Stories from the cafe — Manuela Hoelterhoff

Manuela Hoelterhoff

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All in Conservation

Remembering Fossey, Murdered Author of “Gorillas in the Mist”

Jan 16

Jan 16 Remembering Fossey, Murdered Author of “Gorillas in the Mist”

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

“When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.” The last entry in Dian Fossey’s diary is poignant enough without its proximity to the primatologist’s brutal murder in 1985. Fossey was killed in her cabin in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, where she had observed and lived among the silverback gorillas for decades. The killer was never satisfactorily identified – poachers? gold-smugglers? Fossey’s own assistant? – but let’s “dwell less on what is past” and remember her life this week, when she would have turned 91.

Rare Chimpanzee ZeeZee Bonds With Baby Boy

Jan 12

Jan 12 Rare Chimpanzee ZeeZee Bonds With Baby Boy

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

The critically endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) gained a new member recently when a baby boy was born at Chester Zoo. The new arrival is far from his natural habitat – Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and environs – but he is already at home in the zoological gardens just south of Liverpool.

Rare Black Rhino Drops In Kansas City Zoo

Jan 7

Jan 7 Rare Black Rhino Drops In Kansas City Zoo

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

On the last day of 2022 a black rhino entered the world, a good thing since there are only about 740 of the critically endangered species remaining in the wild. This one will live in a tamer environment, the Kansas City Zoo.

Listen to the Plaintive Wail of the Disappearing Loon

Dec 29

Dec 29 Listen to the Plaintive Wail of the Disappearing Loon

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Conservation, Animal Welfare

Perhaps you’ve never seen a common loon, but you’ve definitely heard one. The water fowl’s plaintive call is a go-to sound effect in film – heard in such movies as 1917, Godzilla, Platoon, and countless others – to the annoyance of birders, who know the loon’s range is more limited than Hollywood would have us believe.

What Child Is This?

Dec 27

Dec 27 What Child Is This?

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Conservation, Human Interest, Animals

It’s a girl. The Metro Richmond Zoo in Moseley, Virginia received a delightful early Christmas present this year: 16 pounds of pygmy hippopotamus. That’s what she weighed at her first neonatal exam, three days after she came into the world on December 6, to Iris and Corwin. The zoo issued the birth announcement on the 22nd and has yet to name the baby girl.

African Babblers  Get Dumber With More Babies

Dec 25

Dec 25 African Babblers Get Dumber With More Babies

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

Researchers have observed that the female southern pied babbler, a small black-and-white bird found across the southern African savannah, gets less smart as it ages, a correlation tied to the number of chicks she has over the years.

Oh Wondrous Holiday Wonder: Virgin Birth in the Zebra Shark Tank

Dec 24

Dec 24 Oh Wondrous Holiday Wonder: Virgin Birth in the Zebra Shark Tank

Manuela Hoelterhoff

A female zebra shark at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium brought some pups into the world by virgin birth, according to a new study appearing in the Journal of Fish Biology. It took a few years for the aquarium researchers to realize the shark had produced offspring via parthenogenesis, in which an egg develops into a viable embryo without the hassle of sperm fertilization.

Pink Iguana Babies Discovered in the Galapagos

Dec 22

Dec 22 Pink Iguana Babies Discovered in the Galapagos

Manuela Hoelterhoff

The Natural World, Nature, Conservation

There are only a few hundred pink iguanas on Earth, and all of them live on the slopes of Wolf Volcano in the Galápagos. Now rangers from the Galápagos Conservancy and national park have spotted nesting sites and hatchlings of this critically endangered species for the first time.

Please Stop Reporting All Visiting Cougars

Dec 1

Dec 1 Please Stop Reporting All Visiting Cougars

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

A lot of people in Utah are reporting wildlife sightings, especially of cougars that stray into town. The state’s Division of Wildlife Resources is getting so many calls that this week it asked everyone to relax: you needn’t report it every time you see a big cat.

