All mammals breathe air into their lungs and whales are no exception. These aquatic mammals are descendants of mammals that have gone back to the sea and those huge creatures were of the order artiodacyla and they had many similarities to the modern day hippopotamus.

Image via Wikipedia

Molecular biology and DNA testing gives convincing evidence for this connection and verifies that whales entered the water approximately 50 million years ago. Whales are divided into two broad groups called baleen and toothed whales. There was a third group but this is now totally extinct.

The first group of whales has a sieve like mesh at the back of the mouth which strains plankton and microscopic creatures from the water. This group contains the largest species of whales which seems strange because, logically, it would be expected that the larger species would feed of the larger, more substantial food source.

Image via Wikipedia

The second group is the toothed whale that preys on squid, fish or both. This is the group that has such a sensitive and accurate echo location system. This system is also known as biosonar and is also found in other mammals including dolphins, shrews and bats. Echo locating animals project sound and listen for the echo that comes back and this helps them to navigate, or hunt.

Image by natalielucier via Flickr

Changes in the environment and the increasing use of sonar equipment on board ships has affected the toothed whales very badly. It disrupts their sonar so that hunting is not as effective and it misdirects their navigational abilities. This could be a major contribution to the disturbing incidences of whales beaching themselves, or getting stuck upstream in rivers.

Image via Wikipedia

Whales are warm blooded creatures and they give birth to live young, just like other mammals do.

They feed their young milk from mammary glands and even have hair on their bodies. All these things are proof of the link with land mammals.

The body of the whale is like that of a fish but remnants of forelimbs can be seen in the creature’s front flippers. The tail holds the fluke which enables propulsion. Most whales do not have hind limbs but there are a couple of exceptions to this rule. Sperm whales and baleen whales sometimes have very simple back limbs. Most whales also have a dorsal or back fin.

Image via Wikipedia

Beneath the skin of the whale is a thick layer of blubber, or fat, which provides insulation and it is for this fatty layer that whales have been hunted almost to extinction in some cases.

Whales breathe through blow holes which are located at the top of their heads. This location enables the whale to breathe and still remain submerged. Baleen whales have two blow holes and baleens have one. After a dive whales blow out water spouts which vary in shape according to species. A sperm whale can stay underwater for up to two hours without having to surface for air.

Image via Wikipedia

The lifespan of the whale is estimated to be somewhere between thirty and ninety years depending on their species. However evidence of whales reaching more than one hundred years of age has also been found. In one particular instance part of a lance used by whalers in the 1800’s was found embedded in a bowhead whale which was caught off the coast of Alaska.

Male whales are known as bulls, females are called cows and their offspring are called cows and they tend to live in groups. Communication between whales is based on a series of sounds called whale song. These sounds are very loud because these are such large creatures and sperm whales have also been heard emitting a series of clicks. This is how these amazing creatures operate their inbuilt sonar system. They have been known to emit 20,000 watts of sound at 163 decibels. That’s a lot of noise when you consider that a blast from a shotgun reaches 130 decibels and a rocket launch generates 180 decibels. That places whale song somewhere between these two in volume.

Image via Wikipedia

Whales do not usually form lasting bonds during the mating season and a cow may have several male partners during one season. Cows usually only give birth to one calf which is born tail first and suckles milk directly from its mother. Whale milk is a very thick, pasty substance and is actively squirted into the mouth of the suckling calf by the mother so that none of it gets lost in the water.

Sonar interference and whaling are endangering many whale species but these are not the only hazards they face. Seismic testing for oil and gas is thought to disrupt whale sonar and changes in the earth’s magnetic field may also be a factor in beaching. Fishing gear and collisions with ships frequently cause injury, or death and toxins known as persistent organic pollutants cause even more serious problems, These toxins can cause hearing loss in whales and so disrupt the fine tuning needed for their sonar operation.

