✊ EVERY HUMAN

So delighted with this wonderful review by Jaz 💚

BBC Radio 4 - Tweet of the Day, Jo Wimpenny on the Red Kite Zoologist and writer Jo Wimpenny on a close encounter with a red kite.

‘There were talon marks in the chocolate!’
Recounting when a red kite tried to steal John’s magnum for today’s Tweet of the Day www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

This 👇

“…it should be noted that this book is extremely fun. Wimpenny approaches her subjects (whether maggots, otters, cockroaches or humans) with an openhearted tone that manages to be equal parts playful and informative.”

Love this review - informative and fun is exactly what I wanted!

Sounds idyllic! And I love that you’re not bothered by them - they’re a vital part of your harvest 💚

Wonderful! 👏 And even small triumphs deserve celebration, for they are the building blocks of change.

Thank you! Sadly we, as a species, are losing our connections and fundamental knowledge about nature, and often what replaces that is fear. I am glad that you are helping to educate your guests by not killing all of these assumed ‘pests’!

The world flipped for me yesterday from having no chiffchaffs in it to chiffchaffs suddenly being EVERYWHERE. A joyful sound!

A sneaky peek into some of the beasts in my book 👇 Available now!

The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive

Screenshot from a Reddit post entitled ‘How to stop owls from stealing my hats?’

Tbh this almost makes me want to take up running

Turns out that Oxford is a hot spot for beauty in/of the beasts 🤣 The only reasonable thing is to read them both!

Oh hey, it’s just my new book taking flight into the world - read on to find out why these beautiful beasts deserve so much more from us…

Available today in all good bookshops! And don’t take my word for it - New Scientist picked it as one of the best pop-sci books released this month, woohoo! 🥳

And while it’s still February, I’m going to keep bumping this 🤣

The second #kakapo chick of the #kakapo2026 breeding season hatched this morning: Hine Taumai-A1-2026 on Ako's nest on Te Kākahu. We transferred the egg from Anchor two nights ago. This is Ako's first-ever chick, which is just a few hours old in this video. #conservation #birds #parrots

Same - I’ve missed blue skies so much!

A reminder of one of the loveliest pairs of siblings in the dictionary: ‘muscle’ and ‘mouse’. To the Roman imagination, the flexed biceps of a (typically naked) athlete resembled a rodent scuttling under the skin. ‘Musculus’, in Latin, means ‘little mouse’.

Say no to Palantir in the NHS NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back

notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-tar...

Egg-cellent news! The first California condor eggs of the season have been laid at our wildlife conservation center, and more could be on the way.

BEAUTY OF THE BEASTS | Kirkus Reviews Sharks and mosquitoes get their time in the spotlight in this lively natural history.

‘A charming, entertaining glimpse into the lives of unjustly scorned animals.’

Beauty of the Beasts comes out in the UK on Feb 26th, and in the US on April 28th! 🥳

Pre-orders and shares very welcome!

#booksky #nonfiction @chiffchat.bsky.social

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Let’s pretend - the animal version!

Fascinating new study finds that Kanzi (the superstar bonobo) can play along on a make believe tea-party, keeping track of imagined juice and grapes.

Extremely cool work! 👏 Looking forward to seeing if the same is found in other individuals/species.

Fascinating stuff, Chris! 👏

Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

Extreme weather disasters and climate tipping points aren't in economic models of the impact of climate change on the global economy

The result "is widespread complacency amongst investors and policymakers"

We will all suffer as a consequence

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Will DM you… 🙂

And, incredibly, me! Yes, Beauty of the Beasts is included in New Scientist’s best new popular science books of Feb 2026 🤯 *pinches self*

Looks fantastic!

Veronika has been promoted 😆

Image of book entitled Beauty of the Beasts on a purple background with the text, ‘Rethink the repulsive: Discover the hidden beauty of nature’s most misunderstood animals’

‘Why would anybody write a book about the creatures that people don’t like? That’d never sell.

Well, reader, I did just that…’

Beauty of the Beasts comes out next month! 🥳

Find out more and pre-order here: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beauty-of...

🦈 🐊 🐍 🕷️ 🦟 🐛 🐝 🐀 🪳

@chiffchat.bsky.social

We’re working on a story about how children’s immune systems and microbiomes develop and we want to hear from you. Have you let your kids eat food that was dropped on the ground? 🍭 Argued with grandparents about cleanliness? 🧼 Saw your child do something incredibly gross? 🤢 Call us at 877 4 SCIFRI.

Congratulations Zazie!