Ants run secret farms on English oak trees, photographer discovers
Brown ants herd and milk giant pale aphids, building barns for them from beetle exoskeleton
Animals
How the Middle East’s water shortage drives demand for live animal imports
The increasingly dry region relies on imports of sheep and cows from as far as Brazil to satisfy the rapidly growing population
Monarch butterfly population critically low on California coast – again
Study finds 29,000 butterflies, compared with 4.5 million during the 1980s, as experts point to habitat destruction
Appetite for ‘warm meat’ drives risk of disease in Hong Kong and China
A wet market, where animals are freshly slaughtered rather than chilled was identified as the source of the coronavirus outbreak. But experts have long warned of dangers
Specieswatch: wet winter is good news for the common frog
Britain’s most recognisable amphibian has had a rough few years because of dry winters
‘It was painful to declare it’: outbreak of animal disease was blow to Sudan exports
Rift Valley fever led to temporary block on trade, with devastating impact on farmers and livestock
Writers and scientists celebrate UK’s 67 most endangered birds
Book aims to raise awareness of conservation – and some much-needed funding
‘Live animals are the largest source of infection’: dangers of the export trade
Transporting more livestock will increase transmission of diseases, including some that could also threaten humans
‘It would be kinder to shoot them’: Ireland’s calves set for live export
An unwelcome byproduct of a booming industry, male dairy calves can endure a short and brutal existence
Two billion and rising: the global trade in live animals in eight charts
The world’s seas and roads are awash with farm animals, with almost two billion pigs, cattle, sheep and chickens trucked or shipped as exports in 2017
Young sea eagle takes up residence among Oxfordshire’s red kites
Bird is one of six released on Isle of Wight as first residents in England for 250 years
Cashmere country: the perils of making the world’s finest fabric
In the freezing and windswept Changthang Plateau, nestled between the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountains, traditional goat herders practise an arduous and dying trade