Elephant seen in Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal, for the first time since 2020

An Elephant has been observed in the Niokolo-Koba National Park in the east of Senegal for the first time since January 2020. The Elephant, identified as a 35-40-year-old bull called Ousmane, was observed at night by a camera trap earlier this month. Five years ago, Ousmane was one of five-to-ten Elephants living in the park, but no sightings have been made, and it was assumed that Elephants had become locally extinct in Senegal.

A bull Elephant called Ousmane in the Niokolo-Koba National Park in June 2025. Niokolo-Koba National Park/Panthera.

Senegal was once home to hundreds of Elephants, bur they were hunted heavily during the colonial period, and a combination of the value of their tusks and competition for land with Humans has led to their population continuing to fall. Even before their apparent disappearance in 2020, Elephants were thought to be in almost irreversible decline in Senegal, with the population being both very small and very inbred. Ousmane, the last known surviving Elephant in Senegal is known to be a hybrid between two Elephant species, African Forest Elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, and African Savanna Elephant, Loxodonta africana (both of which are considered to be Critically Endangered), and it is unclear if he would be able to breed if the opportunity arose.

Founded in 1981 the Niokolo-Koba National Park covers 9130 km² of gallery forests, savannah grass floodplains, ponds, and dry forests, cut through by the Gambia, Sereko, Niokolo, Koulountou rivers. As well as Elephants the park is home to one of two (known) remaining populations of Lions in West Africa, and populations of Giant Eland, Taurotragus derbianus, the largest extant Antelope species, Gianr Pangolin, Smutsia gigantea, African Wild Dogs, Lycaon pictus, and West African Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes versus.

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Two killed by landslid in Uttarakhand State, India.

Two people have been killed and three others injured in a landslide which hit a trekking route to the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand State, India, on Wednesday 18 June 2025. The incident happened at about 11.20 am local time, when rocks fell onto the path, knocking two palanquin operators, their female passenger and two porters into a gorge. The two deceased have been identified as Nitin Kumar, 18, and Chandrashekhar, palanquin operators from the town of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir. The two porters have been taken to a health centre in Gaurikund with serious injuries, while the woman escaped with minor injuries.

Rescue workers descending into a gorge near the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand to search for survivors, following a landslide on Wednesday 18 June 2025. Press Trust of India.

The palanquin bearers were reportedly hit while attempting to cross a debris field left by another landslide earlier in the week, in which another person was killed. Local press reports have suggested that they may have been inexperienced in the role. palanquins were formerly a common way for wealthier pilgrims to reach the Kedarnath Temple, but this has become less popular following the introduction of a helicopter service. However, this helicopter service has been suspended following a crash earlier this pilgrimage season, leading local entrepreneurs to resume palanquin services, often using inexperienced labourers as bearers.

Labourers removing debris from a path leading to the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand following a landslide on Monday 16 June 2025.Press Trust of India.

The landslides appear to have been triggered by heavy rain associated with the annual monsoon. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Africaterphis stefanfoordi: A new species of Small-headed fly from Botswana and South Africa.

The Acroceridae are a small group of unusual-looking Flies with a hump-backed appearance and very small heads, known as Small-headed Flies, or sometimes Humpbacked Flies, or, because they are parasitoids whose larvae develop inside the bodies of Spiders, Spider Flies. There are over 430 known species of Small-headed Flies, divided into eight subfamilies. Sixty five species of Small-headed Flies have been recorded from Africa to date, representing all eight subfamilies.

In a paper published in the journal African Invertebrates on 28 February 2025, John Midgley of the Department of Natural Sciences at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, and the Department of Zoology and Entomology at Rhodes University, and Genevieve Theron of Biosystematics: Entomology, Plant Health and Protection at the South African Agricultural Research Council, present a review of the African Small-headed Fly genus Africaterphis, with the description of a new species.

Two species of Africaterphis have been described to date, Africaterphis acroceroides, which is found in woodland and forests in areas of Southern Africa with a summer rainy season, from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the north, to Eswatini in the south, and Africaterphis gertschi, which is found in the cooler temperate regions of Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces, where it is found in Fynbos and Thicket vegetation.

