An in-depth look at the movements of urban gulls has shown that they closely match their foraging behaviour to times that are most beneficial, such as during school breaks and when local waste centres are open. These exciting results, published by researchers from the University of Bristol, show that gulls exhibit a huge flexibility in behaviour and have adapted readily to artificial urban environments.
A significant contribution to marine conservation has recently been made by the government and community of Tristan da Cunha, an inhabited island in the south Atlantic and part of the UK’s overseas territories. In an effort to safeguard the area’s marine wildlife, bottom-trawling, mining and any other harmful activities have been banned from these waters.
As the race continues to create a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, concerns have been raised about the impact this could have on deep-sea shark populations. At least five of the vaccines currently in development rely on shark liver oil, or squalene, which is used as a boosting agent to make the vaccine more effective. Conservationists fear that this increased demand for squalene could further imperil shark species, many of which are already facing extinction.