June 2021 Factfile - some news from the past month, animals and our first plant of the month!

Hi Everyone!

We’re terribly sorry for missing last month’s fact file (May). We have all had a busy few months. This is actually the May fact file coming out very late. The June fact file is cancelled. Because of this, this factfile contains news from both months.

We are very sorry for the delay in this post. As announced in our last factfile, this post has a new feature to it; plant of the month. We hope you'll enjoy it!

News:

Sierra Leone has sold a rainforest for a Chinese Harbour

Sierra Leone has sold 250 acres of beach and protected rainforest for £39m to build an industrial fishing harbour. It was home to many animals, including several endangered species. This will also have a disastrous impact on local communities, tourism and as I've already mentioned, the environment.

Just click here - It's an article about all the environmental disasters that happened in May. It shocked me.

Red Squirrels were born in Northern Ireland

Red squirrels have been born for the first time in 30 years in Northern Ireland after a project was put in place to boost population numbers and re-integrate them into the area. They were born at Carnfunnock Country Park in County Antrim. A section of the park was cornered off and other measures were put in place to stop dogs etc interfering.

Animals Of The Month:

African Wildcat

African wildcats are members of the cat family. They live in Africa (obviously) and West and Central Asia. They are the closest living relatives of domestic cats. In fact, they look very similar to tabby cats.

African wildcats evolved from other wildcat species about 131 000 years ago. The first individuals were domesticated about 10 000 years ago. They are therefore the ancestors of all domestic cats.

They are listed as least concerned, however, due to breeding with domestic cats, this might change in the near future.

Water - Seahorse

The seahorse is a relatively immobile fish and they live in habitats such as mangrove forests and sea grass that provide food and camouflage shelter. They also wrap their tails around underwater plants. They are beautiful and graceful creatures that are very typical of the sea. A baby seahorse is called a seahorse fry and they eat 3000 pieces of food a day! An adult will eat shrimp and live for 1-4 years.

They don't have many predators as they are too bony but crabs eat them and sometimes the father will eat the baby seahorses! There are over 40 known species of seahorse. And one more fact- the males have babies!

Air - Barn swallow

Barn swallows are birds that you may have in your garden. In Europe, the term ‘swallow’ is mostly used to talk about barn swallows, not swallows in general.

Barn swallows can often be seen darting over fields and meadows in search of prey, flying insects. They fly low, normally no higher than a few inches over the ground.

They have a very distinctive forked tail, more deeply forked than other North American swallows

Plant Of The Month - Lily of the Valley

The lily of the valley is a pretty woodland plant with scented, white, bell-shaped flowers. It is native to Europe and Asia. However, in North America, it is considered invasive. The American lily of the valley is it's relative and is native to North America.

Despite their pretty appearance, the lilies of the valley are poisonous to both animals and humans! This is due to the high concentration of cardiac glycosides (cardenolides).

There are several other names for the lily of the valley, including May bells, Our Lady’s tears and Mary’s tears.

Thank you so much for reading this post and we will be back VERY soon with another post (a promise to not leave it as long, though we say that every time!).

P.S. Here's the next vote: Animals and plant vote

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/17/sierra-leone-sells-rainforest-for-chinese-fishmeal-plant
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/environment/environmental-disasters-across-globe-in-may-2021/2271185
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-57486252
https://africageographic.com/stories/african-wildcat/
https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-horse
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Swallow/overview
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/lily-of-the-valley/

Images:
Title image: This image is owned by a blog editor.
African Wildcat, owned by Wildlife Wanderer (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Seahorse, owned by Alex Griffioen (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
A Barn Swallow in flight, owned by Hari K Patibanda (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Lily of the valley, owned by hedera.baltica (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

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