Culturally whales have featured in stories and legends. For example in Pinocchio where the puppet and his father are swallowed by a whale and the tale of the great white whale, Moby Dick. The whale is mentioned in the Bible, ‘And God created great whales’, (Genesis 1:21) and in the Qur’an in the story of Jonah being swallowed by a great whale.

There are fourteen known species of baleen whales and of these the best known are Bowhead, Humpback Whale, Blue Whale and Grey Whale. The toothed whales number twenty six species including the Sperm Whale, Narwhal and Beluga.

A third group of whales is now thought to be extinct. The archaeoceti group were the forerunners to the modern whale. In 2004 fossils of an unknown extinct archeoceti were discovered and the species was named Harrison’s Whale after the discoverer. Sadly, not all extinct whales come from this group.

The Blue Whale is the world’s largest mammal and reaches up to thirty-three metres long with a weight of one hundred and ninety tonnes. It is thought to be the largest animal of any kind, ever to have lived on the earth. During the twentieth century, these creatures were hunted almost to distinction. In the middle of the 1960’s the blues were protected and this has helped their numbers to recover in the southern oceans. The last count was an estimated 2,300 and growth of about 7% per year has been seen since. (Figures courtesy of the BBC News Channel) and there is also evidence of an increase in numbers in the North Atlantic region.

The Bowhead Whale which is a particularly slow moving species has been protected since 1937. It grows up to 20 metres in length and inhabits the Arctic and Sub Arctic Seas. Although these whales are protected, native peoples are still permitted to hunt them for food. The Bowhead’s numbers are recovering in the Bering Sea, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas but the process is slower around Greenland and Baffin Island. It is thought that there are just 8000 Bowhead Whales in existence at this time.

The Fin Whale grows to about eighteen metres long and is found in north and south hemispheres. These creatures swim in pods of seven or eight individuals and eat mostly krill and herring. They have been so over fished and seen as a threat to herring fisherman that their numbers are sharply declining.

These are not the only threatened whale species. There are many more including the grey whale, humpback whale, and the Sei Whale. As our seas become more polluted and climate change plays havoc with food supplies for these creatures and other marine life we are in serious danger of killing these wonderful creatures off completely.

Coral reefs, their enormous variety of marine life and the sensitive eco systems surrounding them are also subject to the same destructive elements. Small changes in these areas have huge knock on effects in all the oceans of the world. This, combined with current changes, wind direction changes above the water have a far reaching effect on climate, drought and flood and so threaten our entire existence. Saving the whales now will have real long term benefits for the human race as a species. What is good for them now will eventually be food for us too.

It would be a very sad thing indeed if generations to come never saw whales, seahorses, walruses, penguins and starfish except in picture books, because we failed to do enough to protect them and their environment.

There is more at stake than preserving marine life and protecting whales because they are part of the same finely balanced eco system in which we live. The steps we need to take to make changes for these creatures are the same steps that are needed to save the very earth we live on and secure our own future as a species.

As most kids from 3 to 103 will know, Ratty was one of the prominent characters in Kenneth Grahame’s wonderful book “The Wind in the Willows”, but early illustrations show that Ratty wasn’t a rat in the true sense of the word but was more probably a water vole.  These attractive little creatures, around 20 years ago, could be found in great abundance on almost all of Britain’s waterways but numbers have declined by 90% since the 1980s.  But, just like Ratty, he’s putting up a damned good fight and water vole numbers are slowly on the increase.

However, Ratty’s decline wasn’t due to standing his ground against the evil weasels and stoats as in the story but due mainly to us humans who have been polluting the waterways and flinging pesticides hither and thither across the land.

In order to combat the decline of this cheeky little chappy recent legislation was put in place by way of a fine of £5,000 to anyone who injured one or disturbed his habitat.  Surprisingly, this legislation seems to have had some effect and this year’s British Waterways wildlife survey has revealed that, although these voles are still extremely rare, there were 89 sightings – twice as many as last year.  Most of the sightings seem to have been along the banks of the Kennet and Avon canal in southern England.

