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Where Australia's sharks go to stay looking sharp

A pampering session at the beauty salon always works wonders for morale ? not just for humans, but also for sharks and manta ray fish. Australian scientists have discovered that these large marine creatures regularly congregate at certain spots on the Great Barrier Reef to be groomed by smaller fish.

Michael McCarthy: A literary spell of warm weather

Spring came last week and so did its first notable event, though not in a flowering, an emerging or a singing, but in a publication: Richard Mabey published his essays. It might still be freezing outside, but getting hold of A Brush With Nature in early March was like being given an unseasonable spell of warm weather in which everything in the natural world suddenly bursts into life.

Dolphin cull film 'lies', says Japan

Pro-whaling officials have reacted angrily to news that a documentary about a gruesome annual dolphin cull in a remote Japanese fishing town has bagged an Academy Award.

Ecologists turn exterminators in the great rat hunt

The world's biggest rat-hunt is being mounted to rid a South Atlantic island of the rodents eating their way through millions of endangered seabirds.

After almost four decades, the elm stages a comeback

Hundreds of schools across Britain are about to start a project that could, one day, lead to the restoration of what was once a defining tree of our open, lowland landscapes: the elm.

The hoof, the whole hoof...Swiss to vote on legal rights for animals

Is fishing as cruel as bullfighting? Antoine Goetschel thinks so. The Swiss lawyer carries the distinction of being the first man in the world to stand up in court on behalf of a dead (and eaten) 22lb pike.

EU nations split on whether to ban trade in tuna

European Union countries are still arguing about introducing a ban on the trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna. Conservationists say that such a ban is the only way to save the over-fished species from extinction.

Wet summers drive five British butterflies close to extinction

Five of Britain's rarest butterflies are on the road to extinction after three sodden summers in a row, the charity Butterfly Conservation reveals today.

Knut should be castrated, say animal activists

Knut may be the first polar bear to have graced the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, but such fame isn't enough to stop animal rights activists from demanding castration for Berlin's ursine celebrity.

London Zoo calls time on park's football fest

It seems like a great idea, cheering on this summer's World Cup on a giant screen in a park with beer galore and 19,999 other roaring fans ? but not if you're a gorilla. Or a lion. Or an anteater. Or a squirrel monkey. Or a penguin or a macaw, for that matter.

Thames Barrier closed again to protect capital

The Thames Barrier was closed for the third time in two days today to protect London from a combination of high tides and swollen rivers following heavy rainfall over the weekend.

Spring is back to normal ? after 15 freak mild years

Spring begins today, Monday 1 March, and it is running about three weeks to a month late compared to recent years.

Bees take flight to the city after fall in rural hive numbers

The buzzing of bees, part of the essence of rural life, may soon become a city sound. A new army of urban beekeepers is being recruited as part of an ambitious project to halt the worrying decline in British honeybees.

The Big Question: Should we be keeping animals such as killer whales in captivity?

Australia calls for an end to whaling

Australia has called for a gradual phasing out of whaling around the world in a proposal submitted to the International Whaling Commission.

Italy's longest river at risk after 'sabotage' at oil depot

Italian officials warned of an ecological disaster as they scrambled to contain an oil spill that reached the the Po river yesterday.

Coral reefs in danger of being destroyed

All of the tropical coral reefs in the world will be disintegrating by the end of the century because of the rising acidity of the oceans caused by a build-up of man-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a study has found.

Coral reefs in danger of being destroyed

Michael McCarthy: Spring is here when this pair are caught necking

Funny what you can see out of the corner of your eye. Shuffling over Hampton Court Bridge across the Thames on Saturday, bowed against the biting wind, and glancing at the water as I cannot prevent myself from doing when crossing any river anywhere, I glimpsed a couple of birds. Long-necked things. Pointy ears. They were great crested grebes.

Not so Dumbo: scientists crack elephant code

You don't have to sit through Dumbo and The Jungle Book to stumble upon a talking elephant: researchers in the US have discovered that the world's largest land mammals already communicate via a highly advanced "secret" language of their own.

Love in a cold climate: A life-long obsession with the Arctic

My fascination started some time in the early 1980s. I'm not quite sure when, but I'm quite sure why.

Australia to take Japan to court over whaling

Japan's Foreign Minister said yesterday that he was disappointed with Australia's threat to take his country to court over its Antarctic whale hunts, while Australia vowed to approach the International Whaling Commission as soon as today.

Unilever drops major palm-oil producer

The household goods giant Unilever has distanced itself from a major palm-oil producer after a BBC documentary filmed its staff clearing protected rainforest to make way for plantations producing the widely-used ingredient. In its second blacklisting of a palm-oil producer in three months, Unilever said it would avoid buying supplies originating from the Indonesian company Duta Palma, ensuring they did not end up in best-selling brands such as Dove soap and Flora margarine.

Pests set to survive cold but their predators suffer

Garden pests are expected to be among the big winners of winter as their predators are killed off by the freezing conditions.

Alien fish invasion divides lake states

A row has blown up between several northern US states about how to block an especially voracious species of non-native fish from entering the Great Lakes and potentially devastating their multi-billion-dollar fishing industry.