Skip to main content

July 2021 Factfile - some news from the past month, animals and plants!

Image
By
Hi Everyone,

July is over and August is here. This month we've divided the 'News' section into 'Good news' and 'Bad news'. This will hopefully make the post more structured and easier to navigate.

News

Good news:

Pandas classified as vulnerable

Giants pandas are now classified as vulnerable according to Chinese officials. They were originally classed as endangered, but now that numbers in the wild have gone over 1 800 they have been reclassified. This is due to hard conservation work in China and funds from volunteers all over the globe. However, they are still vulnerable so it is important that the good work continues.
For all those who have supported giant pandas through websites or those who work actively with them: keep up the good work!
  

First baby beaver born on Exmoor in 400 years

A baby beaver has been born on Exmoor, England, for the first time in 400 years! This is due to a plan to reintroduce the animals. The parents were brought to the enclosure in 2020. They now have an eight-week-old kit (baby beaver). The baby was caught on a camera trap, swimming with its mother. The beaver family has already had a very positive effect on their environment. Otters have been seen more regularly since the arrival of the adult beavers. The tree that the beavers felled are perfect resources for owls, woodpeckers and bats. The enclosure is now a diverse habitat for sparrow hawks, gray wagtails, herons, moorhens, kingfishers and much more wildlife. This is what happens, simply by reintroducing two beavers back into a habitat! 

UN plan to cut extinction rates by the factor of 10

The UN (United Nations) is drafting another Paris-style agreement. It will include eliminating plastic pollution, reducing pesticide use by two thirds, halving the rate of invasive species introduction, and many other goals. This sounds brilliant and if it works, it will be! However, with the world population growing rapidly, I personally don't quite know how it will work. It'll be quite hard to get us out of this mess. But it's possible. We just need the governments to stop fighting each other and start fighting climate change!

Bad news:

Unfortunately there is quite a bit of bad news this month. :(

The end of Old Faithful?

When geologists mapped Yellowstone Park in 1870, the geysers and springs were as close to endless as possible. Now, over 150 years later, 4 million people come to see Old Faithful, Yellowstone's most famous geyser, every single year. Old Faithful shoots tens of thousands of litres of boiling water roughly 17-times every day.
However, a recent study has shown that rising temperatures, reduced snowfall and increased rainfall could shut Old Faithful off for ever. This would affect an area of 22 million acres. That land would become victim to something that a natural park can't protect against; rising temperatures. And we all know what rising temperatures can and are doing to the world!

Amazon rainforest emitting CO2

Another tipping point has been reached. The amazon rainforest is now emitting more CO2 than it can absorb. This is because the rainforest is being burnt down, so it no longer contains enough trees and plants to keep up with the CO2 being released by the trees burning down. The amazon used to be one of our most efficient CO2 absorber. Now it is CO2 positive! This is another hope lost for us humans. This needs to stop! 

Floods in Germany

Catastrophic floods have destroyed villages and towns in Germany and parts of Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The floods have killed at least 58 people and many more are still missing, in Germany. All across the region, fire-fighters tried desperately to rescue people stranded on rooftops. Many of the roads heading towards the affected were covered in rubble from landslides and some were still flooded, making them impassable.

Lapland records the hottest weather since 1914

Kevo, a city in the north of Lapland, has recorded the hottest temperatures since 1914. The temperature reached 33.6°C on Sunday 4th of July. These high temperatures were due to a heatwave that has swept through most of Europe in the past month. The source of the heatwave was, you guessed it, climate change! Lapland wasn't the only place affected. In south-west England from the 16th to the 23rd, no rain fell and temperatures went over 30°C. The European heatwave was similar to one in USA at a similar time. Hundreds are thought to be dead due to high temperatures in the north-west of the US and southwestern Canada.

Animals and plant

Land: Elk

The elk, also known as the wapiti, belongs to the deer family. They live across North America and Central and South Asia.
They weigh 150 kg to 500 kg. Their shoulder height is 120 cm to 150 cm. However a male elk's antlers can reach up to 120 cm above his head, making him 270 cm tall!
Elks are grassing animals that mostly feed on grass. They live in herds of up to 400 individuals!
During the mating season, males will fight over the females, hence the massive antlers.

