The Spectator

What is the loneliest life form?

(iStock) 
issue 11 November 2023

I want to be alone

An animal described as ‘Britain’s loneliest sheep’ was ‘rescued’ from the bottom of a cliff in Easter Ross where it had been living for the past two years, presumably after clambering down the steep coastal slope and finding it impossible to climb back up.   Some other lonely life forms:

– All albatrosses live in the southern hemisphere – except one. ‘Albie’, or ‘Albert’, is believed to have made a navigational error in around 2014 and has since been living in Europe, dividing his time between Germany, the Yorkshire coast and the east coast of Scotland, where he tends to hang out with gannets.

– The greater mouse-eared bat was believed to be extinct in Britain – until a solitary member of the species was found to be hibernating in a disused railway tunnel in West Sussex.

– The Tree of Ténéré, an acacia known as the world’s loneliest tree, used to stand in the Sahara Desert in Niger, 250 miles from the nearest tree – until it was run down by a drunk driver in 1973.

Accounting error

The government is to oblige banks to monitor benefit claimants’ accounts and report any suspicious behaviour which might indicate fraud.

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