Change on the roof of the world: new book explores climate change and the Tibetan Plateau
Excerpt from the new book Meltdown: China’s Environmental Crisis by Sean Gallagher Adapted By Caroline D’Angelo With soaring mountains and vast grasslands, the Tibetan Plateau covers approximately one quarter of China. The plateau’s glaciers hold the largest store of freshwater on earth outside the North and South Poles. Though remote and sparsely populated, the plateau is of crucial importance to China and its downstream...
Into the future: DNA barcoding plants in the Alaskan wild
By Ellen Jorgensen There’s nothing so final as watching the bush pilot take off in his tiny plane, leaving you stranded in the Alaskan backcountry. We had plenty of food for a three-day expedition, but no satellite phone or any other way to contact anyone. In Alaska, the phrase ‘primordial indifference’ pretty much sums up your relationship with the vast, glacier-carved landscape. Mother Nature does not care if an ant like you lives...
Life in the canopy: a Costa Rican treehouse community
By Elizabeth Loudon & Andrew Aldrich Tarzan? Swiss Family Robinson? The immensely popular “Magic Treehouse” book series? It’s no wonder so many kids want treehouses. If you’re an ambitious parent, maybe you’ve tried building one in your backyard. Just a fancy playhouse in a tree right? Think again. Finca Bellavista, a visionary community of full size arboreal homes in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica,...
The cloud forests and hummingbirds of Ecuador
By Claire Salisbury The bus journey to Mindo winds up and out of the high, dry valley in which Quito sits between volcanic peaks, and then down into the wet, lush cloud forest on the western slopes of the Andes. This is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, within the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena hotspot, and recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. Mindo is a quiet little place, surrounded by forested hills...
Lynx triplets make their appearance at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
By Natalie Millar At eight weeks old, the three lynx kittens Ruby, Amber and Opal finally made themselves known to the public, playing in the enclosure under the watchful eye of mother, Maja. Lynx litters usually remain inside a den constructed by the female until they’re big enough to venture outside, at around seven weeks old. With their characteristic ear tufts, the playful lynx kittens are frequently spotted napping on logs...