Dear Nurturers,
Thank you very much
and
Happy Forces of Nature Day!
love,
Favorite World Press
Lisa S. French
May 14, 2023
The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world
Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do
Lisa S. French
2.5-minute read
Study nature, love nature,
stay close to nature.
It will never fail you.
Frank Lloyd Wright
It’s official.
Today is Earth Day—
our annual reminder to recommit
to protecting and restoring
the natural world.
To help kick off your 2023
personal love-the-planet palooza,
we want to share
some hopeful, healing ways
for you to celebrate.
12 songs for singing
Or humming. Or whistling.
Or just listening.
The FWP Earth Day dozen playlist.
12 books for reading
A few of our current
favorite nature
and environmental titles
to educate and inspire:
A Life on Our Planet/
David Attenborough
Ancient Trees Portraits of Time/
Beth Moon
An Immense World/
Ed Yong
Bird
Exploring the Winged World/
Phaidon Editors
Humanity’s Moment/
Joëlle Gurgis
Nature’s Best Hope/
Douglas W. Tallamy
Not Too Late/
Rebecca Solnit &
Thelma Young Lutunatabua
The Accidental Ecosystem/
Peter S. Alagona
The New Big 5
A Global Photography Project
for Endangered Species/
Graeme Greene
The Songs Of Trees/
David George Haskell
What A Bee Knows/
Stephan Buchmann
Wild Souls/
Emma Marris
42 projects for planting
For every print or e-book
that you buy,
we’ll plant a native tree
in one of 42
global reforestation projects.
You read. We plant.
52 actions for protecting
And if you’re feeling the urge
to show our home planet
some tender loving care,
the good people at Earth Day.org
have curated a year’s worth
of tips and activities
to get you started.
Count me in!
Wishing you peace & a hopeful heart.
Happy Earth Day!
xo Favorite World Press
Lisa S. French
April 22, 2023
2.5-minute read
It’s the little things citizens do.
That’s what will
make the difference.
My little thing is planting trees.
Wangari Maathai
If you’re a regular reader, you know we’re big on trees—planting them, protecting them, and writing about them. In honor of Earth Month, we’d like to share a bit about how our planting partners at Tree-Nation do that planet-preserving thing they do—helping tackle the urgent mission of restoring the world’s forests.
Capturing carbon, protecting biodiversity, and supporting the livelihoods of local communities through reforestation are all at the top of the planetary to-do list. While tree planting seems simple enough—just dig and drop—the most successful reforestation strategies combine scientific and indigenous knowledge to create customized planting techniques that result in the greatest all-around benefits for people, wildlife, and the planet. To overcome the increasing global environmental challenges that impact survival rates, the right trees must be planted in the right place in the right way.
So how does Tree-Nation ensure that newly planted seeds and seedlings fulfill their tree-life destiny to combat climate change, purify the air and water, and provide revenue, food, fodder, and medicine for local populations and habitats for millions of species? They think globally and plant locally, using a variety of methods that align with the Ten Golden Rules of Reforestation, guidelines developed by an expert team of researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens to help avoid the pitfalls of large-scale tree-planting initiatives.
Wherever they plant in the world, the number one objective of every project that Tree-Nation supports is to encourage a diverse mix of native tree species that minimize harm and maximize long-term benefits.
From simple methods that simulate animal dispersal to highly engineered solutions like drones, for all the forestry nerds out there, this is how Tree-Nation digs, drops, and re-trees to meet their commitment of a trillion trees planted by 2050:
Direct Sowing
Planting individual seeds directly into the soil where the trees are to be established.
Benefits: Trees grow strong and adapt well to their environment.
Muvuca Strategy
Spreading seeds of hundreds of varieties of native species over every square meter of land. You can learn how this technique is being used to save forests in Brazil here.
Benefits: Creates natural spread of vegetation and dense forests.
Seed Bombs
One or multiple seeds are wrapped in clay and compost, protecting the seed from harsh weather and animals.
Benefits: Easy to manipulate and quick to plant.
Aerial Seeding
Sowing seeds by dropping them from a drone, plane, or helicopter to disperse seeds into difficult-to-reach locations.
Benefits: Offers a cheap automated method to plant at a large scale.
Nursery Seedling Transplant
The most widespread technique in tree planting, seedlings spend 3-6 months in nurseries before being transplanted, usually during the rainy season.
Benefits: Offers great control over quantities and species planted and survival rate.
Assisted Natural Regeneration
Protecting and preserving natural tree seedlings in forested areas by employing different techniques to remove or reduce barriers.
Benefits: A natural approach that is inexpensive and well-suited to existing forested areas.
