Fluke science

Understanding the movements of migratory species like humpback whales is a logistical and financial challenge for biologists. In Tonga, a citizen scientist collective is plugging the data gap by creating a centralised ID image bank of whales that visit the Kingdom.

The waters off the coast of Mozambique are full of life. Marine scientist and Mozambique resident Andrea Marshall reveals the wonder of what lies beneath, what’s being done to conserve the marine environment and why such protections are so important.

Biologist and conservationist Lizzie Daly reveals the reality behind salmon farming in the UK – seals shot as pests. Her work on the issue, which includes a short documentary, also calls into question the value of the ‘RSPCA Assured’ sticker.

A number of reefs off the coast of Malaysian Borneo are under threat. Crown of Thorns starfish are decimating reefs, some left completely destroyed. A team of volunteer divers are taking the matter into their own hands, removing the starfish one by one.

On the small Indonesian island of Tanakeke, swathes of mangroves were felled in the 1990s by a booming aquaculture industry. Twenty years on the island’s community is being empowered to safeguard its future and return Tanakeke’s coastlines to health.

The animal kingdom is awash with unusual and rare behaviours. The ‘manta cyclone’ is perhaps one of the rarest, happening infrequently in very few places on Earth. For one zoologist and filmmaker, seeing and capturing this behaviour became a fixation.