The anthropause has given a new lease of life to Earth s wildlife
With the world grounded, safari rangers are reporting healthier wildlife populations – with sightings at closer range
Elephants in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe
Credit: Getty There’s no doubt that, while most of the human population has been locked down, animals have been enjoying a holiday of their own,” said Bread Shambamaropa, as we stood in the deserted bar at Mana Pools and gazed out over a waterhole packed with antelope and elephant. “It’s been terrible for business and for park revenues, but the animals are far less stressed. Leopards come closer to camp than they ever did.”
“max fac”
When referring to the Brexiters’ preferred partnership use maximum facilitation at first mention, then “max fac” (quotes on first use). Adjectival use requires a hyphen, eg the max-fac option.
maxidress
may or might?
The subtle distinctions between these (and between other so-called modal verbs) are gradually disappearing, but they still matter to many of our readers and can be useful.
may implies that the possibility remains open: “The Mies van der Rohe tower may have changed the face of British architecture for ever” (it has been built);
might suggests that the possibility remains open no longer: “The Mies tower might have changed the face of architecture for ever” (if only they had built it). Similarly, “they may have played tennis, or they may have gone boating” suggests I don’t know what they did; “they might have played tennis if the weather had been dry” means they didn’t, because it wasn’t.
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A young male lion sits in a bush at the Ol Kinyei conservancy in Masai Mara, in the Narok county in Kenya, on June 23, 2020. | Credit: TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images
I’d never been away from Africa for as long as I had over these past 10 tedious months. So, as I watched the blood-orange sunrise from my plane window as we descended into Nairobi recently, I couldn’t hold back the tears. The emotional exhaustion of this year all seemed to release with my arrival home in Africa, this big-sky country, which never fails to grip my soul. I felt a newfound humility and the thrill of simply being alive.
The first time I saw a wild lioness was in Kenya s Maasai Mara last year. It was fast asleep on a large slab of granite and least bothered by several tourist vehicles that stopped to watch. I was disappointed. I had hoped to catch its eyes on camera and this one s eyes remained firmly shut.
Later, I found out the reason. Lions sleep up to twenty hours a day. They hunt at night, or very early in the morning. With the abundance of game in the park, she was napping after a full meal.
During the trip I saw several more lions. One had climbed a tree and was relaxing there. Three of its paws and its tail dangled from the H-shaped branch formation. The fourth paw on the branch maintained its balance, as did the rather large belly that dangled from its frame. Early morning one day, far away, I saw a group of lions around a large red object, probably a wildebeest they had killed. Later that day, I saw a lion pair mating. After the act the lion roared and the lioness cowered low in the groun