Week in wildlife: blue waterfowl, a rescued baby orangutan and a real-life Pikachu
Rangers at Lewa wildlife conservancy in Kenya prepare to notch the ear of Quintus, a tranquillised three-year-old-male white rhino. They are carrying out the operation on 40 sub-adult rhinos, hoping it will help them identify individuals and monitor the species Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
A mother and baby humpback whale in Kiama, New South Wales, Australia. Humpback whales give birth while migrating – and carry on travelling with their babies, new research reveals. Researchers were puzzled as baby whales were spotted in unexpected places along Australia's 'humpback highway' between Queensland and Antarctica. Newborns have been seen in colder waters as far south as Tasmania, suggesting humpbacks' habits of breeding and migration are more complex than we thought Photograph: Vanessa Risku/SWNS
Feelin' blue … two colourful waterfowl emerge from a contaminated lake in the botanical garden in Jundiaí, Brazil. The lake water was tinted blue after a truck carrying five tanks, each containing 1,000 litres of dye, crashed and spilled all its cargo Photograph: Sebastião Moreira/EPA
This hazel dormouse is being given a once-over by a disease risk team at ZSL London Zoo, UK, as part of reintroduction programme. The dormice will be released to a new woodland home in June, and so the specialist wildlife health team must ensure they are fit and healthy beforehand … Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
… but undergoing all those medical checks really takes it out of you Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
A mother mute swan attends to her cygnets at Abbotsbury Swannery, Dorset, UK. The arrival of mute swan cygnets is traditionally seen as the start of summer, and it's said the Benedictine monks who owned the swannery between about 1000 and the 1540s believed the first cygnet signalled the season's first day Photograph:A lion sits in a cage waiting to be transported to Mazatlan on Mexico's west coast. Hundreds of animals including elephants, crocodiles, lions and tigers have been moved out of a violence-torn Mexican cartel heartland further north in an operation described as a '21st-century Noah's Ark'. Regular roadblocks and armed clashes in the region made it difficult for the sanctuary's workers to keep the captive wildlife fed. In total, about 700 animals were moved to a ranch on the coast Photograph: Félix Márquez/AP
A vet checks over a rescued baby orangutan seized from the illegal wildlife trade at the Royal Forest Department's wildlife clinic in Bangkok, Thailand. Two baby orangutans were rescued after Thai police arrested a suspect who was about to hand them over to a would-be buyer Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA
Video footage shows a baby howler monkey clinging onto a young adult male capuchin monkey on Jicarón Island, Panama. Scientists have spotted surprising evidence of what they describe as monkey kidnappings while reviewing video footage from the small island. Capuchin monkeys were seen carrying at least 11 howler babies between 2022 and 2023 – but no one is sure why they do it Photograph: Brendan Barrett/AP
A souslik, or ground squirrel, feeds in a meadow near Karaman, Turkey. With its yellowish fur, spots and alert posture, it can look oddly like a real-life Pikachu Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
A group of Orinoco crocodile hatchlings are released into the wild at the Capanaparo River, in a remote corner of Venezuela. For decades, the Crocodile Specialist Group have been raising younglings of the critically endangered species in captivity in a race against time to avoid its extinction, as fewer than 100 Orinoco crocodiles remain in the wild. Decades of poaching for leather has pushed the species to the brink, and now struggling Venezuelans who hunt the animals for meat and take their eggs for food threaten to deal the final blow Photograph: Gaby Oráa/Reuters
Honeybees return to their hive in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany. Plants can 'hear' bees buzzing and serve up more nectar when they are nearby, scientists have found. Amazingly, they can tell the difference between a bee's buzz and that of a non-pollinating insect such as a wasp Photograph: Michael Probst/AP
A colony of sand martins come and go from their nests at Yumurtalık lagoon in Adana, Turkey Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Two damselflies form a heart shape (almost) as they mate in warm weather in County Armagh, UK Photograph: David Hunter/Alamy Live News
A lion rests on a dead tree on the savannah at the Lewa wildlife conservancy, Kenya Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
A fox cub plays in a garden in Clapham, London, UK, closely watched by a parent. As they play, the cubs are also learning how to chase and pounce Photograph: Anna Watson/Alamy Live News
Seagulls squabble along the banks of the Tejo River in Portugal Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
A swallowtail butterfly sits on a blooming flower in a butterfly garden at Benchakitti park in Bangkok, Thailand Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images
An alligator lurks in a manmade canal at the Everglades national park, Florida, US Photograph: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
A peacock displays its feathers at a park in Singapore Photograph: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images
A stork mother guards her chicks from passing traffic on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany
Photograph: Michael Probst/AP
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Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Kenyan activist tries to block new Ritz-Carlton safari lodge opening
MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE, Kenya, Aug 12 (Reuters) - When Ritz-Carlton opens its first safari lodge on Friday in Kenya's Maasai Mara reserve, guests will pay nightly rates starting from $3,500 per person for tented suites with private decks overlooking a river crossed by migrating wildebeest. But the director of a Maasai conservation institute and researchers say the true cost of those sublime views will run much higher by damaging one of the world's most renowned ecosystems. On Tuesday, Meitamei Olol Dapash from the Institute for Maasai Education, Research and Conservation (MERC) filed a lawsuit in a Kenyan court against Ritz-Carlton, its owner Marriott (MAR.O), opens new tab, the project's local developer Lazizi Mara Limited and Kenyan authorities to try to block the scheduled opening. Dapash alleges in the lawsuit that the 20-suite camp, which boasts plunge pools and personalised butler service, obstructs a crucial migration corridor between Maasai Mara and Tanzania's Serengeti. Researchers say migration allows wildebeest to find food and maintain genetic diversity among herds. The lawsuit also says there is no evidence an environmental impact assessment was conducted. Dapash's lawyers asked the Environment and Land Court in Narok to suspend the lodge's opening and hear the case on a priority basis. Marriott, which entered into a franchise agreement with Lazizi, said in a statement it was committed to respecting the environment and that Lazizi had obtained all necessary approvals. Lazizi's managing director, Shivan Patel, said Kenyan authorities conducted an environmental impact assessment, which had established that the site was not a wildlife crossing point. The Narok County government and National Environment Management Authority, which are also named as respondents in the lawsuit, did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The dispute is the latest flashpoint in East Africa's grasslands between luxury tourism and Maasai herders who say that the sector's development is harming their habitats and ways of life. In Kenya, local communities have complained about what they say are land grabs by wealthy investors. In Tanzania, protests against the eviction of tens of thousands of Maasai to make way for hunting lodges have led to deadly clashes with police. Dapash, who founded MERC in 1997 as a grassroots network of Maasai leaders, said the Ritz-Carlton's development was the latest in a long list of lucrative tourism projects that government officials have green-lighted at the expense of local wildlife and people. "Without the county government regulating the tourist behaviours, the tourist activities, we saw the habitat, the environment degraded so badly," he told Reuters. County officials have acknowledged that over-tourism has harmed Maasai Mara's natural environment but have said that focusing on "high-value tourism" can help address this by bringing in more money at less environmental cost. Announcing the new Ritz-Carlton in February, Marriott said it would offer a "front-row seat" to the annual Great Migration of millions of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles. The lodge lies along the Sand River, an important water source for animals from elephants to birds, that snakes back-and-forth across the border between Kenya and Tanzania. Hotel staff declined to let Reuters reporters enter the property. Dapash, who is a PhD candidate in sustainability education at Prescott College in the United States and has run unsuccessfully for parliament several times, said the lodge sits on a wildebeest crossing point well-known to locals. Joseph Ogutu, a Kenyan researcher at the University of Hohenheim in Germany who has studied wildlife migration in Maasai Mara, said the new construction would deal a further blow to fauna in the reserve. Many species' populations in the reserve have shrunk by over 80% since the 1970s, according to Kenyan government data. "It is highly ill-advised to build a lodge on one of the most critical paths of the Great Migration," he said. Grant Hopcraft, an ecologist at the University of Glasgow, said the project would "likely have large and long-term ecological implications for the migration". Neither Hopcraft nor Ogutu are party to the lawsuit. Lazizi's Patel said it was the county government that proposed the site to him. And he questioned why Dapash had only started raising objections to the project in recent weeks. "The project has been ongoing for a year," he told Reuters. "We pushed it so hard to ... avoid any disruption, damage to the environment." Dapash said he only learned of the project in May because it is far from the main population centre. The lawsuit questions whether a required environmental impact assessment was ever conducted. Under Kenyan law, the National Environment Management Authority must publish a summary of the assessment in the official gazette indicating where it may be inspected. Reuters could not find any such notice in the official gazette. Patel said he could not share the assessment for confidentiality reasons and referred Reuters to NEMA. NEMA did not respond to requests for comment. The lawsuit also says the project violated a management plan for Maasai Mara adopted by the Narok County government in February 2023, which calls for "no new tourism accommodation developments" before 2032. Patel disputed this, saying the project was built at an "existing" site that had already been in use for many years. He did not say how it had been used. Narok County did not respond to requests for comment. Dapash said the public needed answers. "The preservation of wildlife migration for us is a treasure that we cannot afford to lose," he said. "We need to see that due diligence was done."
