My Green Meadows

In a world of dwindling resources and ever-increasing extinction rates it is always remarkable to see an exception to the rule – particularly one composed of a series of chance happenings and involving one of the strangest species and off-the-map locations on Earth: an odd insect that has survived only under one bush, on one bare rock face, hundreds of feet in the air and miles from other land.

Ball’s Pyramid is a towering 2,000-foot spire that shoots up from the waters of the Pacific Ocean, essentially bare, desolate and isolated – except that it is home to what might be the most endangered insect on the planet.

This remarkable little stick insect was thought to have died out after their single largest habitat – the adjacent Lord Howe Island – was the site of a shipwreck that spread black rats (which ate the insects) nearly a hundred years ago.  Since their rediscovery scientists have brought sample populations back to shore in order to breed them in captivity.

The End of Everything

There are 42 species of Toucans found throughout the world. Six of
them live in Costa Rica.

Now after conducting an exhaustive study of captive Caribbean flamingoes, two scientists believe they finally have the answer.

Flamingoes stand on one leg to regulate their body temperature, they say.

Matthew Anderson and Sarah Williams are comparative psychologists based at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, US who are interested in the studying the evolution of behaviour.

“Flamingoes captured my attention for a variety of reasons,” says Anderson.

“Scientifically speaking, their highly gregarious nature makes them an ideal species for investigating social influences on behaviour.

“Aesthetically speaking, they are large, beautiful, and iconic.

“Perhaps most importantly, I was very surprised to discover how little systematic, hypothesis-driven empirical research had been conducted on flamingoes.”