Columns - Irish Examiner

Richard Collins

Mary Anning was the fossil princess of Devon

In 2001, the Jurassic Coast of Devon and Dorset joined the Great Barrier Reef, the Galapagos Islands and Skellig Michael on the list of World Heritage Sites. 

Mon, 13 Jun, 2016

‘Bonnie and Clyde’ capybaras still on the run

The Toronto news-media is enjoying itself; two capybaras, which escaped from the local zoo, have become celebrities. 

Mon, 06 Jun, 2016

Seychelles warblers are on the verge of extinction

The ‘slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune’ wear us down eventually but, when it comes to longevity, they’re not the only players. Our body cells have their own agendas; they decide when it’s time “to shuffle off this mortal coil”, writes Richard Collins

Mon, 30 May, 2016

Do animals which pose a threat to people and livestock have to be exterminated?

Brown bears disappeared from Ireland about 4,000 years ago; we don’t know why but it’s unlikely that our Bronze Age ancestors exterminated them. 

Mon, 23 May, 2016

We must protect red pandas

ACCORDING to Sandra Molloy of Dublin Zoo, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has changed the “threat status” of the red panda from vulnerable to endangered.

Mon, 16 May, 2016

Revolutionary petrels in Dublin

A sound sculpture staged at Dublin’s GPO Witness History Visitor Centre is entitled ‘Women of 1916 — Stormy Petrel/Guardeall’, writes Richard Collins

Mon, 09 May, 2016

The survival rate of lapwing chicks is alarmingly low

A farmer, walking his fields at this time of year, might come upon a clutch of four little eggs, their pointed ends arranged neatly together in a scrape on the ground, writes Richard Collins

Fri, 29 Apr, 2016

Long-distance Neolithic immigrant

How did red deer get to the Outer Hebrides and Orkney? Deer swim across rivers but they can’t tackle wide sea channels.

Mon, 18 Apr, 2016

Listen out for the bittern boom

‘A bhunnán bhuí, is é mo léan do luí, is do chnámha sínte tar éis do ghrinn.’

Mon, 11 Apr, 2016

Miniature doves found in the sun

ON JUNE 20, 1631, ‘Barbary’ pirates raided Baltimore, taking 107 men, women, and children into slavery. It was the largest such raid on an Irish or British settlement since Viking times, writes Richard Collins

Mon, 04 Apr, 2016