If you’d like to learn how effective restoration organizations like Tree-Nation determine which trees should be planted where check out the GlobalTreeSearch for a list of every known tree species on Earth by country.
A final thought on reforestation—as enthusiastic as Favorite World Press is about tree planting, and that would be a 10 out of 10, we want to emphasize that to maintain the healthy functioning of our planet protecting existing old-growth forests like Alaska’s Tongass is essential.
And a gentle reminder—we plant one tree for every print or e-book sold. If you’d like to make tree-planting your little thing, read with us!
ICYMI Nature News
Crying Plants
According to new research published in Cell, thirsty plants make ultra-sonic noise that can be heard by some animals. This is what it sounds like when plants cry.
Introverted Tigers
Do you think all Siberian tigers have big cat energy? Scientists have identified two distinct personality types in the stripey felines that map to the traits of introversion and extroversion in humans. Either way, we think they’re grrrrrreat!
Glow-In-the-Dark Garden Mice
Platypus do it, some squirrels and hares do it, and according to Estonian researchers, garden dormice do it. What’s that? They glow under UV light. Rodential party animals.
Self-Aware Bees
Pollination ecologist Stephen Buchmann has published new research that indicates bees are sentient and may have a primitive form of consciousness. We knew it all along.
DIY Elephants
According to a new study, elephants may be one of the few species on Earth to have domesticated themselves. If you want something done right do it your ele-self.
FWP Carbon Capture Report
From April 2022 through March 2023, the trees we’ve planted across 12 projects bring our carbon capture total to 3157 tons of CO2. That’s equivalent to 8,093,790 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle, 136,664 trash bags of waste recycled instead of landfilled, or 3,536,616 pounds of coal burned.
Lisa S. French
April 10, 2023
If the sight of the blue skies
fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass
springing up in the fields
has power to move you,
if the simple things of nature
have a message
that you understand,
rejoice, for your soul is alive.
Elenora Duse
Rejoice.
Reimagine.
Restore.
Lisa S. French
April 1, 2023
2-minute read
Our innate capacity to feel what others feel is one of the traits that make humans human, and according to new research, it’s also what makes zebrafish—zebrafish. If the idea that our gilled friends have feelings sounds, well, fishy, you may be interested to learn that not only do some fishes have feelings, but it also seems they have feelings about other fishes’ feelings—at least when it comes to fear.
The spontaneous spread of emotions, known as social contagion, is regarded as one of the most ancient forms of empathy and has been widely recognized in humans as well as highly social mammals, including elephants, dolphins, and primates. But big-brained mammals aren’t alone in their ability to perceive and mirror the emotional states of their own kind—it’s an ability they seem to share with some species of fish.
Scientists studying the origins of how emotional states spread through social groups of animals believe that oxytocin, the hormone that regulates empathetic behaviors like trust, attachment, and bonding in mammals, enables zebrafish to sense and respond to fear in their finned comrades.
Observing two fish, one relaxed and swimming normally and one showing signs of fear, the zebrafish in the study mimicked the movements of the frightened fish and then approached and interacted with the distressed swimmer—what scientists believe could be perceived as an empathetic response. Zebrafish that lacked oxytocin were indifferent to the distress of the frightened fish and preferred the company of the relaxed fish. Some might call the cold-blooded creatures’ behavior—self-fish.
Although we may not yet know for certain if fish experience other emotions, we can imagine that a fish paralyzed by fear might feel comforted by the attentions of compassionate co-swimmers.
ICYMI Nature News
How Whale Sharks See in the Dark
Scientists studying how whale sharks can see in the darkness of the deep sea have come up with an answer—temperature-sensitive retinas. Handy! Read all about it here.
Strutting Spiders Have All the Moves
According to new research, male wolf spiders use fancy footwork and fluffy leggings to catch the eye (eyes) of lady spiders. See how they strut.
Monarchs in Serious Distress
Sad news for monarch butterflies and their habitats this week. Populations overwintering in Mexico have dropped by 22% since last year due to deforestation and climate change. Time for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Game On for the Planet
If you’re feeling the urge to do a little planet tending and don’t have an actual patch nearby, you can get some practice in virtual ecosystem restoration with the brand-new conservation game TerraNil. Eight percent of profits will be donated to the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Check it out!
Run For the Wild Ones
If you’re local to NYC, on April 29, you can make tracks for sloths and other endangered species by participating in the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Run for the Wild. Register here.
200? 200!
