Archive for February, 2018

Are alien grey squirrels cleverer than native red squirrels in Britain?

Wednesday, February 21st, 2018

A recent paper published in the scientific journal Animal Behaviour by Pizza Chow and colleagues has demonstrated that alien grey squirrels are slightly better than native red squirrels at solving certain problems involving the removal of hazelnuts from transparent plastic containers. The study has attracted a lot of attention in the media (International Business Times, UPI, Sky News, Channel […]

Scotland’s red squirrels holding their own

Tuesday, February 20th, 2018

A 2017 survey by Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) has indicated that red squirrels in Scotland have stabilised throughout much of the country, although there are regional differences. For example, there have been gains in the north-east around Aberdeen where grey squirrels have been extensively culled, and gains around Loch Lomand and the Trossachs National Park, […]

“Daily Politics” – to control or not control grey squirrels in UK

Thursday, February 1st, 2018

Recently the UK Government has stressed out the need to control grey squirrels to prevent bark-stripping damage to trees. The BBC Programme, Daily Politics,  debated the issue on 30/1/18 with Craig Shuttleworth from Bangor University, and Natalia Doran from the group Urban Squirrels (see a clip BBC News).