Angry birds: Scientists find these warblers have road rage
Researchers visited 38 locations where Galapagos yellow warblers are commonly found. Of them, 20 sites were within 50 metres of the road while 18 were more than 100 metres away. They played bird songs that sound like an intruder to the yellow warbler as well as recorded traffic noise in each of these locations and looked at the warblers' behaviour. The scientists then recorded which songs the yellow warblers sang in response to the sounds along with observing any aggression.They found Galapagos yellow warblers living closer to the roadside showed more aggressive behaviours like approaching the speaker closely and flying across it over and over again. Warblers further away from the road showed less aggression.
The Galapagos Islands are found 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. The volcanic islands are famous for being home to animals that can't be found anywhere else in the world. They're also historically significant. Charles Darwin came up with the theory of evolution when he visited the islands back in 1835. You can learn even more about the Galapagos Islands on BBC Bitesize.
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ITV News
19 hours ago
- ITV News
Capybaras, penguins and giant Galapagos tortoises on the scales for London Zoo weigh-in
A pair of capybaras, Humboldt penguins, giant Galapagos tortoises and a ring-tailed lemur troop were among the animals to step on the scales at London Zoo's annual weigh-in. Priscilla, a 30-year-old giant Galapagos tortoise, was lured onto a board scale with a lettuce snack while the Humboldt penguins jostled in line for zookeeper Jessica Ray on Tuesday. There are more than 10,000 animals at the zoo across 4,000 species. The record was expected to go to Molly the giraffe, who usually weighs about 700 kilos. London Zoo's animals are weighed and measured on a regular basis as way of monitoring their health, development and identifying pregnancies. Zookeepers employ different training methods or techniques to get individuals to step on to the scales. Many of the zoo's animals are trained to perch on a scale while zookeepers note down their measurements while, for some, scales may be placed in doorways or disguised in their habitats, meaning the animal can be weighed without realising. London Zoo's animal operations manager Daniel Simmonds said: 'The London Zoo annual weigh-in is not just about numbers on a scale; regular weigh-ins help zookeepers track the health of our animals – including the capybaras, tortoises and penguins – and genuinely help us manage the care of these animals, who play a vital role in our global conservation efforts.' Each measurement taken is added to the zoological information management system, a database shared with animal carers and conservationists all over the world that helps to compare important information on thousands of endangered species. The zoo cares for a range of species, from towering giraffes to tiny Darwin's frogs, which are one of the zoo's smallest creatures, measuring two centimetres in length and under two grams in weight.
Times
11-08-2025
- Times
See the Galapagos from Hermes, the newest luxury catamaran
'There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self,' the prominent English scientist Thomas Henry Huxley once said. Nicknamed 'Darwin's bulldog' for his pugnacious defence of Darwin's Theory of Evolution, Huxley believed that we shouldn't claim to know things for which there is no evidence. Brought to world attention 190 years ago, when the 26-year-old Charles Darwin arrived at the Galapagos during his five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, the Galapagos has proved itself over the decades to be one of the world's finest places to see wildlife. Thanks to the foresight of the Ecuadorian government, who in 1959 made the archipelago a national park, today its unique biodiversity has been conserved, making it the world's finest natural laboratory for studying evolution. 'There has never been a better time to visit the Galapagos,' Pablo Vargas, one of the certified naturalist guides, tells me, as we stroll along the copper sands of Rabida Island. Thanks to development projects that have brought together scientists and grassroots volunteers, the islands' conservation data is now certainly impressive. The numbers of endemic wildlife are increasing each year and invasive species (the pigs, goats and rats brought to the islands by passing ships) have been eradicated, in large part due to work undertaken in tandem with Leonardo DiCaprio's charity Re:wild. A preservation-first approach to tourism has also been developed, bringing conservation-minded visitors to this fragile region of the planet, and in turn raising much-needed funding. One of the newest ships to transport high-end visitors around the islands from this May is Hermes, a 50m catamaran that bridges the gap between expedition-style cruise ships carrying up to 100 passengers and smaller local boats. It was launched, said Esteban Velásquez, the second-generation CEO of the Ecuadorian, family-owned, Via Natura, because he recognised that the ultra-rich weren't being catered for when cruising the Galapagos. 