Tag: herpetology

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Worthless wetland?

For the past few months, I’d been hearing about this amazing urban wetland oasis. A wildlife haven right in the middle of Tallaght, on the south-west outskirts of Dublin. Every time I bumped into Collie Ennis on campus he was bouncing excitedly about how wonderful this place was and how I should go down there and see all the plants, and the incredible insect life. This sounded so amazing and I was looking forward to planning some insect and plant surveys there next year.

And then I heard this weekend that it’s been destroyed. Obliterated. Annihilated by >1.5m of dredged silt dumped on top of the entire habitat. This was a crushing blow to all those people caring for these wetlands and their wildlife, and the devastation they felt was reflected far and wide. If you haven’t seen the story – it was covered by Irish Times and Joe.ie as well as on Collie’s own Twitter feed. 

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Iguana vs Snakes | Planet Earth 2

 

Most of us were glued to the hugely anticipated premier of Planet Earth 2 this Sunday. We watched lovesick sloths meander through the mangroves, giant dragons battle it out on Komodo, and penguins getting fecked off cliffs by monstrous waves.

But if there was one scene that got us talking more than any other it was the literal race for survival that took place between a newly hatched marine iguana and an ominous pack of southern black racer snakes. The baby iguana had us shouting at the telly and clutching our faces while we watched its mad dash to the freedom of the ocean’s edge, avoiding the snakes’ fangs.

While we hoped against hope that the hatchling would make it, David Attenborough reminded us that for the snakes this was also a matter of life and death. Snakes have to eat, and for them the iguana hatching season means their best chance all year for hunting food. Continue reading “Iguana vs Snakes | Planet Earth 2”