A little bird told us this is Wild & Wondrous’ 200th blog. Oh. Okay then! 🥳
Lisa S. French
March 29, 2023
2-minute read
Of all the creatures under the sea, when it comes to precision prey tracking, seals (aka pinnipeds) have a distinct advantage—whisker vision. Although the mustachioed marine mammals can recognize a tasty fish when they see one, thanks to their super-sensitive whiskers, seals don’t need to see a fish to catch a fish.
Like all living beings, seals have evolved with the exact creature features and adaptations they need to thrive in their particular place on the planet. Scientists studying how seals can successfully hunt in low, or no, visibility conditions have concluded that the animals are ideally equipped to go with the flow.
Through finely tuned flow sensors in their whiskers, seals can detect the motion trail of prey from as far away as 600 feet. The whisker sensors also relay the size and direction of potential meals, indicating whether the calorie reward would be worth the energy required for a hot pursuit.
And what makes seal whiskers so exquisitely sensitive to disturbances in the water that they can even detect the exhalations of fish at the bottom of the sea? Following two decades of research, scientists have concluded that the wavy shape of a seal’s whiskers, unique in the animal kingdom, enables the specialized hunters to lock on to the frequency of preferred prey while tuning out noise from their own movement.
Besides being all-important for meal acquisition, seals’ extraordinary sensory perception and unusually shaped whiskers are now informing all manner of research into the development of biomimetic robots for underwater exploration. And you thought the innovation-inspiring marine mammals were just adorable, bristle-faced fish-eaters.
ICYMI Nature News
Green Is Good
In a much-needed boost to North Atlantic marine life, including porpoises, skates, and stingrays, 4300 miles of water along the Greater Skellig Coast have been recognized as Ireland’s first Mission Blue Hope Spot. Erin go bragh!
Free Butterfly Plants
If you participate in an urban, community, or school garden in the Northeastern U.S., the Xerces Society is now offering free native plants for your patch to help provide sustenance to endangered migrating monarchs. Find out if you qualify here.
NYC Sky Garden Opening
It’s officially spring, and NYC’s delightful, de-lovely, elevated gardens will soon burst into bloom. Starting April 1, you can tiptoe through the High Line tulips until 10 pm.
Pick Up the Pieces
From now through Earth Day, you can take part in the Great Global Cleanup to help rid our beautiful home planet of plastic pollution. Find a location near you in need of some TLC (tender loving cleanup).
Meditate on the Feather Star
If you’re suffering from mid-week Jell-O brain or just enjoy watching magical sea creatures do magical sea creature things, we highly recommend a few moments of peaceful meditation on the feather star’s multi-limbed locomotion. And go with the flow.
Lisa S. French
March 21, 2023
People from a planet
without flowers
would think we must be mad
with joy the whole time
to have such things about us.
Iris Murdoch
Happy Spring Equinox
Lisa S. French
March 20, 2023
2-minute read
What can we learn from bears about space travel?
Although the earthbound mammals have never achieved liftoff, according to research from the University of Minnesota, studying black and brown bears’ ability to bounce right back to roaming after a long winter’s nap may help scientists to develop strategies that would enable humans to overcome the negative physiological impacts of months-long interplanetary flight.
Every fall, as temperatures begin to drop, the power sleepers pack on the pounds (see Fat Bear week) in preparation for winter hibernation, an extreme state of starvation and dehydration. In the spring, after a half-year of physical inactivity and living off fat reserves, the animals can return to normal bear business within minutes of emerging from their dens, major organs intact and with little or no bone or muscle loss.
Amazingly, after consecutive months of immobility, bears lose only 23 percent of their strength, while humans would lose 90 percent over the same period. So how do they survive the big sleep without any debilitating bodily impacts? According to scientists, the burly omnivores have evolved with adaptations that significantly reduce their body temperature and heart rate to conserve energy. During hibernation, a bear’s temperature can drop by 8 -12 degrees and its heart rate to an average of just 4.3 beats per minute with minimal ill effect.
And what does that mean for the future of manned missions to Mars? Researchers are investigating whether inducing a bear-like state of hibernation would enable humans to endure the long haul of prolonged space travel—another beary good example of how we look to nature to inspire innovation.
ICYMI Nature News
First Bear Out of the Den
The first bear to emerge from winter slumber at Yellowstone has been spotted by a park biologist. It seems dreams of space have taken a backseat to securing a prime spot at the all-you-can-eat post-hibernation buffet.
The Loudest Animal on the Planet
Danish scientists have discovered how whales produce the loudest sounds in the animal kingdom—clicking nose lips. Listen to the nasal chatter here.
Pollinating Dance Instructors
We’ve written previously about how bees communicate food locations through an intricate waggle dance. Now researchers have discovered that newbies learn their honey-making moves from mentors. Swing your pollinating partner!
