The Parish Magazine February 2024

feature — 2
The Parish Magazine - February 2024 23
What do
polar bears,
hedgehogs,
hippos and
birds share?
Answer:
They are all
celebrated in
February!
Images: Dreamstime
Polar Bears, Iakov Filimonov
Hedgehogs, Lana Langlois
Hippos, Mikhail Blajenov
Birds, Stef Bennett
Hedgehog Day 2 February: The belief that hedgehogs can
predict the coming of Spring dates from the Ancient Romans
who relied on them to determine if Spring was coming soon.
Later, Germans did a similar thing with local badgers, while in
America groundhogs are thought to offer a similar prediction.
Hedgehogs are definitely a gardener's friend, because they
eat beetles, caterpillars, worms and other invertebrates you
might not want and they help to keep crops and plants healthy.
Nest Box Week 14-21 February: Organised by the British
Trust for Ornithology, National Nest Box Week, encourages us
to help the birds by putting up nest boxes.
The main nesting season runs from March to August, but
rather aptly, birds are traditionally thought to be paired up by
St Valentine’s Day, hence Nest Box Week is in February.
As well as feeding birds, the Trust says that it is important
they have suitable shelter and a site for breeding. With trees
and hedgerows being lost to development and the increase in
urban housing, some garden birds can struggle to find a safe
shelter to rear their young, hence providing a nest box in your
garden can be a positive benefit.
World Hippo Day 15 February: Unlike hedgehogs and birds
who live in your garden, the hippopotamus, or ‘river horse,’
lives by the rivers and lakes throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
They can weigh up to 3,600 kg and are the heaviest land
animal after the elephant.
Hippos seek refuge from the heat by living in water during
the day, and going ashore at night to feed on short, soft grasses
and fallen fruit. Their eyes and ears on top of their head keep
watch for enemies — mainly crocodiles — while in the water.
However, like hedgehogs and garden birds, hippos are at risk
from habitat loss, in fact, they are listed as being vulnerable
because of this. World Hippo Day is designed to educate and
encourage people to learn about the threat hippos face, and
how we can all help protect the animals.
World Polar Bear Day 17 February: This date coincides with
polar bear mothers and cubs being snug in their dens, and this
year the focus is on raising funds to help protect them and to
give them the best possible chance of survival. Only about half
of all cubs reach adulthood, with even lower survival rates in
the most vulnerable populations.
The WWF said: ‘While climate change remains the greatest threat
to the polar bear’s survival, that is not all they are up against. The oil and
gas industry is turning its eyes to the Arctic, so there is the potential risk
of habitat destruction from oil exploration work. Oil spills can reduce the
insulating effect of a bear’s fur which means they use more energy to get
warm and it can poison them if eaten. Exposure to toxic chemicals such
as pesticides through their prey, can affect a bear's biological functioning
and ability to reproduce and melting ice from climate change has
increased human-polar bear conflicts when hungry polar bears search
for food in the summer. Fortunately, people are learning to adapt to the
polar bear's presence and take preventative measures to reduce conflict.’