Skip to main content

August 2021 Factfile - some news, animals and a plant

Welcome to our August factfile,

News

Bad news :(

Fires in and around Athens

Athens has been under siege this month, but not by any army. The forests all around the capital and in other parts of Greece and Turkey have gone up in flames. Houses have been destroyed and thousands have been evacuated. The reason is, of course, climate change.
“It’s been crazy over here. Between the extreme heat and the wildfires, it feels apocalyptic,” Eleni Myrivili wrote in an email on Thursday as the army was deployed to assist firefighters. “Ash is raining down on us here in Athens.”

England's lake district in peril

Lake District, a popular holiday resort in the north of England, is now eroding faster as a result of climate change and an increased amount of walkers due to the pandemic. Paths that were once two meters wide are now at least 12 meters wide on some walks. Also visitors tend to walk off the path, endangering local wildlife.
With no support from the government, charities are struggling to maintain the lakes natural beauty. The severe and often irregular weather due to climate change is not making matters any easier.

Rain on the peak of Greenland's ice cap for the first time on record

The summit of Greenland's huge ice cap experienced rain for the first time on human records. This is a strong sign of climate change. With the earth warming up at an alarming rate, things like this are only going to become more common. As sea levels rise, more and more islands and coastal regions are experiencing devastating floods. Study's show the over half the world's children are at risk because of climate change, with more being added everyday.

Animals

Land - White rhino

There are two types of white rhino: the northern white rhino and the southern white rhino. However, I am afraid to say that the northern white rhino is functionally extinct. For an animal to be functionally extinct, their population must be so small, that it is virtually impossible for them to thrive. In the case of the northern white rhino, all hope was lost in 2018 when the only known male died. The two remaining females are protected round the clock by armed guards. However, there may be hope of fertilising a northern rhino egg with frozen sperm from deceased males and thus creating more male rhinos. For the southern white rhino, things look a better: with 19 600 - 21 000 known individuals the southern white rhino is the only rhino species that isn't endangered (they're considered Near Threatened).
Like with many endangered animals, the reason for the past struggles with rhino populations is due to human influence. But this time, it isn't climate change. (Well actually, rhinos are also effected by climate change, but that isn't the main factor.) The main factor is hunting. For centuries, rhinos, along with elephants, have been hunted for their ivory horns/tusks. In many countries, ivory trade is now illegal and both elephants and rhinos are protected by the law.
A southern white rhino

A northern white rhino

Air - Peregrine falcon

Peregrine falcons are arguably the fastest animals in the world. They can reach speeds of over 320 km per hour ( 300 miles per hour) when diving for prey. However seeing as they use the force of gravity to reach these speeds, there are debates about weather that cheetahs are actually the fastest animals in the world. But whether, you believe the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal in the world or not, they are still very fast.
The peregrine falcon is found almost everywhere in the world. In fact they are one of the most widely spread bird species in the world.
Due to their wide distribution and stabile populations, peregrine falcons are considered Least Concern.

Water - Humpback whale

The Humpback whale lives in oceans all around the world. They have one of the longest migrations of any mammal! Some groups can swim 5,000 miles from tropical climates to colder more productive feeding areas. They feed on krill and small fish. NOAA Fisheries website says that they do this by 'straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates, which act like a sieve'. They get their name by the hump on their back. For centuries, humpback whales were hunted to the brink of extinction. But now, after forty years of conservation work to protect them from whalers, they are classified as Least Concern. Their populations are now rising and so are not at risk of extinction, though with plastic pollution and the acidification of the oceans, I wouldn't be surprised if one day they did move back up the categories. There is a quite old article from National Geographic which is very good at stating the risks still faced by Humpbak whales. Click here to view it!

Plant - Aloe Vera

The Aloe Vera is as I'm sure you'll know, a plant known for it's medicinal qualities (my grandma puts it on everything: sunburn, mosquito bites...anything!). But beyond that, it is a succulent that is native to North Africa, Southern Europe, and the Canary Islands. However, today it is grown by many people at home all around the world (including me!). If you have it as a houseplant, you need to be water it deeply, but infrequently. To avoid rot, it is recommended to allow the soil to dry between watering about every 3 weeks. They need about 6 hours of direct sunlight a day. They are in my opinion a great plant to have!
My Aloe Vera Plant🌱
(called Vera, I know it's so unique 🤣)

Eco tip

Be careful when shopping. When out shopping, it can be tempting to see an item and want to buy it straight away. Next time you go shopping, think before you buy.

