There are many examples of ingenious tactics that animals have developed to ensure their survival. Joshin'etsu-kogen National Park in Japan is famous for its hot springs, during the winter after a long cold day the Japanese Macaques or Snow Monkeys descend from the steep cliffs to sit in the warm spring waters returning later to the forests in the evenings.
Research by scientists at the Kyoto University found that a trip to the monkey day spa lowered stress hormone levels in females. Scientists at University College London discovered that reindeer can alter their eye colour from gold in the summer to blue in the winter helping them to capture more light and see more in the dark Arctic winter months.
Researchers in Baltimore at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and John Hopkins University School of Medicine revealed how hibernating bears have avoided getting bedsores and suffering muscle-wastage during their dormant state. They drink no water but have evolved a urine-recycling system.
Urea is a nitrogen excreted in urine and as the build-up in the blood enters the bladder, it’s immediately reabsorbed through the bladder wall back into the blood where the nitrogen is used to build protein again. This keeps the bears’ muscles from deteriorating. Although, one of nature’s most extraordinary phenomenon is that of migration.
October is a time of travel for countless millions of wild birds. Right across the Northern Hemisphere, vast numbers of them, belonging to hundreds of different species are on the move in search of warmer climes and a reliable source of food.
Many of these birds will cover thousands of kilometers before they reach their winter quarters and then when spring comes they will do it all again in reverse. The island of Ireland finds itself in a unique position when it comes to bird migration.
Situated at the very edge of Europe and at the intersection of several intercontinental migratory flyways, it receives vast numbers of both summer and winter migrants. It is the first port of salvation for weary trans-Atlantic voyagers, a warm holiday destination for Arctic nesters eager to escape the polar winter and a key staging post for several species that are en route to Africa.
To learn more about migratory birds and why some birds migrate whilst others do not, how they sleep, eat and if they ever get lost. Derek Mooney visits North Bull Island with Belfast-born author Anthony McGeehan who has been fascinated by these questions for decades.
North Bull Island, a man-made island in Dublin Bay is home to a wealth of flora and fauna, some of it very rare. A bird sanctuary was established on the Island in 1931, which was the first of its kind in Ireland. It is also a popular destination for those wishing to participate in recreation activities such as walking and sailing.
The Arctic Tern has a distinctive call as they jostle for space on islands, one Arctic Tern was found to have made a 96,000km round trip between Northumberland and its winter home in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. It could fly 1.8 million miles over the course of a lifetime the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back four times.
Dr. Richard Bevan has been studying the birds on Farnes Island for more than 20 years. He and his colleagues from Newcastle University have found that the Arctic Terns there, despite their small size of about 100 grams nevertheless they undertake the longest recorded migration of any bird in the world. Reporter Terry Flanagan discusses this much-loved bird with Dr. Bevan. You can read more about his career here.
Although our flora doesn't escape winter by any means, worse still our plants, trees and flowering plants can't fly away and they can’t sleep it out. To understand what strategies they employ, Dr. Helena Åström, Lecturer in Biosciences and Group Leader of the Plant Eco-physiology and Climate Change Group at the University of Helsinki joins Mooney Goes Wild.
Tune into Mooney Goes Wild every Monday, 10pm-11pm on RTÉ Radio 1.
For more information on the show, click here and follow @NatureRTE on Twitter and facebook.com/rtenature on Facebook.