The survey was conducted by members of the public who reported on the various creatures they saw along the 2,000 mile network of canals and waterways and not only did it reveal a considerable increase in the number of water voles but, among a total of 42,500 sightings of wildlife, 127  birds and 27 butterfly species were spotted and three times as many frogs were spotted this year compared to last.

The top three sightings will come as no surprise to UK residents – there were over 7,000 sightings of mallard ducks, around 2,500 sightings of Canada geese, and almost 2,500 sightings of swans.

Other top sightings were moorhens, starlings, bumblebees, rabbits, house sparrows, coots and sticklebacks.

It was also good to see kingfishers fairly high on the list, although unfortunately not in the Top 20.  These fussy little birds like nice clean water – not your “bog standard” muck – so it bodes well for next year’s wildlife if the waters are contaminate free.

Two of the most bizarre beasties spotted were a porpoise in the River Ouse near Selby in North Yorkshire but being ever sceptical I do wonder whether this was spotted by a Theakston’s Old Peculier imbiber (a very well known English Ale to those of you not from the UK!) and, even more “Peculier” was the sighting of a large alligator snapping turtle (US native) which was found in the Earlswood Reservoir in Solihull   Quite why he’d want to go to Solihull I have no idea, but it’s thought that he may have been a “family pet” but became a little too large to handle!!!

And now on to Mrs Tiggywinkle.  She’s been snuffling around our gardens for centuries helping us veggie growers to ward off the evil slugs and snails which creep around unseen and unheard in the twilight zone but, due to our modern gardening fads she’s finding it difficult to find her way!

Due to the latest British fad for decking, patios, secure fencing and Mediterranean style gardens with stone or slate surfaces, Mrs T and her family are unable to get into many of our gardens and, if they do manage it, they can’t find food.  So, the next time you’re doing a garden make-over please consider the Tiggywinkle family!  Thankfully my driveway isn’t gated, and access from the drive into the back garden isn’t either.  I then have grass, and flower/vegetable beds so they can happily come in for a spot of slug and chips of an evening and they have no need to take the same route home – I’ve got a natural native British hedge at the bottom of the garden which was planted two or three years ago to replace a fence, and this leads into a meadow so my conscience is totally clear!  The only drawback in having one of just a handful of gardens in the locality which is a hedgehog haven is that I do have to dodge the hedgehog poo when I walk down the garden, but it’s a small price to pay!

Image via Wikipedia

Human beings have also adapted over many generations so that they too can live in hostile environments. We are not usually aware of such changes but the Andean Indians of South America are an amazing perfect example of physical adaptation.

Humans, who have existed at particularly high altitudes where the temperature is lower and there is less oxygen in the thin air, have adapted to their environment in a quite spectacular way.

Image via Wikipedia

Scientists have discovered that they produce more red blood cells which contain more haemoglobin, the substance that carries oxygen and enables it to be absorbed into the blood stream.

Most inhabitants of these inhospitable mountainous areas have developed other physical abilities that enable them to live in the low temperatures and manage air that has a low oxygen content.

Many of the Quechua Indians, who live in the Andes Mountains in South America, live way up at heights of more than 12,000 feet (or 3650 metres). They tend to have short, very squat bodies that are compact in stature to minimize heat loss. Their hearts and lungs are bigger and heavier than normal so that they can carry and circulate twenty percent more blood.

They also have much higher numbers of blood vessels in their hands and feet which make the blood circulate faster so much that these Indians could actually walk on ice and snow without getting frostbite.

The question is, what adaptations will humans make in some areas of the world? Will they learn to exist on less food, simply because there isn’t enough to go round?

 Maybe they will develop webbed feet where it is always wet, so that they can get around more easily, or like the Quechua Indians, grow larger lungs and hearts to deal which reduced oxygen because of air pollution. 

Image via Wikipedia

The main features of the human body could well change significantly during the next couple of generations and perhaps they need to adapt in this way if we are to survive as a species, and not become endangered like many other animals.