Do you really need this product?
Has it had a negative impact on the environment?

This will hopefully reduce how much you buy and will also save you money!

Film recommendation

I recently watched an amazing film called, my octopus teacher. It's about a filmmaker who befriends a common octopus living in a kelp forest off the coast of South Africa and I'm not going to tell you any more! It's currently available on Netflix.

Here's the online vote for next month's animals and plant. A massive thanks to all those who suggested an animal or plant - it was incredibly helpful and made my least favourite part of writing this blog post a lot easier. It will also mean, that we write about the animals you want to read about. I hope I got all of the suggestions into the vote. If yours isn't there, then it will either come in the next vote or we have already written a post about it.


If you have any questions or problems with this post, then feel free the write us an email at contact.greenworldblog@gmail.com.



Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/07/apocalyptic-scenes-hit-greece-as-athens-besieged-by-fire
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/18/lake-district-climate-emergency-pandemic-walkers
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/20/rain-falls-peak-greenland-ice-cap-first-time-on-record-climate-crisis
https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/white-rhino
https://rhinos.org/about-rhinos/rhino-species/white-rhino/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/peregrine-falcon
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/humpback-whale


Images:
Title image: This image is owned by a blog editor.
Wildfires in Athens: This image, owned by European Space Agency (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Lake District: This image, owned by barnyz (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Iceberg: This image, owned by James Petts (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Southern white rhino: This image, owned by Marie Hale (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Northern white rhino: This image, owned by Eliya (on flickr.com), is licensed by CC BY-NC 2.0.
Peregrine falcon: This image, owned by Hari K Patibanda (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Humpback whale: This image, owned by ashala Tylor (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Aloe Vera: This image is owned by a blog editor.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Heatwaves - what's so bad about them?

Hi everyone, Today we’re talking about heatwaves and what effects they have on us and the environment. Heatwaves are becoming ever more common, with 2023 breaking multiple world records. In China, 52.2°C were recorded at one point and the coastal waters near Florida, USA, were as warm as a hot tub. This is because of the combination of climate change and El Niño , both of which make the effects of the other worse. But we can’t push the blame onto El Niño. When analysed it became clear that without human made climate change the USA heat records would have been almost impossible. So what exactly are the effects of such high temperatures. A study in Europe found that the 2022 heatwave possibly caused over 70 000 heat related deaths. Although it is sometimes hard to tell whether or not someone died from the heat or from something else, after analysing the data the team found that their original estimate of 62 000 people (which is still a lot) was probably ...

Announcement: Factfile

This image is owned by a blog editor.

Rachel Carson 1907-1964

Hi everybody, Today I am going to tell you about a really inspirational environmentalist. Her name is Rachel Carson. I hope her story inspires you to be more careful about pesticides. As a girl, Rachel adored writing stories about animals. She got a degree in zoology but had to go home to care for her ageing mother. She wrote a series of radio shows about fish for a living. Rachel's program, called 'Romance Under Waters', was a big hit. Her ways of writing were different to anyone else and no one had made that sound so interesting before. It proved that she was talented in not only science but also writing. She wrote two books called 'The Sea Around Us' and 'The Edge Of The Sea'. When Rachel moved to the countryside, she realized the impact of pesticides. At that time farmers sprayed chemicals on their fields a lot to protect them from animals that may want to eat them. Rachel worked out that they were killing pla...

19.07.2020: Animal of the week: Honey Bees

Hi everyone, This week's animal is the honey bee. Enjoy! General Information An average honeybee hive is made up of one queen, hundreds of male drones and thousands of female workers. If the queen bee dies then a new queen is created. The workers select a young larva and feed it with a special food called ‘royal jelly’. The ‘royal jelly’ makes the larva grow into a fertile queen. Queens live for several years but the workers only live for five or six weeks. An average worker will make a twelfth of a tee spoon of honey during her entire life. Drones are turned out of the hive and left to die in Autumn. In the summer months, the queen bee is very busy, she can lay up to 2500 eggs in a single day. How they affect the world around them Honey bees are very important for flowers, fruit and vegetables. This comes from the fact that they are pollinators. They help the plants by transferring pollen between male and female parts, meaning the plants can g...