Wild Turkey Kevin Leads Attack on Quivering Humans in Massachusetts Town

Nov 26

Nov 26 Wild Turkey Kevin Leads Attack on Quivering Humans in Massachusetts Town

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

Turkeys don’t stand a chance this time of year, but one flock of gobblers is taking back what’s theirs (America) starting with one New England town. The human inhabitants of Woburn, Massachusetts, population 41,000, have been under attack by an obnoxious group of five wild turkeys, a thuggish gang led by a tom named Kevin.

Florida Man! Save Some Pie For Your Starving Manatees

Nov 24

Nov 24 Florida Man! Save Some Pie For Your Starving Manatees

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

The situation is going from bad to worse for Florida’s shrinking manatee population: the gentle aquatic mammals are dying by the hundreds, mostly from starvation. A coalition of conservation groups are now petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the manatee as an endangered species, as it once was, with the hope of improving the creature’s habitat.

Hostile Hoot Owl Mocks Local Woman

Nov 6

Nov 6 Hostile Hoot Owl Mocks Local Woman

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animals, Conservation

A barred owl in Hansville, Washington has a territorial feud ongoing with a local woman. The aggressive bird has attacked her twice – silent swoops from above that result in painful smacks to the back of her head – and biologists say such avian sorties will become more common.

Where Have 7 Billion Snow Crabs Gone?

Oct 18

Oct 18 Where Have 7 Billion Snow Crabs Gone?

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

For the first time, Alaska has canceled its winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea because of a shocking decline in the crab population. There were an estimated eight billion snow crabs in 2018, a number that dropped off a cliff to a mere one billion last year.

Beagle Gives Birth to Cloned Arctic Wolf

Sep 30

Sep 30 Beagle Gives Birth to Cloned Arctic Wolf

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

This week Sinogene Biotechnology of Beijing showed off its latest creation, a clone of a Canadian Arctic wolf born to a surrogate beagle mom. The cub, named Maya, was born (if that’s the right term) on June 10. The surrogate mom remains nameless. (Why?)

Pando, World’s Largest Organism Is Breaking Up

Sep 28

Sep 28 Pando, World’s Largest Organism Is Breaking Up

Manuela Hoelterhoff

A gigantic and ancient stand of aspen known as Pando is at risk of fragmentation and decline, researchers say. Located in central Utah on the Fishlake National Forest, Pando’s size might be no match for the insects, disease, and grazing animals that have been nipping at the trees and slowing its regeneration.

Turkish Conglomerate Threatens Albanian (!) Pelicans

Sep 23

Sep 23 Turkish Conglomerate Threatens Albanian (!) Pelicans

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

The world’s largest pelicans have survived many threats, but in Albania a planned airport construction could finally do them in. The Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is listed as ‘near threatened’ by the IUCN.

India’s Modi Celebrates His Birthday With Eight Cheetahs

Sep 18

Sep 18 India’s Modi Celebrates His Birthday With Eight Cheetahs

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

Prime minister Narendra Modi himself opened the gate to release the new arrivals into their quarantined pen. “Cheetahs have returned to India after decades. There is new energy in India’s wildlife lovers,” the prime minister said. “I am sure that these cheetahs will teach us about our values.”

Dolphin Johnny, Fitted With Teeth, Swims Free With Friends

Sep 16

Sep 16 Dolphin Johnny, Fitted With Teeth, Swims Free With Friends

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

Three bottlenose dolphins swam to freedom last week after years of confinement and degradation for the amusement of tourists. The three males – Johnny, Rocky and Rambo – were released off the island of Bali in Indonesia.

Crabs Will Save Us

Sep 12

Sep 12 Crabs Will Save Us

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animal Welfare, Conservation

The rise of the lithium-ion battery has been essential to the tech revolution, as it is a crucial component of smartphones, electrical vehicles, and every electronic gizmo in between. But lithium exacts a harsh price on the environment, from cradle to grave: mining trashes local environments at the point of extraction, a

Penguins Fool Around More Than We Thought

Sep 6

Sep 6 Penguins Fool Around More Than We Thought

Manuela Hoelterhoff

Animals, Animal Welfare, Conservation

An enduring and endearing staple of nature shows is the monogamous penguin. The idea that these tuxedo-clad flightless birds mate for life without the occasional affaire de coeur is adorable, but is it true?