Fairy Lantern Flower Back from the Dead
Believed to be extinct for the past 30 years, the delicate fairy lantern flower has been rediscovered in Japan. You can see what the photosynthesis-free flower looks like here. Flower? Mushroom? Mushroom-flower?
Good News for the Earth’s Oceans
It took a long time, but the United Nations has announced the passage of a High Seas Treaty to protect marine biodiversity and 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. Not a moment too soon!
2023 National Wildlife Photo Contest
If you’re a nature-loving photographer anywhere in the world and over the age of 13, you can share your beautiful views to help protect nature in the National Wildlife Federation annual photo contest. Find out how to participate here. Go wild, happy snappers!
Btw, March 14th (3.14) is Pi Day
You can read how the number pi (π) manifests in nature here. And whether you’re into numbers or sweets and savories, you can find some delicious ways to celebrate right here! Strawberry slab, anyone?
Lisa S. French
March 13, 2023
Our task must be
to free ourselves
by widening our circle
of compassion
to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature
and its beauty.
Albert Einstein
In honor of World Wildlife Day, we’d like to thank you for reading with us—and for planting with us.
Every month, with your kind support, Favorite World Press contributes to global forest restoration projects that provide critical habitats for endangered species like the Bengal tiger.
Through our partnership with Tree-Nation, we plant trees in tropical regions that host 80% of the world’s wondrous wildlife. You can learn more about how we grow with Tree-Nation to widen the circle of compassion here.
FWP Carbon Capture Report
From April 2022 through February 2023 the trees we’ve planted across 12 projects bring our carbon capture total to 2,778 tons of CO2. That’s equivalent to 6,896,212 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle, 337,954,898 smartphones charged, or 120,259 trash bags of waste recycled instead of landfilled.
Lisa S. French
March 3, 2023
2-minute read
Whether or not we get treated fairly is one of the metrics that humans use to assess the quality and potential longevity of our relationships. Ideally, we seek to collaborate with partners in all realms of our existence who acknowledge our contributions and expectations and are as attentive to our treatment as they are to their own.
Unremedied inequity can lead to a negative interpretation of events, a breakdown in communication, and an unwillingness to cooperate on future endeavors. According to a series of landmark studies, we share our desire for fair treatment and rejection of injustice with some savvy members of the animal kingdom—particularly when it comes to equal pay for equal work.
Do I Look Like I Just Fell Out of a Tree?
Behavioral researchers from Emory University examining non-human primates’ response to equal versus unequal rewards for completing a task revealed that the perceptive animals did not respond well to being taken advantage of.
When chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys and their task partners both received cucumber slices for their efforts, they were equally satisfied with the outcome. Given a choice, however, the animals prefer to be paid in grapes. If only one partner received grapes, the unfair compensation resulted in outright primate protest from the other, and refusal to either continue the task or to accept the inferior reward. In some cases, the work stoppage and reward rejection were accompanied by water spitting and cage-rattling to drive the dissatisfaction home.
Interestingly, to preserve a valued long-term relationship, some chimps would react to the unfair treatment of their partners by refusing the better reward. Researchers believe that the short-term sacrifice was not necessarily driven by a desire to do the right thing but to increase the odds of future cooperation by maintaining a basic sense of fairness. Similar to the realm of human relations, more equitable individual outcomes for the chimps had a greater likelihood of leading to more stable and harmonious interactions in their communities—wise apes.
ICYMI Nature News
A Wondrous Whale Event
The lucky passengers of a National Geographic Antarctic cruise experienced an extraordinary event in January, the gathering of 1,000 fin whales. You can check out the largest pod seen in over a century here.
Must-See Eagle TV
If you haven’t been keeping up with the Big Bear bald eagle nest cam, you’re in for a treat. You can keep 24-7 tabs on how expecting raptors Jackie and Shadow are coping with California’s wintry weather while waiting for the arrival of their eaglets. Visit the nest!
Get Ready to Wear It Wild
If you’ve been looking for a legit reason to wear your zebra-striped jumpsuit or cheetah-patterned chinos to work or school, you are in luck. You can sign up today for the World Wildlife Fund Wear it Wild challenge and commit to one day of wearing a creature costume of your choice to fundraise to help protect nature. Whether you’re inclined to present as a tiger, tapir, or tree toad, you can find out how to participate here.
And Finally, Snow in NYC
Winter without snow is like cake without frosting. It took a long time, but after almost four worrisome months trending towards tropical, snow has finally fallen in NYC. Not big news, perhaps, nor a big pile-up, but we’re excited about it nonetheless. And more, please!
Lisa S. French
February 28, 2023