'On the cruise liners you're just a number, while the small boats lack amenities,' he explained. While there are private superyachts for charter in the area, he added, restrictions are tight. Which makes Hermes — built in Ecuador and exclusively operated in the Galápagos — the first of its kind. The equatorial sun is riding high as I approach the yacht on a speedy tender, and I catch sight of the first of the full-height tinted windows that give the multihull a distinctly superyacht aesthetic. There is also a distinctive fourth deck — on which passengers can dine on private tables, while observing nightly visitors such as sea lions sleeping on the aft deck near big-billed pelicans and, in the water, circling Galapagos sharks. Inside Hermes, the collaborative vision of Velásquez, his wife, and the interior designer Gabriela Soto of the Dallas-based DeLeo & Fletcher Design manifests in a contemporary cocoon of air-conditioned comfort. The interior is decorated in shades of oatmeal and cream, with wood and brushed stainless steel. There are Ecuadorian touches — headboards carved by Ecuadorian carpenters and soap dispensers hewn from local stone; as well as a library, a mosaiced hammam and sundeck hot-tub. There are 12 butler-serviced double guest suites, each with a private balcony and whirlpool bath in which, on my second morning, I soaked while watching a blood orange sunrise. The two master suites, which also have capacious walk-in wardrobes, can interconnect to an additional bedroom or a private lounge. Across all four decks guests can enjoy the views of wildlife, which last year drew a record 330,000 visitors to these islands. Within minutes of touching down on Baltra Island, I glimpsed the mustard-hued scaly form of a land iguana crawling through tall grass. Across the next four days, the wildlife sightings kept on coming: a Porter's tortoise (its hulking carapace slowly marching across petrified magma cannonballs), a flock of shrimp-pink flamingos, a red-breasted lava lizard (tiptoeing past a razor snake), swooping cactus finches, divebombing frigatebirds (the bully boys of the skies), and nesting pairs of blue-footed boobies (one male giving a nonchalant display of a mating dance).On our third day, on a late-afternoon beach landing on Sante Fé, we found ourselves alongside a colony of sleeping sea lions, their barks and coughs reverberating across the sandy shore. The previous day, we'd snorkelled among them, small pups whipping rings around us in a show of aquatic acrobatics. Each guided snorkel session served up bucket-list marine life: black- and white-tipped reef sharks, sea turtles, octopuses and darting shoals of sturgeon fish. For those wanting to see the Galapagos in style, Hermes' five-star services will be a welcome addition to the fleet. Sadly, though, counter to what Huxley hoped, there was no evidence to show that the journey had improved me. After four days of massages, attentive butler service and guided activities interspersed with cold glasses of soursop juice, I had been spoilt for life. A six-night, all-inclusive cruise on Hermes ( through the Galapagos costs from £8,624pp, excluding flights, (or £163,853 for private charters of up to 20 guests) through
BBC News
07-08-2025
- BBC News
BBC Children's and Education launch Planet Planners on Roblox
BBC Bitesize has partnered with Roblox to create its first curriculum-linked educational experience on the platform, developed with support of the Roblox Community Fund. Planet Planners has launched on Roblox. The heart of Planet Planners on Roblox is a decision-making exercise, where players learn about human and physical geography across topics like 'Tectonic Hazards', 'Coasts' and 'Population Migration', balancing needs of the population, economy and environment. Whether learning solo or with others, students can dive into realistic, global scenarios that bring their experiences to life, taking a virtual field trip to the diverse environments in locations like Central Africa, Northern Europe and Southern USA. The game is mapped to the relevant geography curricula for 11-14 year olds in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as having cross-curricular links to literacy, numeracy and computing. It is also mapped to science and social science standards for the K-12 curriculum in the US. Users can play Planet Planners on the Roblox website Planet Planners on Roblox is a decision-making game with geographical thinking at its core, it also develops essential skills like teamwork, time management, resilience, critical thinking and strategic planning and supports aspects of the science, citizenship and PSHE curricula. BBC Bitesize have worked with the Roblox Education team to develop the experience. The partnership forms a crucial part of BBC Children and Education's strategy to serve both entertaining and educational content where young audiences are. Planet Planners on Roblox allows players to make choices and then tangibly see and feel the impacts of these through changes to the visual environment and the core metrics of social health, the economy and the environment. Alongside the Planet Planners on Roblox game, BBC Bitesize for Teachers is supporting educators to use game-based learning in the classroom. It is launching a series of geography classroom resources linked to each of the Planet Planners on Roblox experience scenarios, which have been developed in partnership with the Geographical Association. There is also an accompanying set of video resources supporting teachers to use game-based learning. BBC Bitesize is also working in partnership with Digital Schoolhouse to develop further resources. Patricia Hidalgo, Director of BBC Children's and Education, says: 'At BBC Children's and Education, we believe in the power of learning through play. It's a cornerstone of our content strategy — combining entertainment with education to spark curiosity and build essential life skills. Our partnership with Roblox brings together our storytelling and educational expertise with the creativity and interactivity of gaming.' Adam Seldow, Senior Director of Education Partnerships, Roblox says: 'Education has been in Roblox's DNA since day one, and we believe that when learning is immersive and fun, it can also be meaningful. Working with the team at BBC Bitesize, we're excited to see Planet Planners empower young people to explore critical global issues such as weather and climate, while developing valuable skills that will support them in the classroom and beyond.' HM4 Follow For More
