In the 1980s, the then Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (now Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust) launched a recovery programme for this gravely threatened species. Gerald [Lee’s late husband] asked me to set up a breeding facility, as I had lived in Madagascar. I’d never actually seen a ploughshare (or angonoka), but it was love at first sight. The tortoises would let you stroke their heads and soft, wrinkled necks as they raised themselves high off the ground like a Citroën rising on its suspension.
Do you think the species is finally safe?
This story is from the March 2021 edition of BBC Wildlife.
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This story is from the March 2021 edition of BBC Wildlife.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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Spiders eat flies, right? everyone knows that the 45,000 or so spiders in the world are all obligate carnivores, more or less – eating other animals, mainly invertebrates. Nature, however, loves an exception, and one particular spider missed out on that ecological memo. It goes by the wonderful scientific name of Bagheera kiplingi, and its claim to fame is that its diet is – at least mostly – vegetarian.
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