Air: Puffin

The puffin is a much loved creature that spends most of it's life at sea or on coastal islands. A puffin’s beak also changes colour! In winter, the beak is grey, but in spring it turns to it's signature orange! This is to attract potential mates. They are carnivorous and so live off small fish. They also flap their wings up to 400 times a minute and can fly at up to 88km per hour! They are not only fantastic flyers but also superb swimmers, able to dive 60m in search of food. They live around 20 years and usually stay with the same mating partner!
National Geographic has a great article of puffin facts which I have used to put this together and also have a great piece on if they are endangered and why.
"Although puffins are not classed as an endangered species, populations in some places are in decline. The main threats are overfishing, which can lead to a shortage of food for puffins, and pollution – particularly oil spills. Not only does the oil make these beautiful birds sick, it destroys their waterproof feathers, essential for their survival."

Water: Manta ray

Manta rays are gentle giants. They are the largest type of rays. They are known to be very curious and peaceful.

Manta rays are filter feeders. That means that they let the water flow in through their mouths. They then filter it for food and let the remaining water flow out again.
There are two types of manta rays: the reef manta ray and the giant oceanic manta ray. The reef manta ray is smaller, with a wingspan of 335cm. The giant oceanic manta ray is the biggest ray, with a wingspan of 883cm!
These incredible creatures are listed as vulnerable.

Plant: Kauri tree

Kauri trees are found in New Zealand. A fully grown tree has no lower branches. This stops vines from growing up it. It's flaking bark also protects the tree against vines. The fallen bark gathers around the bottom of the tree.
Kauri trees are massive.

90% of all kauri tree areas standing before 1000AD was destroyed by 1970! Today, there are only about 7 500 hectares of kauri trees left.
Kauri trees are incredible. The oldest Kauri tree is between 1 500 and 2 500 years old!

Eco tip

Turn your heaters down! By reducing the temperature by just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer (only when you have a thermostat), you could save 2000 pounds of carbon a year!

Book recommendation

We've just read an amazing book called 'Dairy of a young naturalist' by Dara McAnulty. It's an incredible book that describes the natural world through the eyes of an autistic teenager from Ireland. His descriptions are precise and stunning.


See you soon (next time will be the first amazon rainforest post)!

Click here for the next vote!


Sources:

Images:
Title image: This image is owned by a blog editor.
Panda: This image is owned by .M.Q Huang on pexels.com.
Beaver: This image, owned by Michael Levine-Clark (on flickr.com) is liscensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Old Faithful: This image, owned by Matthew Paulson (on flickr.com), is lisenced under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Elk: This image, owned by Oregon Department of Agriculture (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Puffin: This image, owned by Nigel Appleton (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Manta ray: This image, owned by NOAA's National Ocean Service (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Kauri tree: This image, owned by Jessica Cross (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

By
Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show
2 comments
Read more

What to do if a House Plant doesn't look Healthy (top tips) || Green Pets

By
Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to talk about what you should do if your house plants do not look healthy, and how important it is to be flexible around looking after house plants, how changing plans can be very important in keeping your house plants healthy. By not healthy, I mean a plant that has yellowed leaves, dried leaves or is looking droopy. Recently, some of my plants haven't been doing so well either, which has been very frustrating. Here are a few things I am doing to try to change this. **Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I am just a passionate plant mum from Somerset, England and I just want to share some tips. ** 1. Research, research, research I've been collecting information on each of my house plants and trying to match the recommendations for each of the plants. I recently visited Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly, and I bought a book about how to look after house plants, which I have been using, but the
Post a Comment
Read more

New Year's Eve 2020 Challenge!!!

By
Challenge New Year's Eve is only a week away now.  Hundreds of people set goals for the coming year on New Year's Eve. We would like you to set some goals that are about the environment. For instance cut down on how much meat you eat or use less plastic. You can chose the easy, the normal or the hard challenge. Easy Challenge For the easy challenge you only need to set one environmental goal. Normal Challenge To complete the normal challenge you will need to set three environmental goals. Hard Challenge This one is for people who are willing to give things up for the environment. To do the hard challenge you must set five environmental goals. Completion Date 31.12. (New Year's Eve) You have one week. Other info Tell us about your goals We would love you to tell us about your goals. If you wish to share them with us: just write them in a comment. Tips Don't set goals that you know you won't be able to complete. Just
1 comment
Read more

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

By
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
Post a Comment
Read more

