6ANIMALS HELPING HUMANS TO SAVE THE PLANET

BEES

Because of their finely tuned sense of smell, bees also make excellent land mine locators. Not only are they helping scientists create highly accurate minefield maps, but because these winged bomb-sniffers hover rather than step, there’s also no danger of them losing their lives in unintended explosions. In addition, bees also give off warning signals when toxic chemicals are released; in fact, they produce specific buzzing sounds for individual chemicals. Researchers believe these signature buzzes could be used to precisely and accurately detect hazardous pollutants and chemical warfare attacks.

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Things that you can do to help save bees

1 Stop using insecticides

2 Plant Bee-friendly plants

3 Create natural habitat gardens

4 Find out more about bees

5 Support your local beekeepers

6 Make you own ‘Wild bee’ house

7 Become a beekeeper

8 Get in contact with your local MP

9 Sign petitions banning pestcides

10 Encourage your local authority to do more to help bees

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DOGS

Man’s best friend is proving to be more than just a good companion and shepherd. Dogs, it turns out, are also quite capable conservationists. A group called Working Dogs for Conservation, based in the U.K., use canines to sniff out animal and plant populations so researchers can monitor and preserve them. Due to their acute sense of smell and ability to traverse rugged terrain, dogs not only effectively nose for difficult to detect animal feces, but they also help locate rare live animals and plants.

Things you can do for your pets to help save the planet

1 Buy recycled toys

2 Compost dog waste

3 Use biodegradable cat litter

4 Use natural cleaners to clean up after your pet

5 Use old towels to clean your dog instead of paper towels

6 Use Eco-friendly shampoo

7 Eco-friendly pet beds

8 Recycle pet food cans and bags

9 Compostable doggie waste bags

10 Eco-Pup dog clothing

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RATS

Undetonated land mines are a serious form of pollution that leaves large geographical areas virtually uninhabitable and injures or kills thousands each year. That’s why locating and removing them from former war zones is so important. Trouble is that few human volunteers are willing to risk their lives to uncover them. Enter the rat brigade, specifically, African giant pouched rats. These fast-learning rodents, dubbed HeroRATs are being trained at the humanitarian organization to sniff out buried explosives. The rats are also being trained to locate people buried under rubble from natural disasters, as well as detect leaking gas lines and even the presence of tuberculosis in human sputum samples.

How to look after a pet rat

1 Make sure you provide your rats with choice and control over their environment, by giving them freely accessible options and a predictable home-cage environment

2 Make sure your rat has a suitable home-cage

3 Provide your rats with suitable bedding

4 Keep your rats’ cage away from strong artificial smells (e.g. air fresheners or smoke)

5 Avoid moving their cage as this can be stressful

6 Keep their cage clean

7 Make sure the area where the rat is housed out of direct sunlight

8 Make sure you give your rats suitable shelters and places to hide

9 Provide your rats with suitable food and water

10 Change the cage bedding once a week

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SEALS

Scientists at the University of California Santa Cruz have teamed up with some special “researchers” to help them document ocean temperatures, salinity and other undersea conditions. With their unique diving abilities that allow them to swim where few humans have gone before, ocean mammals such as sea lions are being outfitted with sensors that stick to their fur and later fall off when they molt. Information is transmitted to a satellite when the animals surface to breathe and is used to create computer models that will better predict ocean circulation patterns.

How to help save seals

1 Make sure you don’t buy any seal products

2 Turn off all lights if not needed. Some lights need oil and can lead to an oil spill

3 Buy a wildlife magazine and see if you can adopt a seal

4 Never dump anything in the street as it goes into the storm drains which travel straight to rivers, creeks, and ultimately the oceans without being cleaned

5 Sign up with a Seal Action Team to receive email alerts and newsletters

6 Find out more about seals

7 Get in contact with your local MP

8 Sign petitions banning seal products

9 Donate to the Seal Protection Action Group

10 Make others aware of things that you can do to help protect seals

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NARWHALS

Looking for evidence of climate change can be tough going when you’re trying to measure winter ocean temperatures in the frigid, ice-choked arctic waters off Greenland. That’s why researchers are turning to some veteran deep-sea divers for help. Outfitted with thermometers and small satellite transmitters, 14 narwhals tusked arctic whales known to dive more than a mile below the ocean surface. Researchers are counting on these “unicorns of the sea” to continue aiding them in the development of more accurate climate models.

How to protect narwhals

1 Make sure you don’t buy any whale products

2 Make others aware of things that you can do to help protect narwhals

3 Support the of importation of narwhal tusks

4 Stay Informed, sign up to receive instant alerts and updates about important issues affecting wildlife

5 Become a Defender of Wildlife

6 Adopt an Narwhal

7 Cut up plastic before recycling or disposing them in the garbage. Thousands marine creatures die needlessly from entanglement

8 Write a letter or email your local MP

9 Find out more about narwhals

10 Never discard used fishing line and hooks in the water. This can entangle and cause the death of animals and mamals

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ROBOTIC FISH

Dr. Huosheng Hu and his team of researchers at Essex University in the U.K. have developed a robotic fish, outfitted with sophisticated sensors that can be used to hunt for ocean pollutants. A shoal of these surprisingly lifelike robo-fish will be launched off the coast of Spain later this year to collect and transmit water pollution data. The researchers also hope to use the fish, made to resemble carp, for toxin surveillance off the coast of Wales.

Facts about robotic fish

1 Developed by scientists at the United Kingdom’s University of Essex

2 The robotic fish is1.5 metres long

3 Funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the engineering firm BMT Group Ltd

4 Robotic fish consists of mechanical and electronic parts

5 The robotic fish is worth £20100.51

6 Adavantage is that it provides a real-time understanding of ocean pollution

7 Sniffs out trouble with an array of tiny chemical sensors capable of detecting dissolved contaminants

8 The robotic fish doesn’t produce noise that might disrupt the natural environment

9 Battery life lasts up to eight hours

10 Robotic fish can travel at speeds of 2.25 miles per hour

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