Each year, a selection of apparently weird and pointless scientific experiments receive the Ig Nobel Prize. Awarded by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the prize honours projects that “first make people laugh, and then make them think”.
Insects are a vital cog in the great wheel of nature. They outnumber humans a billion to one and make up more than 75% of animals on earth. It’s no wonder that they are the primary providers of essential ecosystem services such as pollination and waste recycling.
Researchers have recorded the first known instance of chimpanzees killing gorilla babies.
We struggle as humans to understand our own actions. How can we begin to understand and provide possible interpretations for the actions of other species?
Sweden’s brown bears nearly disappeared in the early 1900s, the victims of enthusiastic trophy hunters and angry farmers.
The hunting season for many species in South Africa has just begun. This has prompted people interested in leopard conservation to make enquiries regarding the leopard hunting quota for SA for 2021 – a task that should be quite simple, given that the public is legally allowed access to this information.