While the new inhabitants had transported tools, food, plants and animals from their native land, they may still have envisioned the island’s expansive forestlands as a never-ending source of wood for homes, canoes and rope. The group immediately set to slashing and burning great sections of the isle for agricultural use and completed moia transportation, as they migrated further toward all ends of the tiny continent. Tremendous amounts of skilled labor and rope were dedicated to the creation and movement of the culture’s immense statues, to locations all over the island. Later, as the new society continued to multiply, the island’s ever-increasing wooded clearings eroded away much of the limited soils, negating any possibility of reforestation. Eventually timber became too scarce to build canoes, and the desperate community became virtually land-locked within a permanently altered ecosystem, void of resources required to sustain human life. Anthropologists’ reports disagree on its scale, but readily acknowledge that evidence of eventual cannibalism was identified at specific sites of the island.

On that note, the focus of concern shifts to the rainforests of the Amazon, which span more than a billion total acres, encompassing land in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and the Eastern Andean region of Ecuador and Peru. And just like Easter Island, but on a far greater scale, the Amazon rainforests are currently being deforested primarily for their timber and oil resources, by individuals, multi-national corporations, and governments. Of additional concern are the forests’ rapidly vanishing sources of plant-based, potential pharmaceuticals. According to Raintree Nutrition Inc., 25% of all current Western prescription drugs sold are derived from rainforest-based ingredients.

It’s important to recognize that the affects of the ‘slash and burn’ approach to clearing the rainforests mimics the results left following the cultural development of Easter Island: Vast areas of heavily-eroded soil, stripped of its life-giving nutrients, as well as thousands of indigenous animal species, fruits, drugs and oxygen-producing plants and trees. Within 40 years, we can now foresee the potential loss of this entire ecosystem, on a level that may impact all this planet’s occupants, in ways so far witnessed only in science-fiction horror films.

What can we learn from the small-scale annihilation of one ecosystem that may save us from ourselves, as we continue to cultivate the Amazon Rainforests? One answer lies in sustainable development, which, according to the World Commission on Environment and Development, may be defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” One particularly ingenious strategy implemented in the Amazon rainforest to promote environmental sustainability is the ‘debt for nature swap.’ In this arrangement, a debt owed by a government may be forgiven, or paid by a conservation group or other entity, in exchange for the environmental protection of a particular area. But to many of us, it seems the most important hurdle for achieving continuing sustainability depends on the success of involving the rainforests’ local inhabitants in its reforestation.

Approximately 60% of the Amazon rainforests’ current deforestation has been attributed to small farm cultivators. These inhabitants are continually forced by population growth and larger-gaining land-owners to keep moving their staked homesteads deeper into the jungles. Brazilian governmental development programs intended to re-settle the country’s homeless poor, and consolidate Amazonia into its economy, resulted in the deforestation of about 57 million acres of rainforest. Many agroforestry specialists are now involved in the replanting of some deforested Amazon areas, with a combination of quick-yielding, marketable food crops and longer-growing, timber-yielding trees. These projects serve as models for local area residents, who can follow the plans’ long-range guides to stabilize and re-strengthen their rainforest ecosystem. An obvious side-benefit to the local population involved with the replanting is the future income anticipated from growing and maintaining these new crops.

Many other individuals and organizations around the globe are also racing against time to at least partially-restore the Amazon’s fragile and limited ecosystem. As stewards of this plant, each of us possess the nature-given grace to dominate our environments, but also the unique responsibility of tending and enriching it for all the generations of living organisms still to come. Take the time to do some research on what you can do individually, or as a group, to re-forge environmental responsibility on our planet. There are so many ways a single individual can help, to return our depleted Amazon rainforest to the living, breathing, beating heart of our planet that nature intended it to be. There is no need for us to repeat the lessons of Easter Island, on a global scale, before realizing that we all play a part in stewarding our planet’s continuing health and well-being.

