Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings

Featured image: What difference will closing the Chinese domestic ivory market make?

What difference will closing the Chinese domestic ivory market make?

Brendan Moyle • Jan 13, 2017

The recent decision by China to close its domestic ivory trade industry has been welcomed by many conservationists. Nonetheless, I remain skeptical it will be a significant move to curb poaching.  This is generally accepted to have peaked in around 2011, albeit it is uncertain whether wild populations can sustain the illegal off-take.  The overall picture is still murky.  While … Read More

Featured image: Auckland Waterfalls: A collage

Auckland Waterfalls: A collage

Brendan Moyle • Dec 10, 2016

Over the last two years I’ve taken many more photos of waterfalls in the Auckland region.  There’s an amount I was never aware of over in the Waitakere Ranges.  I’ve visited many of these falls several times.  The trick (for photography) is go typically when it is overcast.  That way the clouds act as a giant diffusing filter for the … Read More

Featured image: Crocodilians have long been good mothers

Crocodilians have long been good mothers

Brendan Moyle • Dec 09, 2016

I like to keep informed about research on crocodilians, even if my work on them as waned in recent years.  As is usually popularly known, crocodilians (which includes true crocodiles, as well as alligators and caimans) survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction that wiped out most dinosaurs.  That leaves both birds and crocodilians as the only surviving archosaurs.  We know from living … Read More

Featured image: Auckland Waterfalls: Karekare

Auckland Waterfalls: Karekare

Brendan Moyle • Dec 06, 2016

The Auckland region has a surprising number of waterfalls to view.  A great number of these are located in the Waitakere ranges.  One of the falls I’d yet to see was Karekare.  One of the reasons is it’s a bit of a distance to the falls.  And a lot of the routes involve Auckland roads that really, don’t expedite travel.  I’ve … Read More

Featured image: Surviving Obesogenic NZ

Surviving Obesogenic NZ

Brendan Moyle • Dec 05, 2016

Much has been made recently of the growing obesity rates in NZ.  And the “obesogenic environment” is attributed as one of the underlying causes.  We are collectively less active than optimal, have too much food readily available, and many eat inadequate quantities of fruit and vegetables.  Fad-diets rise and wither away as the promised short-cuts to lose weight can’t be … Read More

Featured image: Why bike when you can run…

Why bike when you can run…

Brendan Moyle • Nov 08, 2016

When I first started work in Auckland in the mid-1990s, my mode of transport to campus was by running.  It was just too hard to do twice a day though, over Auckland hills, on the knees.  So I switched to cycling and stuck to that for many years. This year I’ve started mixing runs with bike rides.  Run one day, … Read More

Featured image: No, the Ivory Trade in Australia and NZ is not “thriving”

No, the Ivory Trade in Australia and NZ is not “thriving”

Brendan Moyle • Oct 02, 2016

One can always tell when the parties to the CITES convention are meeting, or just about to meet.  Numerous NGOs start promoting their views and solutions to the problem to the media. It came as no great surprise to read this in today’s Stuff webpage “A first-ever comprehensive investigation into the sale of ivory and rhino horn in Australian … Read More