Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Study shows animals hear very high frequencies, making it possible to design a deterrent to cut deaths Hedgehogs have been discovered to hear high-frequency ultrasound, raising hopes that they could be deterred from dangerous roads with ultrasound repellers. Vehicles are estimated to kill up to one in three hedgehogs, a big factor in the much-loved mammal’s drastic decline across Europe over recent decades. Continue reading...

More than 100,000 people have tuned in to watch ‘kākāpō cam’, which captures a rare flightless bird sleeping, tidying her nest and fighting off intruders On an island in New Zealand’s remote southern fjords, one of the world’s strangest and rarest parrots – the kākāpō – is caring for her tiny chick as fans from across the globe watch on. Through the black and white lens of a hidden camera, a fluffy orb with a kazoo-like squeak jostles for food from its mother’s beak. The mother, Rakiura, is attentive – scooping her chick under her large green wings, fending off an intruding bird, and periodically tidying her nest. Continue reading...

A billionaire is funding a sustainable development project on the west African island that makes the local population stewards of its future At the crumbling colonial farm buildings in Porto Real, agricultural worker Kimilson Lima, 43, has signed the agreement and he’s happy. “With this money we can have a proper floor in the house,” he said. “And an inside toilet.” Lima is part of a ground-breaking experiment on the West African island of Príncipe, where villagers who agree to follow an environmental protection code will reap a quarterly dividend. To date nearly 3,000 have joined the Faya Foundation’s project, more than 60% of the adult population. The first payment of €816 (£708) has just been delivered, a large amount of money on the island. “This will be truly transformative, both for nature and for the people,” said the president of the self-governing region, Felipe Nascimento. Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves said to be considering levy cuts for oil and gas firms, but economists say this would just fatten profits Easing the windfall tax on the North Sea would do nothing for hard-pressed consumers, and merely fatten the profits of oil and gas companies, economists and experts have told the Guardian. Rachel Reeves, the UK chancellor, is understood to be considering reductions to the energy profits levy, or potentially scrapping it and replacing it with a lower duty. Oil prices rose to $100 a barrel on Monday, as the US-Israel offensive on Iran showed little sign of halting. Continue reading...