News by Subject Policy & Ethics

Researchers from the Living Primates Research Group in the University of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation (SAC), and the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, examined the behaviour of female chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest, Uganda, where chimpanzees (at least in the study community) are particularly prone to committing and suffering infanticide.

Help is on the way for plump ponies at risk of the painful, often deadly, condition of founder or laminitis which is the second biggest killer of domestic horses.

By genetically matching elephant tusks from large ivory seizures and comparing this information to details including the ivory's shipping port of export, researchers have exposed the three major exporters illegally smuggling the greatest amount of ivory out of Africa.

Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) in wild parrot populations has been detected in eight new countries, raising concerns for threatened species. This highlights the need for greater awareness of the risks of the spread of infectious disease associated with the international trade in live parrots.

A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Biology reveals certain nonlethal methods are effective for managing predators in agricultural landscapes. Twenty-one authors from 10 nations reviewed 114 peer-reviewed scientific studies measuring the effectiveness of lethal and non-lethal methods for reducing carnivore predation on livestock. Livestock guardian dogs, livestock enclosures and fladry all were scientifically shown to be effective conflict deterrents.

Populations of some shark species such as hammerhead and oceanic whitetip have declined by over 90 percent in recent years largely because of wealthy consumers' growing appetite for fin soup.