Wildlife

Whales in Difficulty

Just 100 years ago the southern right whale was on the path to extinction. It was the favoured species for whalers who gave it its name by referring to the docile animal as the right whale to hunt. By 1920 there were believed to be just 200 individuals left. With the banning of whaling the species has been able to make a comeback. For several decades the southern right’s birth rate has been riding at about 7%, but over the past decade it has dropped to 6.5%.

The females were on a three-year cycle, so every three years they would have a baby, but then in the last decade we have been seeing that females are taking longer to give birth. They are giving birth every four to five years. It has also been observed how right whales have lost body mass.

It is believed that krill, which forms a major proportion of their diet, have changed distribution due to climate change resulting in less available food for the whales. This is forcing the whales to also change their traditional feeding patterns with a nett decrease in the available food supply causing stress in the magnificent mammals.

Wolf Summit

A German “wolf summit” convened in the state of Bavaria to allow farmers, conservationists and politicians to discuss the future of the animal amid worries that the canine’s population is becoming too large. Wolves are strictly protected in the European Union, but farmers want permission to shoot them following a series of recent deadly attacks on livestock.

After being nearly extinct at the end of the 19th century, German wolf numbers have grown to at least 160 packs of eight to 12 animals each, thanks to the EU protections since 1990. After the summit, Bavaria’s Minister-President Markus Söder said wolves can now be “removed” if they attack even once.