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MOST U.S. EAGLES SUFFER FROM LEAD POISONING

Thursday, February 24, 2022

In this newsletter, we cover ‘ghost cats’ that come out of the shadows, the bat who eats other bats, koalas listed as endangered … and a Canadian oil company that bulldozes protected land in Africa.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALAN MURPHY, BIA VIA MINDEN PICTURES

By Rachael Bale, Executive Editor, Animals

We’ve long known that lead is dangerous. Even the ancient Romans knew it was toxic—although they had no idea just how harmful it was. Still, for centuries, we found lead too useful to give up. Cheap, plentiful, and strong, lead was used in everything from makeup to cookware to, later, plumbing, paint and gasoline well into the 20th century. Following mounting evidence of lead’s toxicity, it’s been banned in the United States from use in most consumer goods for decades.

But lead is still the material of choice for most ammunition. For birds of prey that scavenge the remains of animals shot by hunters, lead can be lethal. Lead poisoning nearly drove California condors to extinction.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBBIE GEORGE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Now, in a study covering 38 states, scientists have found that most eagles in the U.S. suffer from lead poisoning. That includes the bald eagle, America's national bird.

“Nearly every single eagle we tested had some lead exposure over the course of its life,” study co-author Todd Katzner told Douglas Main. Lead toxicity, the scientists found, is slowing population growth for the bald eagle, as well as the golden eagle. This trend is especially concerning for golden eagles, whose populations are at best stable and for whom the one percent annual decline caused by chronic lead poisoning could represent a slow march toward oblivion. (Pictured at top, bald eagles on the ice in Alaska are regularly exposed to hunters’ ammunition; above, a golden eagle pounces on prey.)

One solution, conservationists argue: switching from lead bullets to copper or steel. Read more in Main’s story here.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

VIDEO BY PRASENJEET YADAV, @PRASEN.YADAV

‘Ghost cats’ come out of the shadows: Snow leopards are elusive, though sightings aren’t so rare in pockets of Central Asia. Photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Prasenjeet Yadav captured this video of a snow leopard a few years ago in Himachal Pradesh, a northern Indian state in the Himalayas. Some 2.1 million people on our Instagram page have liked this video since Tuesday. The leopard ventured close to Yadav's camera trap, and the animal seemed to be examining its reflection in the lens. "The expression on his face keeps this video alive in my memory," says Yadav, who covered the leopards for the July 2020 issue of National Geographic.

SEE MORE LEOPARDS

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

World’s first octopus farm stirs ethical debate (Reuters)

Koala listed as endangered after Australia fails to halt decline (The Guardian)

Magpies outwit scientists, help each other remove tracking devices (The Conversation)

Scientists ‘weed’ coral reefs to help save them (Nat Geo)

Are you susceptible to long COVID? And what’s your cat got to do with it? (Nat Geo)

Think you’re smart? Try this week’s Nat Geo News Quiz

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY CORY RICHARDS

Protected land illegally bulldozed: Tire tracks and dead foliage have replaced the footprints of elephants, giraffe, and sable antelopes in remote southeastern Namibia. The markings come from a Canadian oil and gas company’s seismic survey that illegally plowed through virgin forest and local crops and widened roads. They were just the latest in ReconAfrica’s string of violations in its search for oil and gas in Namibia and Botswana. The company’s exploration license covers 13,200 square miles near the Okavango Delta, home to 200,000 people and the world’s largest elephant herds, Nat Geo reports. Conservationists fear that oil drilling could threaten farms, water, and endangered wildlife in the delta. (Pictured above, the Cuito river, here meandering through Angola, feeds into the delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

One of the maddening things about poverty is having to constantly ration. Food, money, care, utilities, emotional and physical energy. And I think that’s why sharing birds with people is so important to me. They bring a wellness and richness that doesn’t have to be rationed.

Wildlife conservationist; co-founder, Black Birders Week

Related: Everyone can watch the birds

THE LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANAND A. VARMA

The bat that eats other bats: Scientists are learning more about the vampryum spectrum (above), also known as the great false vampire bat—false, because it doesn’t slurp blood like its vampire cousin. It’s a carnivore. Not only does the predator hunt rodents, insects, and other birds, but it also attacks other bats, sometimes striking in flight. “They swoop down and envelop their prey, using their wings like a fan,” says Rodrigo A. Medellín, an ecologist and Nat Geo Explorer. Then, just like a jaguar, “they administer the killing bite, usually biting the top of the head or back of the neck.” (Pictured above, Nat Geo Explorer Anand Varma captures a spectral bat biting a researcher’s glove. Don’t worry: They don’t eat humans.) See these bats in action.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

This newsletter was curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse, with help from Natasha Daly. Do you have an idea or a link for the newsletter? Let us know at david.beard@natgeo.com. If you want our daily newsletter, sign up here. Have a good weekend ahead.

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