The Waggle
Issue 92 The Most “Disgusting Yet Rewarding” Fieldwork
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The mighty king vulture.
Chris Down / WikipediaHow Vultures "Stop the Spread" | Jonathan Hawken
The King Vulture is a strange-looking creature, yet magnificently colored. Appropriately nicknamed “King of the Dead,” this feathered feaster of festering flesh vividly stands out against the black vultures in the vicinity. However, studying them and their impacts on the local environment is not all that pleasant, as researcher Julia Grootaers found out during her three-month “disgusting yet rewarding” fieldwork. She and her team worked with 32 pig carcasses, half of which were placed in grasslands and half in forests. Within each habitat, eight carcasses were covered by exclusion cages to block vultures, while eight were left uncovered as controls. This experiment showed that “vultured” carcasses decomposed twice as fast. For the “unvultured” carcasses, fly populations doubled, raising concerns about infectious diseases, as blowflies, for example, can carry pathogens like botulism and anthrax. However, the benefits don’t stop there, as conserving vulture populations, which in turn requires the protection of forests to maintain their habitat, provides numerous benefits, including controlling pests and invasive species while improving soil quality. Get the full story from Liz Kimbrough @ Mongabay.
EU Upholds Ban on Destructive Fishing Practices | Scott Hannan
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The visceral, heart-wrenching footage featured in the clip is the first time the process of bottom trawling was filmed in such high quality, and the immense scale of trawling’s destruction is revealed. Ocean with David Attenborough / Altitude Films (2 mins.)
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The European Union Court of Justice has upheld restrictions on bottom trawling within marine protected areas (MPAs), affirming that such practices violate EU environmental laws. This decision mandates that member states enforce stricter protections against destructive fishing methods in these zones. The ruling aligns with the EU's Marine Action Plan, which aims to phase out bottom trawling from all MPAs by 2030. Some groups emphasize that continued pressure must be applied to bad actors to ensure compliance, as many countries are not obeying the directive. For instance, in France, bottom trawling continues in Natura 2000 MPAs, prompting legal actions from environmental groups. Similarly, Germany and Italy face scrutiny for allowing such practices in protected areas. Greece, on the other hand, has taken a proactive stance by banning bottom trawling in its national marine parks by 2026 and in all MPAs by 2030. Despite the lagging efforts of some EU nations, this court decision is a significant step toward safeguarding Europe’s marine biodiversity. For more information, see our Global Fishing Fleets Nexus and Marine Protected Areas Nexus.
To AI or not to AI? Conservation Asks the Question | Amy Boyer
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Using more than 652,000 observations uploaded to iNaturalist (left), UC Berkeley scientists created an AI model to predict the distribution of 2,221 species of plants around the state (right). Credit: Moi Exposito-Alonso + Lauren Gillespie / UC Berkeley
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Generative artificial intelligence (AI) uses immense amounts of energy and water, misinforms with confidence, and could worsen climate change. So why would a conservation scientist use AI? AI doesn’t just mean chatbots; it underlies our best tools for sifting through enormous amounts of data collected by nature cams, automatic sound recorders, and crowdsourced information from apps like iNaturalist or Merlin. The result is a better grasp of where elusive animals live, how big wildlife populations are, when poachers are active, and much more. AI can also synthesize disparate pieces of information to improve management. For instance, the Conservation International Ecosystem Restoration Assistant uses mapped data with public policy documents to identify candidate areas for forest restoration quickly. California’s wildly diverse flora and rugged terrain make it nearly impossible for human efforts alone to predict where some species will show up, but Deepbiosphere combines iNaturalist photos with satellite images to do so for over 2,000 species. Concerns are real: for instance, as fewer people have direct contact with nature, fewer ecologists do fieldwork, which provides insights and understanding that models can’t. Still, the question may not be whether to use AI, but how and when.
Redefining Democracy for the Living World | George Biesmans
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Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI, a team of scientists, linguists, and AI specialists aiming to decode the language of sperm whales. TED (7 mins.)
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For centuries, a fundamental principle of democracy has been that those affected by political decisions should have some say over those same decisions. So why then do we not give forests, rivers, mountains, fungi, and non-human animals a say in political decision-making? This question, first posed as a thought experiment in a law journal in 1972, is now being answered in resounding and dazzlingly imaginative ways. Positive News is running a mini-series on this growing movement, elevating groups like Animals in the Room, who are exploring the “how” and “when” of representing non-human animals in the democratic process, including by training human proxies to learn to listen to and communicate with the species in question. Others like the More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Programme and Project CETI use bioacoustics and artificial intelligence to listen to and translate non-human languages, such as Sperm Whale, potentially transforming our understanding and sense of relationship with other animals. The Earth Species Project and Elephant Voices are charting a similar path. Endowing the more-than-human world with legal personhood is also part of this global shift. Milestones like Chile granting the Bibío River a declaration of rights- “affirming its right to flow freely”- and New Zealand giving Mount Taranaki and Te Urewera Forest legal status akin to its citizens, speak to the vitality of this revolution. To paraphrase Anton Rüpke, let’s remember that nature has been speaking all along. Now, it’s time to listen.
