Amazing whale breach

by Matthew Cobb Astonishing – and scary – footage… Humpback Whale Breaches Near a Boat Off New Jersey – @ollivier_yves @BrendanGodley @JoJoAngelus @les_fees_nature https://t.co/P4GPHQBllx — Ecojustice Truths (@HCApeggy) June 26, 2017 I have never seen a whale (or indeed any cetacean) outside of a zoo (and I feel bad about seeing them, because they shouldn’t […]

Readers’ wildlife videos

Reader Tara Tanaka (vimeo site here, flickr site here) has sent two—count them, two—new videos for us to see.  Be sure to watch them on the vimeo site in high-definition and full screen (click on “vimeo” at lower right”). The first is one of my favorite subjects: ducklings making the Leap of Faith from their nesting […]

The birds of paradise, David Attenborough, and science education

Last night I was in the airport hotel in Auckland, and was excited to see, among the many dire offerings on my room television, a one-hour BBC show on the birds of paradise featuring the wonderful David Attenborough. The photography was fantastic (see clips below), and of course Attenborough, who first documented these birds on […]

The peppered moth – a video

by Matthew Cobb The peppered moth story is one of the best examples of evolution in action. In this brief video, my final year student Tom Parry, tells the whole story, from 19th to 21st centuries. It includes interviews with my colleague Professor Laurence Cook, who carried out some of the recent research confirming how […]

The link between evolution and conservation: the case of the bumblebee

by Matthew Cobb This brief animated video was made by my final year student, Izzy Taylor, as part of her Zoology degree. It’s all her own work. She needs comments from viewers, so I’d be very grateful if you could spend 7 minutes having a quick look, and then posting your views – suggestions, criticisms, plaudits […]

Don’t be cruel, says cockatoo, but his gal won’t listen

by Matthew Cobb Yes, this has been around for a couple of years (nearly 6 million views), but it’s still fun. What’s not resolved is why cockatoos dance.

Readers’ wildlife videos

Tara Tanaka informs me that I put up the wrong video the other day, and so here’s the right one: a new one, 3.5 minutes long, called “For the love of cranes”. These are of course sandhill cranes, Grus canadensis. Here are Tara’s notes. I finally culled the remaining video I shot in November, 2016 at […]

Readers’ wildlife videos

I am just back from a two-hour tramp in the native beech/tree-fern forests around Pelorus Bridge (where part of Lord of the Rings–or The Hobbit–was filmed). And that is between Nelson and Picton on New Zealand’s South Island. What a lovely walk it was, too, although the forest was way too silent: many of the birds […]

Can I use Venus Fly Traps to get rid of garden pests?

by Matthew Cobb pic.twitter.com/Q0naKEkK92 — Science (@scienmag) March 18, 2017 Betteridge’s law of headlines strikes again.

A surprise

by Matthew Cobb ok pic.twitter.com/0qaK3YX8Sp — Freezy (@Calfreezy) March 11, 2017