Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings

Featured image: Car Theft and Transport in Auckland: A Personal View

Car Theft and Transport in Auckland: A Personal View

Brendan Moyle • Oct 04, 2021

Introduction I was going to drive to Wellington for a funeral that day. And when I got up, my car was gone. It was a Subaru Forester of 2006 vintage. The paintwork was near immaculate and everything ran smoothly. I’d maintained that car for years. Not just on a casual and erratic basis, but consistently. The kids liked locating it … Read More

Featured image: What to do about the Trade In Endangered Species Act

What to do about the Trade In Endangered Species Act

Brendan Moyle • Oct 24, 2019

A discussion document on our TIES legislation was introduced by the Conservation Minister recently. This Act is the main tool we use to as a party of the CITES treaty (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 1973). The motivation for the proposed changes clearly comes from the dramatic decline in the elephant populations since 2009, generated in large … Read More

Featured image: Beat Air Pollution: UN Environment Day

Beat Air Pollution: UN Environment Day

Brendan Moyle • Jun 05, 2019

June 5 is the UN Environment Day with the theme this year, being air pollution. Air pollution comprises a number of gases and microscopic particulates that impact on ecosystems and human health. Both the quality of life and human longevity is impacted by these pollutants, often in urban areas. One only has to think of news stories from London … Read More

Featured image: Pandas and Bamboo: A recent dietary specialisation?

Pandas and Bamboo: A recent dietary specialisation?

Brendan Moyle • Feb 11, 2019

Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) eat bamboo and not much else. This in evolutionary terms is odd. It’s odd in part because the panda has a short gut typical of carnivores. And it still possesses many of the genes associated with a carnivorous lifestyle. This is largely due to belonging to the bear family Ursidae. This is a group of animals … Read More

Featured image: The bacterial jungle of your car

The bacterial jungle of your car

Brendan Moyle • Feb 04, 2019

A recent article on car cleanliness described the bacteria that abound on car interior-surfaces. The results were shocking, with the headline announcing steering wheels had on average four times the amount of bacteria that public toilets did.  It inspired some to clean their cars . Nonetheless I confess I felt no surprise reading this. This is one of my … Read More

Featured image: The Soy of Travel

The Soy of Travel

Brendan Moyle • Jan 31, 2019

Long ago I made my first trip to China. China was a different place then. Hotels were sort of modernising, but weren’t quite there. In Beijing we used to be put up in the delightfully awful Friendship Hotel. Pipes were affixed to wall interiors, odd noises were common, and concrete was everywhere. I think the mattresses might have been made … Read More