Animals in the News
by Gregory McNamee
The world’s largest owl, Blakiston’s fish owl, is also one of its rarest. Found in the old-growth or primary forests of the Russian Far East, it preys on salmon, and in that work, the forest is its ally. As a recent study by American and Russian scientists in the journal Oryx reports, these great old-growth forests provide habitat for the owls, including cavities in the huge trees that are large enough to support nesting and breeding birds—no small consideration, pardon the pun, given that they have six-foot wingspans.
The trees help in another way: When, in age or illness, they fall into streams, they create small-scale dams that in turn form microhabitats in the water, increasing stream biodiversity that in turn benefits its inhabitants, including the salmon. Happy salmon, happy owls. The great forests also harbor other owl species, as well as the endangered Amur tiger and Asiatic black bear. All these make good reasons to keep the forest healthy, which again is no small task given the always voracious timber and mining industries. Fortunately, the forest has its advocates, too, in the form of the Wildlife Conservation Society, National Birds of Prey Trust, and the Amur-Ussuri Centre for Avian Diversity, the last the home institution for some of the Russian scientists involved in the study. continue reading…