BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-09)

IN NUMBERS

NEW SPECIESDISCOVERY

33

lemurspeciesarenowclassified

asCriticallyEndangered,with

103 ofthe 107 survivingspecies

threatenedwithextinction,

accordingtoanIUCN update.

6

batspecieshavehadtheir

geneticblueprintsdeciphered

bytheBat1Kprojectinorder

tounderstandhowtheycarry

viruseswithoutgetting sick.

30

organisationshavecommitted

toworktogethertosavethe

rarestbumblebeeinEngland

FINDOUTMORE and Wales, the shrill carder bee.

ZooKeys:bit.ly/309uhmn

WHATISIT?‘Cute’isn’ta word

that’softenappliedtofish,but

pygmyseahorsesaresurely

exceptions.Atthestartofthe

21stcentury,justa singlespecies

hadbeendescribed.Wenowknow

ofeight.Thislittlebeauty– justa

coupleofcentimetreslong– isthe

first to be found beyond the Pacific.

WHEREISIT?Hippocampusnaluis

namedinhonourofdivinginstructor

SavannahNaluOlivier,whodiscovered

it inSodwanaBayonSouthAfrica’s

northeastcoast.IntheSouthAfrican

XhosaandZululanguages,nalualso

happenstotranslate as ‘here it is.’

Stuart Blackman

Sodwanapygmy

seahorse

Glacier landscape: Dr Ruth Mottram/Danish Meteorological Institute; seahorse: Australian Museum Research Institute/Wikipedia/Creative Commons

H

abitatsdon’tcomemuchmore

inhospitablethanthesurfaceofa

glacier.Andyetglaciersaroundtheworld

arehometovastherdsofsmallfurry

organismsthatmoveinunisonoverthe

icysurface.

Glaciermicearenotrodents.They

arenotevenanimals.Theyareballsof

mossgrowingarounda coreofsediment.

Reachinguptoabout15cmindiameter,

theyrollslowlyovertheicetoexposeall

sidestolife-givingsunlight.

Biologistshavenowpublishedthe

resultsofa long-termstudyofthese

mysteriousplantsonAlaska’sRoot

Glacier.Bytaggingindividualglacier

mice,inmuchthesamewaythat

biologiststrackthemovementsofactual

mice,theyfoundthatthemossballs

travelabout2.5cmperdayandliveat

leastsixyears.Theyalsofoundevidence

thatthelargerspecimensreproduce

themselvesbycleavingintwo.

Whatremainscompletelypuzzling

is howtheherdsco-ordinatetheir

movements.Thescientistsshowedthat

theydon’tsimplyrolldownhill.Norare

theyblownbythewind.Thedirection

of the sun’s heat and the pattern of

FINDOUTMORE

Polar Biology:bit.ly/2Xdj8PD

The mysteryof

the glacier mice

BRYOLOGY

Examiningalgae

uncoveredH. nalu.

icemeltwerealsoruledoutas

drivingforces.Tantalisingly,the

biologistsconcludethatglacier

micearepropelledby“astill

unknownexternalforce.”

Stuart Blackman

These‘mice’travel

acrossa glacierand

canhavea diameter

of 15cm(below).

September 2020 BBC Wildlife 25