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Last call: Melbourne airport ranked Australia's least convenient
Melbourne airport has been ranked Australia's least convenient, with Sydney coming in a close second-worst. Travel insurance company iSelect ranked Australia's 11 major airports on factors like cost of transport to and from the airport, parking and queue durations, then assigned each airport an overall 'convenience index' score. 'I live in Melbourne and I think Melbourne is one of the worst,' said iSelect's Sarah Grealy, who created the airport convenience index. 'The lack of transport to the airport is where it all initiated from.' Townsville and Canberra airport tied for first place, scoring 7.57, compared to Melbourne's 1.86. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Grealy said the ranking is based on five criteria: average cost of parking, average transport costs from the airport (public transport and taxi), distance from the city centre, number of daily passengers and queueing times. Grealy sourced data from each airport's annual reports and used consumer reviews from third-party website Airline Quality to quantify queueing times. Smaller airports generally scored higher due to shorter queueing times and closer proximity to their cities. Cairns and Darwin came in second and third respectively. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Sydney's airport had the most expensive average cost of parking, and long wait times with an overall score of 2.43. However, Melbourne airport's high average cost of parking and cost of public transport and taxis, combined with its distance from the CBD, solidified its place at the bottom of the list. A Melbourne airport spokesperson responded to the rating, saying: 'Melbourne airport is Australia's largest 24-hour airport and was intentionally built away from heavily built-up areas.' 'Melbourne airport offers a range of parking options, starting from just $12 a day, which is the cheapest of any capital city airport in Australia.' Public transport to and from the airport is the responsibility of the government, the spokesperson said. Grealy said her own frustration with Melbourne is mainly due to there being no train line. The privately owned SkyBus operates as the airport's main public transport provider.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Aussie is refused flight into the US over huge error - and he claims it wasn't his fault: 'It ruined my holiday'
An Australian shared his disbelief after he was stopped from flying into the United States after customs officials falsely accused him of illegally living there for 14 years. Aaron Drooger had previously visited Hawaii back in 2011, before returning home to Lismore, in NSW. In April this year, he took a cruise ship to Vancouver, Canada, and attempted to then fly from Vancouver into the States. He was stopped from boarding his flight to Las Vegas at the airport, meaning he had to change his travel plans and book a direct flight to Brisbane. Immigration officers told Mr Drooger he had been staying illegally in the US for more than ten years and they could not allow him to return. Mr Drooger had visited Hawaii on an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) and believes his departure wasn't correctly logged, so it appeared he had been living in the United States for 4,000 days. 'All of these errors forced me to spend thousands of dollars extra and ruined my holiday,' he told Nine News. Despite having the appropriate evidence to prove he never overstayed his ESTA, he has yet to receive answers from US immigration. Several Aussies claim they have faced similar issues. Queensland couple Phil and Julie Lawton left the US on May 21. Weeks after they touched back down in Brisbane, they were bombarded with emails from US immigration officers. 'On the 10th of July, we got the first notice that we've got 19 days to leave the country,' Ms Lawton said. She said the emails were nearly filed as junk. The couple were made to jump through numerous hoops to try to convince officials they had actually left the US. They also contacted Home Affairs in Australia to try to confirm their record of return. As yet, the pair have been unsuccessful in their bid. Both Mr and Ms Lawton have been to the States about ten times, but doubt they will be able to go back. 'I have no confidence, and I don't think Julie has either, that unless we actually got written confirmation from US Border Protection they have made a mistake and we did leave the US on the 21st (of May), we could ever return to the US,' Mr Lawton said. The pair are still receiving regular communications warning them about their supposed visa breach. Travel insurers will rarely reimburse travellers for such problems, as they see the errors as avoidable visa issues. An immigration lawyer said the ESTA issue can affect non-citizens who try to re-enter the US. Sherwin Noorian said the various data sources which supply the system, including flight manifests, can occasionally fail. That failure can result in an 'overstay' being recorded against the travellers in question.