The rapidly declining rate of a huge variety of animals and plants seems to coincide with the shrinkage, fragmentation, or disappearance of wild habitat, as urban development expands further away from cities. According to National Resources Defense Council policy analyst Jutka Terris, “As of mid-1997, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that 1,082 species of plants and animals were listed as threatened and endangered, with another 119 proposed for listing.” Some species now considered at risk include the Florida panther, or mountain lion, and Arizona’s sonoran pronghorn, pygmy owl, and the brown-and-white flecked raptor. California risks the loss of its rare gnatcatcher bird, kangaroo rat, redleg frog, and Pacific pond turtle, among others. The growing popularity of all-terrain vehicle excursions in desert areas of states like California and Arizona crushes vegetation, pollutes creeks and washes, and often kills many small animals and nested birds’ eggs.

Unfortunately, the list goes on and on. The result of this trend is known as the ‘generalization of habitat,’ and allows only those animal species hardy enough to survive on what grows in our gardens and sits in our garbage cans. In addition, the fragmentation of wild habitats caused by further-encroaching suburbia can result in the eventual genetic mutation to, or total loss of, complete generations of some species. The continuing losses ensuing from uncontrolled urban sprawl endanger our planet’s remaining natural habitat, but it is certainly not too late to reverse this trend through better laws, incentives, and responsible land use stewardship. An increase in municipalities’ utilization of land-planning tools like zoning regulations, differential tax rates and developmental rights also help to maintain existing farmlands and greenbelt areas, and further restrict the environmental damage of sprawl. “…An interdependence between healthy ecosystems and community well-being” is recommended by Carnegie Mello University Professor Michael P. Johnson, who feels this expectation depends on the principal of stewardship fostered in citizen-empowered communities willing to learn about and monitor upcoming urban development.

Fortunately, a number of U.S. and European cities are now integrating urban planning that adheres to ‘smart growth’ standards, including more compact, pedestrian and mass transit-friendly neighborhoods which minimize degradation of surrounding wilderness. Smart growth planning can reduce traffic and its associated pollutants as well, since doubling average neighborhood density results in a decreased per-household vehicle use of twenty to forty- percent, and like-reduced auto emissions. These higher densities can also drastically reduce the increase in water runoff normally associated with urban sprawl. A New Jersey study found that the result of directing urban growth into better-planned areas with higher average density rates could reduce storm water runoff by as much as forty-percent. The bottom line: We can create and implement workable planning solutions that reduce the alarming rate of denigration that urban sprawl is heaping upon our remaining wilderness. If the force of law is required to enable and sustain this stewardship role by states and municipalities, then so be it.

     The Amazon rain forest is very important because it holds much diversity and possible cures for diseases. In the Amazon rain forest there is more biodiversity than any other place on earth with over 30 million species of insects and 500 mammal species and almost the same amount of reptiles, and 20 percent of the world’s bird species. It is also rich in plant life with over 500 species in a single two-and-a-half-acre plot. All this vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and converts it to oxygen. The supply of oxygen generated from the plants is estimated at 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. With all these species in the Amazon rain forest, it is very important, in holding a big percent of the whole world’s species. Losing it could be the end of the world’s diversity and the plants that could be a cure to a variety of diseases.

     The Amazon rain forest faces many threats to its survival and every thing that lives in it. The destruction of the Amazon rain forest has happened from many ways; including loggers, farmers, ranchers, and mining operations. Possibly the biggest threat to the Amazon rain forest is oil exploration. A Texas size chunk of the rain forest has been approved for exploration by several countries.[1] These threats help to kill off an estimate of 130 species of plants, animals, and insects every day. Many of the species are faced with extinction before even being identified. The destruction of the Amazon rain forest is coming at a fast pace with already 20 percent gone, and more headed for what would remove many species from the earth.  