The new species was identified in a survey of museum specimens, with two female specimens assigned to the species, one from Serowe in Central District, Botswana, and one from Kaapmuiden in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. This new species is named Africaterphis stefanfoordi, in honour of the late Stefan Foord, for his 'contribution to Entomology, Arachnology and Zoology in South Africa, Africa and the World'

Africaterphis stefanfoordi, female specimen. Scale bar is1 mm. Midgley & Theron (2025).

The two known specimens of Africaterphis stefanfoordi are 7.6 and 8.8 mm long, with forewing lengths of 6.1 and 6.8 mm. The head is black, and largely covered by the eyes, which meet above the antennae, which are small and brown. The thorax is rough and covered by short brown fur, The abdomen and legs are largely yellow with brown markings, the wings are almost totally white, with some brown pigmentation at the base.

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Direct imaging of 14 Herculis c by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The planet 14 Herculis c was discovered by the ELODIE Planet Search Survey in 2005, using the radial velocity method, which it was detected by the gravitational effect it has on its host star, 14 Herculis A, as these cause the star to wobble slightly on its axis. 14 Herculis is the outermost of two known planets in the 14 Herculis system, the other being 14 Herculis b. The star 14 Herculis A is a K-type orange dwarf star, slightly smaller than the Sun, 58.4 light years from our Solar System in the constellation of Hercules. The planet 14 Herculis c orbits this star at about 20 AU (i.e. about 20 times the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), with a orbital period of 152.8 years. It is estimated to be about the same size as Jupiter, but much more massive. This is due to the distance at which it orbits its star, which makes it much cooler than Jupiter, making the gasses from which it is made more dense.

Although several subsequent studies have confirmed the existence of 14 Herculis c, the planet had never been directly imaged. This changed in 2025, when the James Webb Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera was trained upon the 14 Herculis system. The Webb study also enabled the direct measurement of the planet's temperature for the first time, showing that it's average surface temperature may be around -3°C.

14 Herculis c. The view is mostly black, with very faint red splotches in the central region of the image. At the center of the image, there is a black circle, and in the center of that, there is a star symbol representing a real star. This black circle blocks the light from the host star. To the lower right of the circle is a fuzzy bright orange circle, which is the exoplanet. NASA/ESA/CSA/STScl/William Balmer/Daniella Bardalez Gagliuffi.

14 Herculis c was imaged at 4.44 microns, an infrared wavelength equivalent to a temperature of -3°C. Although this was the predicted temperature for the exoplanet, it was found to be much dimmer than expected. This is theorized to indicate a much more active atmosphere than predicted, with warmer gas molecules from the planet's interior being brought to the surface rapidly due to internal churning.

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Asio otus: A Long-eared Owl spotted in Abu Dhabi for the first time in over two decades.

Nine species of Owls have been recorded in the United Arab Emirates, although only six of these are considered to by indigenous. Long-eared Owls, Asio otus, are a migratory species found across temperate regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. In the Middle East they have been recorded to breed in northernmost Syria, Israel, Lebanon, and the northwestern part of Iran. They are also occasional visitors to other parts of the region, including the United Arab Emirates, where they are considered to be vagrant and extremely rare. Between 1971 and 2013, there were sixteen recorded sightings of Long-eared Owls in the United Arab Emirates, although the species has not been recorded since.

In a paper published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa on 26 May 2025, Shakeel Ahmed and Sálim Javed of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, report the sighting of a Long-eared Owl in the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi on 1 January 2022.

The 1 January 2022 sighting is the first recording of a Long-eared Owl in Abu Dhabi since October 1999, when another Owl was spotted in the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve. The Owl was spotted at about 6.30 am on the northern part of the reserve. The previous day the area had been hit by a storm, with high winds and heavy rain lasting all day.

An  adult  Long-eared Owl, Asio otus, roosting on a tree in Al Wathba Wetland Reserve. Muhammad Maqsood in Ahmed & Javed (2025).

Long-eared Owls are classified as being of Least Concern under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened species. Nevertheless, the global population of the species is known to be declining, which, among other things, means that sightings on the fringes of the species range are becoming rarer.

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Fragilariforma meireana: A new species of araphid Diatom from Belgium.

