Did you know that 70% of the world's freshwater is held in Antarctica's ice? This is just one of the reasons why the Southern Ocean around Antarctica needs urgent protection. Learn more Southern Ocean facts with this infographic.
Climate change and commercial fishing is putting Earth’s most southern waters – and the planet itself – at risk. UP macro-ecologist Dr Luis Pertierra has joined the global call to better protect the Southern Ocean by banning fishing in Antarctic waters, among other measures.
Birds such as pygmy kingfishers and collared sunbirds that are found in hot, humid climates can handle larger spikes in body temperature better than bird species flying about in hot deserts or cool mountains.
Rising temperatures as a result of climate change will affect bird species differently, and their abilities to withstand extremely hot conditions depend on the part of the world that they find themselves in and the climatic region to which their physiology has become adapted over the course of millennia.
Researchers at the University of Pretoria are determining the threat posed to the ecosystem and that of human health as people expand their settlements closer to the natural habitats of bats. It is vital that bats are well protected. Ultimately, if bat populations decrease, humans will be affected.
This gallery takes you on a field trip with scientists as they monitor bat health and species diversity. You can see what bats really look like up close and in full flight.
Bats are large pollinators, have an impact on our fruit supply and keep pest insect levels down. Learn some interesting facts about bats here.
University of Pretoria researchers Dr Mariëtte Pretorius and Professor Wanda Markotter have published a study which shows that land around important bat-inhabited caves are changing and that natural habitats are being destroyed.
Scientists have studied wild carnivores roaming protected areas for a long time, but predator numbers in unprotected areas remained unclear until recently. In Platjan, Limpopo, where farmers share the land with leopards and other predators, researchers led by Philip Faure have now tracked these elusive animals.
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