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Petition calling for end to centuries-old guga hunt to stay open
GLASGOW, UK, 21 January 2026 (BBC) - MSPs have agreed that a petition sent to the Scottish Parliament calling for an end to the Western Isles' guga hunt should stay open for the next few weeks. For hundreds of years, young gannets have been killed for their meat during the annual hunt on Sula Sgeir, a small rocky island 40 miles (64km) north of Ness on the Isle of Lewis. Hunters argue the practice dates back to the 15th Century and is part of their heritage, but animal welfare campaigners say the hunt is unnecessary. |
World's oldest known cave painting found on Sulawesi
LONDON, UK, 21 January 2026 (BBC) - A stencilled outline of a hand found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the world's oldest known cave painting, researchers say. It shows a red outline of a hand whose fingers were reworked, researchers say, to create a claw-like motif which indicates an early leap in symbolic imagination. The painting has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago – around 1,100 years before the previous record, a controversial hand stencil in Spain. |
How scientists are unravelling the secrets of Greenland sharks
LONDON, UK, 22 January 2026 (Guardian) - It looks more like a worn sock than a fearsome predator. It moves slower than an escalator. By most accounts, it is a clumsy and near-sightless relic drifting in the twilight waters of the Arctic, lazily searching for food scraps. But the Greenland shark, an animal one researcher (lovingly) said, “looks like it’s already dead”, is also one of the least understood, biologically enigmatic species on the planet. |
Philippines hosts new Asia-Pacific hub for sustainable agriculture
BACOLOD CITY, Philippines, 21 January 2026 (Mongabay) - More than 2,000 farmers, chefs and policymakers met last November in the Philippines to explore food systems rooted in biodiversity conservation, Indigenous knowledge and local food security. Speakers highlighted agroecology and nature-based solutions as practical ways to strengthen food security while restoring ecosystems and supporting livelihoods. |
Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 22 January 2026 (Mongabay) - Indonesia has revoked the permits of 28 companies after a post–Cyclone Senyar audit found environmental violations that authorities say worsened deadly floods and landslides in Sumatra in late 2025, which killed about 1,200 people. |
Rare seagrass 'fairy circles' discovered in the Hebrides
GLASGOW, UK, 20 January 2026 (BBC) - Seagrass "fairy circles" have been discovered on the seabed in the Sound of Barra in the Western Isles. Scotland's nature body NatureScot said it was not known why the plants grew in circular shapes, but added that the formations were rarely seen. Seagrass usually grows in dense "meadows" and provides important habitat for fish and other marine life. |
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