Diatoms are single celled algae related to Kelp and Water Moulds. They are encased in silica shells with two valves. During reproduction the cells divide in two, each of which retains one valve of the shell, growing a new opposing valve, which is slightly smaller and fits flush within the older valve. This means that the Diatoms grow smaller with each new generation, until they reach a minimum size, when they undergo a phase of sexual reproduction, giving rise to a new generation of full-sized cells.

In a paper published in the journal PhytoKeys on 9 June 2025, Bart Van de Vijver of the Research Department at Meise Botanic Garden, and the Department of Biology at the University of Antwerp, and David Williams of the Department of Life Sciences at the Natural History Museum, describe a new species of Diatom from a pond on the outskirts of the city of Damme, in the province of West Flanders, Belgium.

The new species was discovered in a pond on the outskirts of Damme while carrying out a biological survey of the region. Diatoms were collected by taking water samples and then centrifuging. A number of different Diatoms were recovered, including Eunotia bilunaris, Aulacoseira italica, Fragilaria campyla, Nitzschia archibaldii, Gomphonema utae, and an unknown species of Fragilariforma, which Van de Vijver and Williams name Fragilariforma meireana, in honour of Patrick Meire of the Department of Biology at the University of Antwerp, who formerly led the ECOBE research group and instigated the Damme biodiversity survey.

Fragilariforma meireana. Light microscope images taken from the holotype material (BR-4867, Damme, Belgium) (A)–(N) Valves in valve face view in decreasing length. The white arrows indicate the rimoportulae. The black arrows indicate anomalies in the striation pattern. (O)–(Q) Three frustules showing internal cells. Scale bars are 10 μm. Van de Vijver & Williams (2025).

Members of the genus Fragilariforma are 'araphid', which is to say elongate and symmetrical without a raphe system (slits on the midline from which mucus is secreted to aid motility). Valves of Fragilariforma meireana are 35–100 μm long and 4–5 μm wide, with no central area and parallel striae throughout the entire valve length, becoming very weakly radiate at the apices. 

Fragilariforma meireana, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images taken from the holotype material (BR-4867, Damme, Belgium). (A) SEM external view of an entire valve. (B) and (C) SEM external detail of two valve apices showing the rimoportulae (white arrows) and the apical pore field. Note the rudimentary spines and the irregular striation pattern on (C). (D) SEM internal detail of a valve apex showing the rimoportula (white arrow). (E) SEM internal view of an entire valve. The rimoportulae are indicated with white arrows. (F) SEM view of the broad valvocopula. Scale bars: are 10 μm in (A), (E) and (F), and 1 μm in (B)–(D). Van de Vijver & Williams (2025).

Some specimens of Fragilariforma meireana have an internal cell, this being large and robust, and filling most of the space between the valves. This is surprising, as such internal structures are unusual in bilaterally symmetrical Diatoms (it is more common in centric Diatoms, i.e. Diatoms with radial symmetry), however it has been seen in some other species, including Eunotia soleirolii, Meridion circulare, and Fragilariforma soleirolii. Internal cells such as these are interpreted to represent a resting phase, enabling the Diatoms to survive periods of adverse conditions, such as droughts or cold winters, although why the Damme specimens were forming them.

Fragilariforma meireana, SEM micrographs taken from the holotype material (BR-4867, Damme, Belgium). (A) SEM view of a complete frustule with the internal cell inserted between the valves. (B) SEM view of the resting spore covered by the valvocopula. At the apices, the valvocopula is well visible. Occasionally, very shallow ridge present on the plain side visible as a thin line. (C) SEM external detail of the valve apex with the valve, internal cell and one detached copula. (D) SEM external side view of the internal cell. Note the ridges on the top. (E) SEM external valve face view of the internal cell surrounded by the valvocopula. Scale bars are 10 μm in (A) and (B), and 1 μm in (C)–(E). Van de Vijver & Williams (2025).

The conditions in the pond from which Fragilariforma meireana was collected were not recorded, although most of the other species found there are known to prefer meso- to eutrophic conditions with moderate to higher electrolyte contents, and neutral to alkaline water. The exception to this is Eunotia bilunaris, which prefers oligotrophic, oligosaprobic conditions, although this species is known to be relatively environmentally tolerant.

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