Panel: Richard Collins, Terry Flanagan & Niall Hatch

Reporters: Terry Flanagan & Jim Wilson

In addition to listening to us on RTÉ Radio One at 22:00 every Monday night, don't forget that you can also listen back to each of our programmes any time you like at www.rte.ie/mooney. There, you will find an extensive archive of past broadcasts, conveniently split into different topics and segments.

Tonight’s programme features, amongst many other things, a fascinating discussion about the intelligence of the octopus. With this in mind, our suggestion from the Mooney Goes Wild archives this week is an interview with Professor Louise Allcock, co-author of a book about the brainpower of these marine molluscs – and their close relatives, the squid and cuttlefish – which we first broadcast in November 2018.

To listen to this segment from the Mooney Goes Wild archives, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/21458769/

How did a Leopard become frozen high on Kilimanjaro?

Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, its peak reaching 5,895 metres, or 19,341 feet, above sea level. Close to that lofty summit, as recounted by Ernest Hemmingway in his 1936 short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, was discovered the frozen carcass of a Leopard. As Richard ponders on tonight’s programme, what caused this particular big cat to venture to so high an altitude, well beyond its normal comfort zone and a location generally devoid of the kinds of prey animals that Leopards seek to hunt?

A related big cat, the Snow Leopard of Central Asian mountains, favours high altitudes and freezing conditions, of course. Could that species provide us with any clues as to what the Leopard immortalised by Hemmingway was doing?

For more information about the Kilimanjaro frozen Leopard, visit https://www.kilimanjaro-experience.com/amazing-story-kilimanjaros-frozen-leopard/

Mooney’s Wheel of Wildlife

There is a distinct game-show atmosphere to tonight’s programme, as our panellist Terry, Richard and Niall pit their wits against Mooney’s Wheel of Wildlife. Derek spins his wheel, and whichever of the gentlemen it selects must then provide our listeners with a genuinely fascinating fact about the natural world.

· Terry kicks things off with an astonishing revelation about which species is the most numerous vertebrate animal in Ireland. Is it a bird? Is it a mammal? Is it a fish? No, it’s an amphibian: the Common Frog Rana temporaria. Apparently, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s National Frog Survey of Ireland, conducted in 2010 and 2011, there are a staggering 165 million of them in the country!

o To read the results of this NPWS survey, visit https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/IWM%2058%20frog.pdf

· Richard is next, and the creature that has most piqued his interest this week sounds like an alien lifeform. Supremely intelligent, boasting a massive brain, it also has eight additional brains, one for each of its arms. It is, of course, the octopus, a surprisingly short-lived animal for one so intelligent: they only live for two or three years.

o For more information about the Common Octopus, visit https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/common-octopus

· Finally, it’s time for Niall to face the wheel. He selects one of the most impressive birds in the world, a graceful seabird called the Arctic Tern. This species travels further than any other animal on Earth. Some rack up approx. 80,000 kilometres each year on their migrations between the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and they can live for around 20 to 25 years. This means that, over the course of their lifetimes, these small birds will fly further than the distance from the Earth to the Moon . . . and back . . . three times! They also have the distinction of experiencing more daylight each year than any other creature.

o For more information about Arctic Terns, visit https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/arctic-tern/

Monitoring marine mammals

Ireland has been trying to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels for some time now, and offshore windfarms have a critical role to play in the fight against climate change and in aiding our country’s transition to a zero-carbon economy.

However, energy companies cannot simply put lots of massive wind turbines in the sea without first checking to see whether there any risks involved to the wildlife in the area.

With that in mind, the ESB has developed and is funding a dedicated Marine Mammal Observer programme, involving skilled observers who are assisting offshore wind project developers to comply with environmental regulations and guidelines.

This scheme has been running for a number of years now, and for tonight’s programme our roving reporter, Terry Flanagan, caught up with one of these Marine Mammal Observers, Jo Green, as she finished a watch at the Pigeon House in Dublin Bay, and with Niru Dorrian, Senior Offshore Ecology Co-ordinator with the ESB.

For more information about the ESB’s Marine Mammal Observer programme, visit https://esb.ie/media-centre-news/blog/article/esb/2025/01/20/why-we-are-investing-in-marine-mammal-observer-training-programmes

Filming the fastest animal on the planet

Once brought to the very edge of extinction by the effects of a notorious pesticide called DDT, the Peregrine Falcon came close to being lost forever. Thankfully, this noxious poison was banned just in the nick of time and these supremely impressive birds of prey – the fastest animals in the world, capable of reaching flight speeds in excess of 380 kmph – have since staged a remarkable comeback and are thriving once more. A perfect candidate to be featured in RTÉ’s Back from the Brink television series about species saved from extinction, you might think.

Well, great minds think alike. For the past few months, our man in Cork, ornithologist Jim Wilson, has been filming the comings and goings of a pair of Peregrine Falcons that are currently nesting high on Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral in Cork city centre. On tonight’s programme, Jim tells us more, and also what to expect when the new series of Back from the Brink airs later this year.

For more information about Peregrine Falcons, visit https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/peregrine-falcon/

For more information about Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, visit https://www.stfinbarres.ie/

Celebrating 100 episodes of RTÉ’s Ecolution podcast

Here at Mooney Goes Wild we are big fans of Ecolution, RTÉ’s dedicated podcast about nature and climate action for children and young people, presented by 17-year-old Evie Kenny. Later this month, it will celebrate a major milestone: the release of its 100th episode.

To celebrate this fantastic achievement, on tonight’s programme we are joined by the producer of Ecolution, Nicky Coghlan, who tells us more about the podcast, shares some of his favourite clips from the current series and looks forward to that 100th episode, which will be going out on 31st July.

For more information about Ecolution and to catch up with all episodes of this wonderful podcast, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/30942-ecolution/

Carlow Garden Festival

The Carlow Garden Festival will run from Saturday 26th July to Sunday 3rd August at various locations along the Carlow Garden Trail, including a range of expert talks, walks and workshops about horticulture and design. On tonight’s programme, Eileen O’Rourke of Carlow Tourism tells us more.

For more information about this year’s Carlow Garden Festival and details of the many fantastic events taking place during it, visit https://carlowgardentrail.com/festival-programme/

Celebrating the saving of Abbeyleix Bog, 25 years on

Abbeyleix Bog in Co. Laois is a natural gem, teeming with flora and fauna and with a wonderful trail system that allows visitors to get up close and personal with one of our most precious and most threatened natural habitats. It’s hard to believe it today, but this amazing bog was very nearly lost forever, as Bord na Móna had planned to harvest its peat, utterly destroying it. A concerted campaign by local people was instrumental in stopping this work from going ahead, however, and the bog and its rich wildlife were saved.

That was 25 years ago, and to commemorate and celebrate this impressive and effective piece of social action the Abbeyleix Bog Festival will take place from Thursday 24th July to Sunday 27th July, covering the past, present and future of the bog.

For more information about the Abbeyleix Bog Festival and to book tickets for the many events taking place, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/abbeyleix-bog-project-25-years-4428643