AboutJonathan Wright Expertise I can answer questions about wild mammals, as well as other wild animals. I can also answer questions on extinct animals and zoos.
PLEASE DON'T SEND ME ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT PETS. IF YOU ARE REALLY WORRIED, YOU SHOULD CONTACT A VETERINARIAN. PLEASE DO NOT ASSUME THAT UNPAID PEOPLE ON ALLEXPERTS ARE AVAILABLE 24 HOURS A DAY AND WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH ADVICE THE MOMENT YOUR ANIMAL GETS ILL. Find out how to look after a pet before you get it. It is unfair to keep an animal in inappropriate conditions and give it the wrong food. If you can't keep an animal in good conditions, please don't bring it into your home. I'm not a vet and I don't have any expertise in animal medicine and care. I don't agree with people taking animals out of the wild and then expecting other people to give free advice on how to look after them. It is cruel to take animals away from their parents, who are able to look after the babies and may look for them, while putting their other babies at risk. You may need a licence to look after some animals. You may be breaking the law by keeping wild animals; please check with a local wildlife organisation.
IF YOU FIND AN INJURED ANIMAL, PLEASE CONTACT A WILDLIFE VETERINARIAN OR CHARITY AND LET TRAINED STAFF LOOK AFTER THE ANIMAL. DO NOT TRY TO LOOK AFTER AN INJURED ANIMAL IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
Please do not remove eggs from nests. The mother birds will know the right temperature for the eggs and will not sit on them if the temperature is warm enough for them to develop naturally. It is illegal to remove eggs of some species and, unless you have an incubator or a broody hen, the egg may not develop. If you are allowed to touch the eggs, you can candle them (check details on websites) to see if the eggs are fertile. If the eggs are not fertile, they will not hatch.
I do not agree with fights between different animals. Please do not ask me questions about them.
Experience I have a zoology degree and have been interested in animals since I was two years old. I am a zoo volunteer at London Zoo. I have appeared on a BBC Radio Quiz, 'Wildbrain'.
Organizations World Wide Fund for Nature. Zoological Society of London. London Bat Group.
Publications Newsletters of London Zoo volunteers and the London Bat Group
Education/Credentials BSC degree in Zoology. 'A' levels in Zoology and Chemistry. 'O' Level in Biology.
miska wrote at 2007-07-31 18:32:32
Hi
You are definitely right about grey squirrels.I just saw a squirrel eating its own young and I was astonished as I did not realise that they are omnivours.That is when I decided to read up about it and your article proved very helpful and I had to believe what I was seeing.
Navjot wrote at 2008-01-15 16:37:49
"If there are too many animals in a limited area, the whole group may die out, due to too little food being available. If many of the animals die, the food supply goes further and the survivors can produce young when conditions are ideal. All of these mechanisms may seem cruel, but many of the strategies have a logical basis, as they are geared towards survival of animal groups, rather than the survival of each individual."
There is no truth to the above statement. Infact, it is the opposite of how fitness maximization works. There is no strategy towards group survival. Only toward individual survival. In Grebes (a waterfowl) often the mother produces more children than necessary and then as food supply goes down (or her ability to constantly feed and satisfy all the children), she pecks and punishes and kills the smallest of her brood until the optimal number of what she can feed and care for is achieved. She is maximising her individual fitness by passing her genes to a set of healthy offspring and saving herself from exhaustion and death from overwork.
