Man’s fraught relationship with nature extends back to prehistory
Archaeology indicates that the first migrations of hunters through Asia into the Americas and Australasia directly contributed to collapses in the Pleistocene megafauna
The sad history of the Hawaiian crow
Sophie Osborn describes how this sociable, inquisitive, loud-cackling bird became extinct in the wild – and her own efforts to save the California Condor from the same fate
The Karakachan sheepdog is a match for any bear – but not for modern society
The fearless breed, descended from the Molossus of Epirus described by Aristotle, may soon disappear from Central Europe, along with the flocks it guards
Tom Cruise and the art of falconry
Last week, the Hollywood team making the latest Mission Impossible film was desperate to clear Trafalgar Square of its superabundant…
Do we really want to bring back the wolf?
The apex predator is making a startling resurgence in Europe – many say to the enrichment of the landscape. But it’ll take a lot to convince the British of that
Life is a far richer, more complicated affair than we imagined
Exploring the new biology, Philip Hall explains how genes do not in fact determine our fate, and how cells can be reprogrammed to perform all kinds of new tasks
Towering infernos
Our unpreparedness was vividly illustrated by the catastrophic Canadian inferno of 2016 – originally judged a minor brushfire beyond Fort McMurray’s city limits
Majestic survivors
The lifespans of cedars, oaks and yews are remarkable enough, but they pale in comparison to America’s bristlecone pines
Where the wild things are
The Mesta region of Bulgaria, where the river meets the forests of the western Rhodope range, remains remarkably intact and rich in wild harvests
Into thin air
John Keay has for many years been a key historian and prolific contributor to the romance attaching to the highest…
From the mouse to the elephant
Humans are so comfortable with their self-declared dominance over the rest of life, appointing themselves titular head of an entire…
Change or decay
Climate change may be the central challenge of our century, but almost all attention has focused on its consequences for…
Nature in the round
As the start date of COP26 draws closer, and just when we are assailed by daily proof of climate chaos,…
Let there be light
The late Derek Ratcliffe, arguably Britain’s greatest naturalist since Charles Darwin, once explained how he cultivated a technique for finding…
A small miracle
Along with coral reefs and their fish, tropical butterflies and birds of paradise, hummingbirds must be among the most beautiful…
Wind, sea and sky
Bird migration was once one of those unassailable mysteries that had baffled humankind since Aristotle. A strange hypothesis, genuinely advanced…
The land that time forgot
The region of Dolpo in Nepal forms part of a border zone between that country and China in the central…
Rare beauty
The montane forests of far-eastern Russia have given rise to one of the finest nature books of recent years, The…
Flights of fancy
Fieldwork can move the most rigorous scientist to lyricism, as Mark Cocker discovers
Earthly powers
Exhibitions about fungi, bugs and trees illustrate the depth, range and vitality of a growing field of art, says Mark Cocker
The prize of the skies
The art of falconry is more than 3,000 years old and possibly as popular now as at any time. Its…
Snowbound isolation
In my twenties I once visited a lonely spot among the western Himalayas called Zhuldok in the Suru valley. Politically…
Spooky stories for Halloween
It is surely significant that Ed Parnell’s first novel The Listeners was an updated examination of themes latent in Walter…
Head to Berlin to hear nightingales sing
In a sense, the song of the bird in the title of this short, hugely thoughtful and fascinating book is…
For a passionate ecologist, Barry Lopez burns a lot of oil
It is more than a generation since the appearance of Barry Lopez’s classic Arctic Dreams. That book’s effortless integration of…