Sources

[1]  http://www.livenews.com.au/articles/2008/08/14/Oil_exploration_now_the_biggest_threat_to_the_Amazon  

Consider the alligator incident; this unfortunate turn of events reveals that one of the (formerly) concrete truths about the Everglades is slowly being overturned.  In the past, it was assumed by most scientists that, apart from man, the American alligator was the apex predator in most southern ecosystems.  This being the case, they helped to keep the ecosystem in balance, as they would not in most cases consume more prey animals than was necessary, thus ensuring that both species depended on one another.  The influx of the python, which is quite able to eat a deer as much as an alligator, has thrown a huge wrench into the machinery of the Everglades.  With both prey and apex predator subject to the predations of the pythons, the entire functioning of the ecosystem, always fragile at best, could collapse entirely.

If that is not frightening enough, the possibility of pythons moving into other parts of the American South raises the specter of this same destruction occurring elsewhere.  Burmese pythons flourish in wet, moist areas, so states such as Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, parts of Missouri and the Carolinas as well as Texas could be subjected to this menace.  All of these states are home to a variety of endangered wildlife, including several species of endangered birds, mammals, and reptiles, all of which would be subject to the python.  In short, the python has the very real ability to become the apex predator in these habitats; unfortunately, these ecosystems have not developed to cope with this incursion, so it is quite likely that several species will become extinct.

There are those, of course, who will fail to see the danger in these facts, it is also worth nothing that pythons can also have an impact on humans.  Although Burmese pythons are not generally prone to attack humans, attacks are not unheard, especially of children (as the recent case in Florida makes plain.)  The worst danger, however, is to the pet population.  To a python, a domestic dog or cat, no matter how well-loved by its owner, is nothing more than an easy meal, so it is not unheard of for pythons to enter into city limits and hunt cats and dogs.  So, although the greatest danger pythons in America pose is to the native environment, they can also be a danger to man’s best friends.

Although the danger of the python may seem removed for those who don’t dwell in the immediate vicinity, it should be a matter of national concern for every citizen, as well as a warning of the dangers of the exotic pet trade.  Pythons may appear to be a lovely and appealing pet at first glance, but the fact that so many have been released into the wild indicates that too many people do not realize how difficult care for them can be.  Therefore, everyone who considers owning a snake, particularly those located where such animals can become invasive, should carefully consider their ability to care for it before taking it home.

Krill > Squid > Emperor Penguin > Killer Whale

If one of thse things were to die out, the whole chain would be affected. If the killer whales died out, there would be an abundance of penguins. They would eat too many of the squid. So there is not enough squid to eat, so many penguins would die. There would also be lots more krill. Any remaining squid would have plenty of food to eat, so if they were lucky, the squid population might balance out. As might the penguin population. Then too many krill would be eaten, so not enough squid for penguins. etcetera.

Now what about a far more complex food web?

As you can see, there’s a lot more going on. Krill are the basis for everything. If krill die out, everything dies out unless it can find an alternate food source. What if the squid went? Then what would happen?

Well, as you can see, the only other things that most of these creatures eat is fish and krill. For the krill, it’s one less thing eating them. But for the fish, everything is going to be picking on them now.

What if instead, it was the leopard seals who went Kaput? There would be less Penguins, Crabeater sels and Petrels, more fish and squid, and less Krill. This would mean everything suffers. Everything.

The same wave applies to all of the above creatures:

This is exactly what would happen. As you can see, just after the prey has gone down, so does the predators. You can also see that at the high points, there is always more prey than predator. This is becuase the predator needs to eat more prey, because more often than not, the predator is larger than the prey.

But as I hope you’ve learned, affecting just one thing will affect the whole food web. And that includes us.

Parks & Recreation here in Toronto have been doing their annual prescribed burning around the residential neighborhoods. This is a part of planned forest management to maintain a healthier forested area and also is a hazard reduction tool. By burning-off in a controlled manner the dead grasses and small fallen limbs and branches that have accumulated over the previous summer and winter, the likelihood of a more serious uncontrolled fire later in the season is reduced. An escaped campfire for instance could cause a bigger forest fire which would be harder to control in the drier summer and potentially involve homes and residential properties.

