IN BRIEF
Snap the pigeon
An expedition to Papua New Guinea has obtained camera-trap footage of a species of ground pigeon that has not been recorded for 140 years. The black-naped pheasant pigeon, which had been known only from two preserved specimens collected in 1882, was rediscovered in the interior of the small Fergusson Island with the help of indigenous islanders.
FACT.
While most moth caterpillars feed on plants, some Hawaiian Eupithecia moth caterpillars eat something a bit more unusual: the twig-like larvae will snap up other insects!
Now look here
Behaviour seen in wild apes may offer a clue to the evolution of the human proclivity for sharing experiences. PNAS reports on an adult female chimp in Uganda encouraging her mother to look at a particular leaf she had been playing with. Such activity might be a precursor to human pointing and language.
No show
Montagu’s harrier, the UK’s rarest bird of prey, has disappeared as a breeding species having failed to breed anywhere in the UK since 2020. The latest annual report of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel reveals that only three females and six males were reported across the country in 2020 and none of these formed a pair.
Cost saving
A tiny weevil first recorded in the UK in 1921 has saved the country up to £16.8million per year, according to new research. CABI Agriculture and BioScience reports that Stenopelmus rufinasus has been an effective biological control agent of the invasive water fern Azolla filiculoides.