Coral reefs

By
Hello! We would love to introduce you to the topic of coral reefs and especially coral reef bleaching, as it is a greatly ignored but certainly significant topic. Have fun! 5 coral reef facts 1. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet and is 2300 km long! 2. Less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface is covered in coral reefs. 3. At least 25% of all marine animals live there. 4. Coral reefs are often known as the rainforests of the ocean. 5. In 1 square kilometre of coral reef, up to 35 tons of fish can be 'produced'. The 5 biggest coral reefs in the world 1. Great Barrier Reef (near Australia) 2. Red Sea Coral Reef (near Egypt, Israel and Djibouti) 3. New Caledonia Reef (Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia) 4. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) 5. Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico near Florida) What is coral? Coral is actually made up of small anim
Post a Comment
Read more

November Top Tips | sustainable activities and hobbies

By
Hello everyone, So this week, we are going to be talking about sustainable free time activities. This area can quite big when it comes to environmental impact, so here are some things that you can do in your free time, that are more sustainable. 1. Reading So reading is one of our favourite things to do. However, books are made of paper and the paper industry isn't great. Some ways you can get around this is by reading online (for example, on a kindle), or through borrowing books from a library or using book boxes. If there aren't any in your area then at least try to support independent bookshops! 2. Running If you love being active then this one is for you. Running is probably one of the most sustainable forms of sport. All you need are some running shoes and somewhere to run. There is obviously more high-tech gear but that isn't really necessary if it's just a hobby. 3. Gardening If you've got a small area of land o
2 comments
Read more

March Top Tips // 10 little things you can avoid in daily life

By Anonymous
Welcome to the Top Tips this month! We'll be talking about 10 things you can avoid using in everyday life. We know it's a really simple topic, but it can actually make quite a difference. The avoidable stuff will be things many use because they look nice or taste nice or similar, but aren't actually necessary. We will also write a couple of facts on these things, and give ideas on how you could substitute them if possible. Many might be very obvious, but think about it, do you actually not use them? Have fun! Chewing Gum Most people would not be surprised when told that lots of chewing gum have synthetic colouring and flavouring. However, most people would be surprised when told that chewing gum is largely made of plastic. What the companies call the "gum base" is plastic and partly made of the same stuff plastic bags are made of. The gum contains microplastics that, if you spit your gum on the ground often tend to get into the oce
Post a Comment
Read more

2021: How Our Year Went, Favourite Posts and Some Goals For 2022 | a wrap up

By
Hi Everyone! Today we wanted to share some thoughts on how our blogging year went in 2021 and some goals for 2022. We are now at the end of January, which is very scary, but we hope you will still enjoy this slightly belated wrap-up. In 2021, we published 36 posts in total. This is pretty good, we posted on average roughly every 10 days. However, there was a lot of time when we didn't post at all and our posts became increasingly just the monthly fact file. Many of you enjoyed the fact file, and for the most part, we enjoyed writing it but it became a bit of a chore by the end, hence the change we have made over to top tips. We think it would be nice to change our monthly post every year, and we will of course involve you in that just as we did this year. Our best posting months were by far August and September, which is understandable because we were on holiday for August and could schedule a lot of posts for September! Something we want to wor
1 comment
Read more

Photo Essay || Iceland Series (part 1)

By
Hi Everyone! I recently went on a school trip to Iceland! It was such an incredible experience (and I'm going to sound cheesy now) but it was also incredible to do it with some of my closest friends! I saw so many incredible things and learnt so much, so I couldn't resist sharing a little Iceland mini series of posts, all about Iceland, both my experiences there and what I saw, but also the way it uses geothermal energy, and the animals, natural landforms and plants that are there. Today I'm sharing some photos of my trip. These are all photos I have taken, and are also the highlights so please bear that in mind as you browse these! I hope it is interesting and inspires you to book a trip to Iceland! The blue lagoon <33 landscapes.... Lost little farmhouses a
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Don't People Switch To Electric Cars? || Green World Blog

By
Hi Everyone! The previous post in this series really blew up, so thank you so much for your support on that one. In this article, I wanted to discuss why people are not switching to electric cars, and why the transport industry still has a way to go in terms of reaching net zero. If you missed the first part of this post, then  click here to read it! ! I talked in the post linked above, about why people should switch to electric cars, while also taking into account the potential issues with them, and coming to a conclusion about should everyone switch to electric cars. In this post, I wanted to delve further into the topic of why people don't switch to electric cars. The cost is one of the main issues at the moment. To own an electric car, you need a reliable electricity supply, which is not readily available for everyone in the developing world, let alone the cost of buying the vehicle in the first place. The cost of the vehicle coul
Post a Comment
Read more