Cocaine in the water makes eels hyperactive and damages muscles
There are low levels of cocaine and other drugs in many rivers, and lab studies suggest that European eels are suffering muscle damage as a result
Wild animals are turning nocturnal to keep away from humans
Dozens of species all around the world are abandoning the day and becoming more active at night, to avoid contact with humans
EU will limit the use of palm oil as car fuel but won’t stop it
The European Union will make only minor tweaks to “renewable” energy policies that are actually increasing greenhouse gas emissions and driving deforestation
Alarm as ice loss from Antarctica triples in the past five years
The loss of Antarctica’s ice has been accelerating ominously since 2012, and could lead to big rises in sea level if the rate of loss keeps increasing
Britain’s hedgehog population has fallen 66 per cent in 20 years
Britain only has 58 wild mammal species to start with, and many have declined sharply in number since 1995 – with hedgehogs suffering a particularly severe fall
Africa’s 2000-year-old trees of life are suddenly dying off
In the past decade most of the oldest baobabs, many of them sprouted over two millennia ago, have died unexpectedly and few new ones are sprouting
Sperm whales are tracking fishing boats and stealing their fish
Fishing boats in the Gulf of Alaska are being stalked by enormous sperm whales, which charge in and rip huge volumes of fish from the lines
Europeans now burn more palm oil in their cars than they eat
Palm oil consumption in the EU jumped by 7 per cent in 2017 because it is increasingly used as a biofuel – driving the destruction of orangutans’ habitat
The most elusive whales reveal their secrets in their wakes
We know almost nothing about the enormous beaked whales because they spend so much time deep underwater, but a new DNA technique could unmask them
Zambia to kill 2,000 hippos because they might spread anthrax
Over the next five years 2,000 hippos are to be culled in Zambia, supposedly to stop them giving people anthrax, but the cull may inadvertently fuel the trade in hippo ivory