A Back-Burn Trail

Here you can see the control region where the undergrowth was raked back before the ‘back-burn’ was started.  There was insufficient fuel for the fire to progress across this trail so the fire spread up the hill back towards the main fire approaching from the other side. Where these two fires meet they run out of fuel and expire.

Notice in the above image that the branches are distributed on the burned area. They were cut and broadcast to limit the fire’s intensity in any one spot for too long.

Permits for swailing, the ‘hazard reduction burning’ must be obtained in advance. Local neighborhoods are advised of the impending event a few weeks in advance with posters, handbills and other notifications. The weather conditions must be perfect. The prescribed day can be postponed if the weather conditions are not ideal. It must be cool outside with no winds and preferably with rain in the forecast. Humidity at the onset would be a asset too as this would limit the intensity of the burn. The organization that performs the controlled burn requires licensing to do controlled burns but still may not be freed from liability should the fire get out of control and cause damage to personal property of home owners. There is always risk involved with controlled burning of woodlot areas but it is managed risk.

Benefits of Controlled Burning

Controlled burns are part of sensible forest management, prairie restoration programs and oddly enough, there are even greenhouse gas abatement issues at stake. A light controlled burn will prevent a larger wildfire later on which will cause more extensive damage and release far more carbon during the months when temperature inversions could trap the smoke closer to the ground, creating ’smog’ pollution. Even if the light burning is not complete or is performed in a ‘mosaic’ pattern’ over larger tracts of land, it still greatly limits the potential damage that a subsequently larger and uncontrolled wildfire can do.

The taller dead grasses, weeds and tangled thickets of last summer’s vines are now gone. The tree trunks show only mild scorching. There will be less pollen and probably fewer pesky insects as a result of this action. Another successful controlled burn in this Toronto suburb has resulted.

 Light burns actually help the soil by quickly returning some nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from the burned underbrush, and swailing encourages some conifer seeds to germinate while killing undesirable weeds and their seeds.

Soil can actually be physically damaged if the fire is too intense or concentrated on any specific area for too long, such as a burning log pile, fallen tree or piles of branch debris left over from logging operations. Burn piles such as bonfires are the example and in a controlled burn, these piles would be leveled out or removed altogether prior to the burn.

Broadcast burning (spreading the burnable material such as branches out over a larger area) has a lower overall temperature and is the most helpful and is the least damaging to the field or woodland being treated.
Coniferous forests benefit the most from controlled burns. The controlled fires help protect the trees from diseases, insect infestations and even from future fires. A controlled burn will improve the grassland and forest for many wildlife and reduce undesirable vegetative species, allowing better undergrowth which means better grazing range for wild animals such as rabbit, deer etc. The grass is always greener and lusher after a controlled burn has cleared the way.

Insects and Snails are Eliminated

These snails numbers in the hundreds and probably thousands around this particular wooded grove. They are spaced within inches of each other everywhere in this woods. After the fire they are all dead. Their calcium will now quickly return to the soil and help the plants flourish.

The numbers of land snails that were killed here in these controlled burns will very quickly rebound. Within a month or two these woods will again host these curious snails in the familiar hoards which seem to be ever abundant in this woodlot.

Other Controlled Burn Casualties

Nearly all the animals benefit but as with everything that is interfering in the name of helping, there are always a few casualties. Their numbers are small and can be dismissed. I found several deceased grass snakes. They seemed to have perished after the fire as if they tried to flee their underground hideaways and encountered tortuous hot spots. Perhaps there was too little ground-level oxygen and the snakes suffocated? This snake was dead but not visibly scorched. The same was true with several other snakes that I discovered on my photographic hike, dead but not visibly scorched.

In the above image we can see the ‘white ash’ of a somewhat denser fuel-pile that burned. Here, logs or branches probably lay and burned a lot hotter and longer. I examined this controlled burn region over 24 hours after the event had ended and some of the larger ‘white ash piles’ were still giving off noticeable heat. Here, the soil was probably temporarily sterilized to a depth of several inches but it will build-back very quickly.

