Becks Spake thought you may be interested in the Conservation Leadership Programme’s funding awards, including the Future Conservation Award http://www.conservationleadershipprogramme.org/AboutUs.asp (thank you Becks!)
Staff contributor of the week this week is Rob Holland who sent in some bunny facts (thank you and congratulations to Rob!)
1) The World’s Largest Rabbit is called “Darius” and weighs approximately 50 pounds. It is currently four feet, three inches in length and lives here in the UK. http://www.dontpaniconline.com/media/magazine/body/2013-02-07/images/giant%20rabbit.jpg
2) In the wild some female rabbits can produce eight litters of bunnies per year.
3) The largest litter of bunnies every reported consisted of 24 kits
4) In Aztec mythology, a pantheon of four hundred rabbit gods known as Centzon Totochtin, led by Ometotchtli or Two Rabbit, represented fertility, parties, and drunkenness.
5) Famous rabbit hater Elmer Fudd started life as a character called ‘Egghead’ in 1937. The name Elmer Fudd came from an Egghead cartoon where he appeared riding a motor-scooter with the words “Elmer Fudd, Peacemaker” displayed on the side.
But it doesn’t end there!
He also sent in Species distribution modelling through the medium of Playmobil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqVKaq81vms
There are lots of bluebells around this year but how do you know whether they are native or the invasive Spanish ones? Find out here: http://www.plantlife.org.uk/about_us/faq/bluebells/
You may have seen parakeets on the One Show last week (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0414pq7). You can read the original study, looking at their effects on the foraging behaviour of native species here http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/03/06/beheco.aru025.abstract
And some other stories here http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?print=1&a=4282 and here http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/27/parakeets-force-out-native-birds
2nd years, if anyone from near Richmond Park is interested in a parakeet dissertation project, Richard Sands and I have a contact, so we may be able to arrange something.
Divorce in birds – http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2014/04/22/305582368/introducing-a-divorce-rate-for-birds-and-guess-which-bird-never-ever-divorces?ft=1&f=5500502
Engaging farmers in agricultural research http://www.nature.com/news/agriculture-engage-farmers-in-research-1.15108
Posted By : Judith Lock