Our World of Nature

High-flying bees, age-old dogs, mysterious plovers and more…
Humble bumblebee a higher hoverer. Most insects, birds and humans struggle to survive at extremely high altitudes. Yet scientists have discovered that bumblebees can fly higher than Mount Everest, with researchers tracking some bees reaching more than 9000 metres. Why? The hypothesis is that ‘extreme foraging’ may require lengthy, elevated journeys. No matter how high they fly you can now welcome them back to ground level with a beautiful new bamboo bug and bee hut.

Where have all the plovers gone? In April we were celebrating the release of five tūturuatu (shore plover) into their new Mana Island sanctuary. Now all 29 birds have mysteriously vanished from the island. The boffins in charge of the operation believe the rare native birds “may have flown away or been eaten by predators”. There are only 250 of these birds left in the wild everything is being done to track them down. Thankfully there’s some good news, a chick has now survived to 9 months at a Hawke’s Bay sanctuary. Now to find the other ones…

In a dog’s age? Your dog might be older (in human years) than you realise. A new study led by the San Diego School of Medicine has debunked that whole ‘1 year of our life equals 7 years of a dog’s age’ belief. It’s actually a lot more complicated than that, with a ‘sliding scale’ of aging. Dogs actually age a lot quicker initially and then taper off. According to the scientists a one-year-old dog is actually closer in maturity to a 31-year-old human. At 5 years old at dog is the ‘same’ age as a 57 year-old human. Yet at 10 they’re the equivalent of a 68 year-old. Which may mean they’re eligible for a Doggo Gold Card earlier than we all thought!

Early bird. A new gene study has found that the modern chicken has ancestors dating back to some time around 7500 B.C.E. Around southern China someone first domesticated a pheasant and this birds ancestors were taken from Asia around the world. There are now over 24 billion chickens in the world. Scientists still haven’t deduced what makes them cross the road however.

If one bird had to be Batman… Is this Red-tailed Black Cockatoo the most incredible looking bird you’ve ever seen? 

 

 

 

 

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