Slash and Burn

Field burning is a technique to clear large tracts of land of unwanted crops, weed and debris. Less expensive than tilling the soil or using pesticides and therefore desirable to the farmer, field burning produces large amounts of smoke which is bothersome to residential areas and homeowners making it an unpopular option.

Some states have had bad events result from sanctioned controlled burning. In 1988 in Oregon, farmers burning grass from fields caused a smoky condition on an interstate highways which lead to a multi-vehicular pileup. Twenty-three cars crashed on the highway due to obscured visibility. There were seven deaths and thirty-seven additional injuries as a result of the visibility-reduced conditions. Since then, increased scrutiny and public outcries on field burning performed by farmers has resulted in proposals to ban field burning in Oregon altogether. But perhaps Oregon should not act too hastily on this proposition. The state of Florida offers a counter-view and could serve as a lesson to be learned.

Fire Prevention by Controlled Burning

In Florida during the drought of 1998, many large wildfires spread through the everglades and damaged many homeowners’ houses and properties. I suppose that those episodes of “CSI: Miami” of a few years ago that used field shots of everglade wildfires was actual stock footage of these real fires.

Controlled burning had not been performed for a number of years leading to an ever-increasing layer of debris, leaves, mosses and dead branches. This would serve as fuel for the bigger uncontrolled fires that would eventually burn out of control and devastate the region. Had smaller, controlled burning been employed in the years prior, this uncontrolled wildfire event may have been averted or certainly been greatly reduced. I think the homeowners whom lost homes due to the wildfires would agree. I’d accept a weekend of mild irritating wood-smoke once a year over an eventual real-estate destroying wildfire every decade or so.

Meandering its way towards the Sulu Sea, the Kinabatang, Sabah’s longest river (560 km) flows through a vast area of low-lying forested flood plain. This area has become a sanctuary for some of the region’s rarest wildlife. Surrounded on all side by encroaching forest clearance, the area was officially designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1999. The remaining forest is teeming with wildlife but, as the sanctuary is only a few kilometres deep on either side of the river, the sense is that the animals have no where else to go. They congregate in this narrow strip of forest along the river.

Problems within the sanctuary, and potential solutions

Because there is limited or no contact with outside populations, some experts have predicted that certain species may soon die out in the Kinabatang area. For example, the orangutan may last only another fifty years because the gene pool is so small. Attempts to combat this eventuality include the construction of bridges across the river, to encourage movement and interaction from one side of the river to the other. There is also a World Wide Fund for Nature supported tree-planting programme. This is organised through local guest houses and tourists can fund the planting of important tree species that help forest regeneration and to provide a food source for future generations of wildlife.

Tourism and wildlife spotting from the Kinabatang River

The fact that so much wildlife is concentrated in this small area is evidently worrying for those struggling to conserve the natural wonders of Sabah. On the other hand, it is a bonus for the tourist industry in the area. This is one of the best locations in Sabah for wildlife spotting. The best opportunities are on river safaris, with trips usually departing twice a day, morning and evening, when the animals are at their most active. Proboscis monkeys, long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, line the trees along the river, almost as if they are waiting for the boats of curious tourists to come and watch them. Colourful and unusual birds flit to and fro across the river. The dry season is the best time for wildlife watching, as thirsty animals gather at the river banks, including pygmy elephants. Orangutan are also sometimes visible; in the evening time they can be spotted lounging in their nests along the tranquil edge of the river.

Most visitors to the Kinabatang Wildlife Sanctuary come as part of pre-arranged tours.  However, the independent traveller can also make their way to Sukau, the village at the heart of the sanctuary, where there are two guesthouses for weary travellers to rest awhile and enjoy the surroundings. Nearby sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres are also worth a visit if you enjoy looking at wildlife. Happy spotting!