Bangladesh Centers Indigenous Forest Wisdom | Juliana Birnbaum
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Centuries-old Banyan trees in Dhamrai on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Credit: Imago / Alamy Stock Photo |
Challenging top-down models, Bangladesh is embracing grassroots leadership to protect sacred groves, ancient trees, and culturally vital forests. At the heart of this effort are Village Common Forests (VCFs) in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, biodiversity-rich areas long stewarded by Indigenous communities. Now, these traditionally managed forests are being officially recognized: the government is mapping them and empowering community-led committees to guide their protection. Officials are exploring carbon credit schemes to financially support the effort for the long term.
Conservationist Farid Uddin Ahmed calls the move “praiseworthy,” adding, “Every old tree has its own little ecosystem… a refuge for birds, mammals, fungi and so on.” The initiative demonstrates the benefits of centering Indigenous voices around proforestation, offering a model for implementing this key climate solution. By fusing ancestral knowledge with climate action, Bangladesh is showing that the future of forests may lie in honoring those who’ve protected them all along. See our Indigenous Sovereignty Nexus for more examples of how Indigenous-stewarded land supports healthy water cycles, regulates regional temperatures, and sequesters carbon.
Conservationist Farid Uddin Ahmed calls the move “praiseworthy,” adding, “Every old tree has its own little ecosystem… a refuge for birds, mammals, fungi and so on.” The initiative demonstrates the benefits of centering Indigenous voices around proforestation, offering a model for implementing this key climate solution. By fusing ancestral knowledge with climate action, Bangladesh is showing that the future of forests may lie in honoring those who’ve protected them all along. See our Indigenous Sovereignty Nexus for more examples of how Indigenous-stewarded land supports healthy water cycles, regulates regional temperatures, and sequesters carbon.
Preparing the Next Generation for the Clean Energy Transition
Claire Inciong Krummenacher
Claire Inciong Krummenacher
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Secure Futures developed an apprenticeship program to train solar installers and provide graduates with work opportunities. Secure Solar Futures (5 mins.)
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While Virginia currently ranks 8th in the United States in installed solar capacity, the vast majority of renewable energy projects remain concentrated in the eastern and southern parts of the state, leaving the southwest in need of trained workers to lessen its dependency on coal. To fill the gap, a regional partnership between Secure Solar Futures (a commercial and public-sector solar developer) and local electrical companies is training young people to add solar panels to commercial buildings. Since 2022, three dozen apprentices have signed up out of high school and receive hourly pay, free equipment, a transportation subsidy, and credits at a local community college that provides training before the students begin their hands-on training. This summer, Secure Solar Futures is teaming up with Got Electric to install 1,600 solar panels on the college’s classroom buildings with the goal of expanding the program to other community colleges in the region. To learn more, see our Solar Nexus.
The Harpy Eagle Returns to Mexico | Jonathan Hawken
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The harpy eagle has locked s-foils in attack position. Credit: Jonathan Wilkins / Wikipedia
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Do not mess with a harpy eagle. Just ask this BBC cameraman. Their grip strength is estimated to exert 500lbs of pressure, crushing their prey’s bones with ease. Wielding claws that are often larger than bears, their 2-meter wingspan allows them to carry prey comparable to their body weight (9kg). You add their exceptional eyesight and maneuverability, and it’s bad news bear if this remarkable predator locks on to you.
In 2023, a young harpy eagle was spotted in Mexico’s Lacandon Jungle, marking the first confirmed sighting of South America’s largest and, in my opinion, most iconic bird of prey in the country in over a decade. The sighting of the juvenile and its parents suggests a breeding territory, as juveniles tend to stay within 10km of their nests. The tragic part of the story is that the Lacandon Jungle, a biodiversity hotspot, has lost over two-thirds of its tree cover to agriculture and ranching, threatening numerous species, but local conservationists and habitat protection initiatives, such as Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and Natura y Ecosistemas Mexicanos, as well as other local community efforts, aim to right the ship. Get the full scoop from Mexico News Daily.
In 2023, a young harpy eagle was spotted in Mexico’s Lacandon Jungle, marking the first confirmed sighting of South America’s largest and, in my opinion, most iconic bird of prey in the country in over a decade. The sighting of the juvenile and its parents suggests a breeding territory, as juveniles tend to stay within 10km of their nests. The tragic part of the story is that the Lacandon Jungle, a biodiversity hotspot, has lost over two-thirds of its tree cover to agriculture and ranching, threatening numerous species, but local conservationists and habitat protection initiatives, such as Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and Natura y Ecosistemas Mexicanos, as well as other local community efforts, aim to right the ship. Get the full scoop from Mexico News Daily.
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