02.08.2020 Animal of the week: Owl

Hi everyone, This week's blog post is all about owls. Habitat There are many different types of owl: barn owls, long-eared owls, snowy owls and lots more. Different species live in different places. Here are a few examples. Snowy owls live in the Arctic . Great grey owls live in pine forests. Elf owls live in deserts. There are about 130 different species of owl. Owls can be found everywhere in the world apart from Antarctica . Owls live in trees, holes in the ground, barns and caves. Most owls do not migrate in winter. Diet Owls eat insects, spiders, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and small mammals. What they eat the most depends on the type of owl and where it lives. Screech owls feed mostly on insects. Barn owls mainly eat mice, shrews and voles. Eagle owls eat hares and young foxes. Some owls can even fish like the Asian Fish Owl. Even though some species prefer a certain type of food, most owls will eat whatever they can find...

Ozone layer

Hi everyone, What even is ozone? And the ozone layer? Where does the hole in the ozone layer come from and what does it mean? Is it dangerous? What can be done? Often the ozone-talk can be complicated and confusing, keeping an overview is hard and understanding all the problems always difficult. Let us break it down a bit for you: What is the ozone layer? We'll start with the basics: The ozone layer is part of the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere, between 10 and 50 km above the Earth's surface and made up of protective gases. One of these protective gases is ozone. There is not much ozone in the atmosphere, only 0.3 molecule of ozone per 1 million molecules of air. This is because ozone is chemically unstable and only forms when ultra violet radiation (UV light) hits oxygen and breaks the bonds between the atoms. It fact it is so unstable that even when it has formed, it breaks down again relatively quickly. This leads to ozone turning back ...

The life of ... an alcon blue butterfly

Hi everyone, Today we are going to be looking into the life of an alcon blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). After mating, the females lay their eggs on marsh gentian, a blue-coloured wildflower. The eggs can only be laid on these flowers, as this is what the newly hatched caterpillars will eat. Although in some alp regions, they can also be found on willow gentians, a close relative of the marsh gentian. Once the caterpillars have hatched from the eggs, their main predator and danger are the ants that swarm below. But high on their plant homes, the caterpillars are safe. However, this isn't where the alcon blue caterpillars are going to stay forever. Eventually, they drop down to the ground using silk strings. With no protection, they are soon dragged off by the ants. The most amazing part is, the alcon blue caterpillars give off the same scent and chemicals as the ant larvae. So the ants take the caterpillars back to their brood chamber, wher...

Pollination

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about pollination and its importance in the world's ecosystems.  First a bit of basic plant biology. To reproduce most plants do have a differentiation into male and female, but not in the same way that we see in mammals. Both male and female reproductive organs can be found on the same plant, although not in the same place. Male gametes are produced in the stamens and are then found in pollen. On the other hand, female reproductive organs are called pistils and egg cells are found in the ovule (normally in the flower heads). Pollination describes the process of transporting the pollen to the egg cells, making it an essential part of the reproduction of plants. Nearly all seed plants worldwide require pollination to reproduce. Cone bearing trees also need pollination.  Pollination is almost always assisted by other organisms such as insects, birds and mammals to transport the pollen. In some species wind ...

Announcement: Galápagos Islands

Overfishing- An Introduction

When writing the article on the Yangtze Finless Porpoise, I briefly touched on the topic of overfishing. Many of you have probably heard about it, and know it is a massive problem threatening our seas and their inhabitants. Overfishing is so destructive, it can kill all life in the ocean, and many of you might be part of it every day. So I read through many articles from international organisations, and they all say pretty much the same things. It's a highly complex topic, with so many things to say and do, so this is just an introduction to the broadest points. It's very interesting (and sad) but when you look into it further you realize there is actually a lot you can do! This is very important, especially for ocean lovers and seafood people. What is overfishing? By definition, overfishing is so intense fishing, people catch fish quicker than the stocks can reproduce. Leading to a massive decrease in stocks that can peak in the extinction of a s...