlife, or nature tourism operators who donate part of their revenues to rewilding. And of course, you can help make more rewilding happen by supporting organisations like SCOTLAND: The Big Picture.

Red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris, two backlit on pine branch, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland © Mark Hamblin/scotlandbigpicture.com

You can find out more about SCOTLAND: The Big Picture from their website and by following them on Facebook and Twitter.