BBC Wildlife Magazine

It was the late lamented Douglas Adams who put it best. “Space,” he wrote, “is big”, showing a mastery of the understatement. “You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is,” he continued. “I mean, you may think it’s a long way

Long before winter is out, new life stirs in still-bare treetops. Come February, mistle thrushes are whistling their mournful, far-carrying song over and over from the loftiest twigs, great spotted woodpeckers are drumming on resonant dead wood to an

The red fox has become so ubiquitous in towns and cities, prowling the streets and scavenging in rubbish bins, that it’s a treat to observe one in a romantic woodland setting – in this case the Black Forest in Germany. Blood-curdling screeches and lo

Dancing delicately beneath the waves, the cilia-covered tentacles of the feather duster worm capture passing plankton and detritus. Grooves guide the smallest particles to their mouths, while larger particles help build the soft, flexible tube in whi

While this silverback mountain gorilla looks as if he is grinning cheesily for the camera, he is in fact being caught mid yawn. These great apes will spend the early morning foraging in the forest for roots, shoots, fruit, wild celery and tree bark.

NICK BAKER Reveals a fascinating world of wildlife that we often overlook. A glance into a pond on a late-winter day may reveal the first stirrings of aquatic life. At this time of year, the water is clearer, with fewer plankton, algae and plants (s

Farmers will be central to delivering the recovery of wildlife on Exmoor, according to a national park authority plan to restore at least 75 per cent of the park to a “rich condition” by 2050. The vision sets out vital changes needed to reverse wildl

The citizens of Tristan da Cunha – the most remote inhabited islands on Earth – have banned fishing and mining in their waters, creating the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest worldwide. The volcanic archipelago, a UK depende

Starting from the 2021 shooting season, landowners will no longer be allowed to release nonnative pheasants and red-legged partridges within 0.5km of protected wildlife sites without a licence, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (De

The world’s animals may not be in such a perilous state as was thought, according to new research that finds that most vertebrate populations are increasing in size. High profile headlines have painted a bleak picture of animal declines over recent

Poking into the south-east corner of Bicester like a 1km-long index finger, Gavray Meadows are an oasis of wildlife in one of the fastest-growing towns in Oxfordshire, or even the UK. Langford Brook, which splits the site in two, is foraging territor

Do you remember a fad called ‘climate change’? In 2019, it was all the rage. A 16-year-old Swedish girl did what the world’s leaders failed to do – she pushed it to the top of the political agenda. Everyone was talking about this imminent threat to l

A perfect planet? Well, that’s something to live up to in a universe with trillions of planets. So, does our home – a tiny blue dot in the vastness of space – stand out from the crowd? If the new BBC One series A Perfect Planet is anything to go by,

“Our planet is screaming at humanity to wake up and understand the consequences of its actions,” Peter Fearnhead tells me from his office in locked-down South Africa. “We can listen, or we can continue to ignore it and continue to lament those conseq

Endemic to the jungles of Borneo, proboscis monkeys never stray far from the tropical island’s rivers, coastal mangroves and swamps. Dawn and dusk are the best times to watch these arboreal primates. In the evening, they often congregate by the water

CHASE DEKKER is a wildlife and conservation photographer based in Monterey, California.chasedekker.com Humpback whales have been known to accidentally catch the odd pelican or cormorant in their mouths while feeding, but engulfing a 600lb sealion is

If we zoom in, a woodland floor becomes as otherworldly as the deep sea. Here, some slime mould of the species Stemonitis fusca provides a perch for an assassin bug, perhaps hunting springtails or other tiny creatures feeding on the mould. No longer

WINTERWATCH 19–29 JANUARY, BBC TWO AND IPLAYER Over the past 12 months, The Watches have continued to connect audiences with nature while the pandemic has made it more difficult to travel and experience the natural world for ourselves. Now, the team

ALEJANDRO PRIETO is a wildlife and underwater photographer from Guadalajara, Mexico. He is currently working together with Alianza Jaguar AC, a foundation dedicated to jaguar conservation, and won the Wildlife Photojournalism award in the Wildlife Ph

(Central African Republic) Chinko –populations of eastern chimpanzees, West African buffalo, Lord Derby’s elands and northern lions. Pendjari – home to rare West African lions. W – refuge to Critically Endangered Northwest African cheetahs. Odzal

With productions locked down in the UK and unable to travel, the wildlife film industry, like many others, has taken quite a knock, but how did COVID-19 restrictions affect A Perfect Planet ? “We were fairly lucky,” says series producer Huw Cordey, “

It was day one of the third Satpura Bird Survey at Satpura Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. Along with a colleague, I had been assigned to an area deep in the jungle, but I wasn’t expecting a feline encounter. Instead, I busied myself with the v

Secrets of the Sahara – beyond the sand dunes, the world’s largest hot desert is full of surprises Bioluminescence – we shine a light on the species that glow in the dark Guillemot eggs – cracking a mystery that has had scientists baffled for centuri

Antarctica is a destination that many of us dream of visiting. After all, who wouldn’t want to walk in the footsteps of the likes of Hillary, Scott, Shackleton and latterly, of course, the great Attenborough? Strange it may sound, but Antarctica neve

In 2012, an adult male proboscis monkey, belonging to a one-male social group, was GPS tracked for six months in Sabah. The data showed that riparian habitats featured heavily in the group’s range. In 2015, a drone was used to map the habitat in high

African Parks (africanparks.org) has information on each of its national parks, with advice about travel and available accommodation. Steppes Travel (steppestravel. com) and Natural World Safaris (naturalworldsafaris.com) both offer tailor-made trips

WHAT IS AN ICEBERG? An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice floating freely in open water. To be an iceberg, the height of the ice must be greater than 5m above sea level, the thickness must be greater than 30m and the ice must cover an area o

While photographing a group of bonnet macaques in the summer heat in the forests of Karnala in Maharashtra, India, I happened to notice one male sitting a few meters away. He was the alpha male of the group and his facial structure reminded me of the

Fear is extremely useful – it helps organisms survive. Its roots can be found about 550 million years ago, when primitive worms evolved specialised nervous systems that helped them respond to external stimuli. Over time, animals evolved many differen