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The Argos, 5 Park Road Richmond, London (2026)

09/10/2026

Along the Arizona border, a female mountain lion was filmed squeezing through a tiny opening in the steel border wall, then waiting as her three spotted cubs followed. The opening measured just 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches tall. Researchers call them “cat doors,” and for some wildlife, they offer one of the few ways through the barrier.

Between August 2022 and July 2024, researchers from Sky Island Alliance and Wildlands Network deployed 36 wildlife cameras along 100 miles of the Arizona–Sonora border. They recorded 9,240 wildlife events involving 20 species, comparing older vehicle barriers with approximately 70 miles of 30-foot steel bollard wall.

At the older barriers, 65% of wildlife interactions resulted in successful crossings. At the taller wall, that figure fell to just 9%. Researchers documented no successful crossings by bears, deer, or wild turkeys during the monitoring period.

The four-inch gaps between the steel posts allowed smaller animals, including bobcats, foxes, hares, raccoons, and skunks, to squeeze through. Larger mammals faced a much greater obstacle.

The 13 cat doors offered some relief. Mountain lions, javelinas, and coyotes were 16.7 times more likely to cross when they encountered one of these openings. Although designed for smaller wildlife, the openings also proved usable by mountain lions, demonstrating how determined animals could navigate the barrier.

However, the passages remain extremely scarce, averaging roughly one opening every five and a half miles along the wall. Animals searching for a route across may travel long distances before finding one.

Published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution in November 2024, the study highlighted a significant conservation concern: small wildlife passages can help certain species, but larger animals need more frequent and accessible crossings.

For the mountain lion mother and her cubs, a tiny opening provided a way forward. For countless other animals, the towering steel wall remains an almost insurmountable obstacle.

Image is for illustration purposes only.

Source: Harrity et al. (2024), Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution; Sky Island Alliance; Wildlands Network; Sierra Club; High Country News; Courthouse News.

09/10/2026

In 2016, researchers identified a young narwhal swimming in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, more than 600 miles south of its usual Arctic range. What made the discovery even more remarkable was that the animal appeared to have joined a group of young male beluga whales.

Researchers from GREMM confirmed the same narwhal in 2017 by identifying its unique markings. Then, in July 2018, a drone captured it again among a group of 50 to 60 belugas near Tadoussac, swimming alongside roughly 10 young males.

The narwhal was not keeping its distance. Footage showed it moving with the belugas, matching their speed and direction, and participating in their social interactions. The animals rolled, touched, swam in formation, and surfaced together. After three consecutive years of sightings, researchers had evidence that the narwhal was repeatedly associating with the same species far outside its normal range.

Belugas and narwhals belong to the same family, Monodontidae, and are its only living members. They share a common ancestor, similar body structures, and related vocalizations. These similarities may help explain why a young narwhal could interact comfortably with belugas. However, the footage could not establish whether the whales recognized him as kin or whether he had been fully accepted into their social group.

During summer, male belugas often gather in loose groups, traveling together and strengthening social bonds through physical contact and vocal exchanges. The young narwhal appeared to participate in these same behaviors rather than being chased away or excluded.

How he reached the St. Lawrence remains unknown. Narwhals normally inhabit Arctic waters around Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. One possibility is that the juvenile became separated from his pod and traveled south along the Labrador coast before entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence and moving farther inland. His actual journey, however, has never been confirmed.

The encounter also highlights the challenges facing the local belugas. The St. Lawrence population is endangered, with approximately 1,100 animals reported in the account, threatened by pressures including noise pollution, contaminants, and declining calving rates.

The narwhal's presence did not change those threats, but his repeated association with the belugas revealed something extraordinary: an animal far from home spending years alongside another species that was remarkably similar to its own.

Image is for illustration purposes only.

Sources: GREMM, Baleines en direct; CBC News; Robert Michaud, GREMM; Mathieu Marzelière and Albert Michaud, field account, July 2018.

09/10/2026

Antarctic birds show alarming symptoms...

09/10/2026

David Attenborough hadn't imagined he'd still be narrating Blue Planet in his centennial year. Now 100, he's back for Blue Planet III, and he addressed its global premiere in a special video message 25 years after the original series aired on the BBC.

“Twenty-five years ago, when I narrated the first Blue Planet series it didn't occur to me that I would be narrating a third series in my centennial year,” he said.

“The ocean is an endlessly fascinating place. In these new programmes we uncover a further wonderful array of under-water life, which is more surprising, more sophisticated and even more important than we ever realised.” He added: “I am proud and delighted to be associated with Blue Planet III.”

The premiere took place on October 6, with BBC Studios turning London's Piccadilly Lights over to scenes from the series. The display included a giant whale appearing to breach above the New York skyline and creatures from the ocean's depths.

Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music created the original score and collaborated with former Little Mix member Jade on Into The Deep (Seas Cry), a new song made for the series.

Blue Planet III is coming to BBC One and iPlayer this autumn.

09/10/2026

Dangerous predator acted totally unexpected...

09/10/2026

Skeletal horse revealed incredible spirit...

09/10/2026

On April 19, 2024, Mike Canterbury, a dam tender at Vallecito Reservoir northeast of Durango, Colorado, was preparing to release water down a spillway when he spotted two animals trapped at the bottom. The steep concrete walls made escape impossible. At first, he thought they were coyotes. They were actually yearling mountain lion siblings.

Realizing the danger, Canterbury stopped the water release and contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). Once the water began flowing, the animals would have faced a potentially fatal torrent with no way to climb out.

District wildlife manager Ty Smith arrived and found both lions pacing anxiously along the bottom of the spillway. He considered tranquilizing them but worried that a sedated animal could injure itself against the concrete. After trying makeshift ramps without success, he came up with another idea: attach a rope to a PVC pole and lower it over the wall.

The first mountain lion grabbed the rope with its front paws. Smith began pulling, and remarkably, the animal held on as he hoisted it up the steep concrete wall. As soon as it reached the top, the lion let go and raced into the surrounding woods. CPW later described the extraordinary rescue as an acrobatic stunt.

Rescuing the second lion proved more difficult. Instead of approaching the rope, it ran down the spillway toward the Los Pinos River below the dam. Smith climbed down a ladder into the channel and tried again. Although the lion showed some interest in the rope, it refused to grip it like its sibling.

While the animal was distracted, other wildlife officers carefully approached with a catch pole, secured it, and lifted it over the wall.

Unlike its sibling, the second lion did not immediately flee. It crawled beneath a parked truck and remained there for several minutes before emerging, looking around, and finally running into the woods in the same direction as the first lion.

Thanks to Canterbury's quick thinking and the wildlife team's efforts, both young mountain lions escaped the dangerous spillway without the water being released.

Sources: Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Southwest Region (April 22, 2024); 9News Denver; Newsweek; KPTV; KKTV; Pine River Irrigation District.

09/10/2026

What started as one teenager’s idea is now pulling millions of kilograms of plastic out of the world’s oceans.

Founded in 2013 by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now deploys massive floating barriers across polluted waters, including the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where ocean currents naturally concentrate plastic waste.

The project also uses solar-powered Interceptors in rivers to stop trash before it ever reaches the sea.

So far, the organization says it has removed more than 60 million kilograms of plastic from oceans and waterways worldwide.

What began as one young inventor’s ambitious idea has grown into a global operation involving more than 150 engineers and scientists, all working toward an even bigger goal: reducing floating ocean plastic by 90% by 2040.

60+ million kilograms removed. 150+ engineers and scientists. One mission: stop plastic before it takes over our oceans.

09/10/2026

Eight years into studying whales, marine biologist Nan Hauser thought she understood their size and strength. Then, one afternoon off Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, a 40-ton humpback whale pressed its head against her body and began lifting her toward the surface.

At first, Hauser thought it was playing too roughly. She tried to move away, but the whale kept nudging her and tucking her beneath its huge pectoral fin. For seven and a half minutes, it stayed close, even lifting her partly out of the water.

Then she saw another silhouette.

An 18-foot tiger shark was nearby, its body arched in what appeared to be an attack posture. Hauser suddenly understood that the whale was placing itself between her and the predator.

The humpback positioned her on its head and moved toward her boat, using its massive body as a shield. Within ten minutes, she was safely back on deck, shaken by what had happened.

“I felt love, concern and care from the whale,” Hauser later told The Guardian.

For years, she had studied humpbacks by quietly observing them in the wild. Scientists have documented whales interfering when predators attack other animals, a behaviour sometimes called “mobbing.” Yet no one can prove whether this whale consciously intended to save Hauser, or whether instinct drove its actions.

A year later, Hauser returned to the Cook Islands and saw a familiar tail. She recognised the whale by the notches on its fluke and a scar on its head. When she entered the water, the whale approached, looked at her and extended its giant fin. Hauser rubbed its face and began to cry.

The whale remained near her boat for twenty minutes before swimming away.

There is no way to know exactly what the whale understood that day. But for Hauser, the encounter became more than a scientific observation. For several unforgettable minutes, a human life seemed to hang between a predator and a giant creature that refused to leave her side.

Perhaps the ocean holds forms of connection we do not yet understand. Perhaps, sometimes, another living being can recognise our vulnerability—and choose to protect us when we need it most. The mystery remains, but the memory stayed with her for years.!

09/10/2026

Legendary hellish fire running out...

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