NatHistory: Saving Species - 13 Nov 12: Goliath Grouper/Asiatic Lion/Waxwings




Best of Natural History Radio show

Summary: Reporter Mark Brazil travels to the Gir Forest National Park in India to report on the plight of the last lions in Asia. A sanctuary set up in 1972 and now holds about 400 individuals. The Atlantic Goliath Grouper is a huge, majestic fish only found in significant numbers today off the coast of Florida. At up to 2.5m in lenght, they are outsized only by the few remaining sharks and they are critically endangered across their range due to historical overfishing. Helen Scales meets her first wild goliaths in the company of Dr Sarah Frias-Torres who is studying many aspects of these huge fish including a survey of scuba divers that she hopes will show that a goliath is worth more alive than dead. Paul Stancliffe brings the latest information on the invasion of Waxwings in the UK.