Animals
S


Fish

Thousands of dead fish without eyes found on beach in Pinetamare, Italy

Belinda Robinson
The Express (UK)
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 18:17 UTC
All of the fish were mullet. But their deaths reman a total mystery
© GettyAll of the fish were mullet. But their deaths reman a total mystery
Stunned residents watched in horror after thousands of dead fish without eyes washed up on a picturesque beach in Italy.

The frightening sight took place at Castel Volturno, in the province of Caserta.

Beachgoers found themselves walking on a carpet of dead fish on Sunday near beach Pinetamare on a beautiful, hot sunny, day.

And, the dead fish were stranded on the shore for at least five hundred meters, from the Royal Residence to the condominiums of Parco delle Rose.

All of the fish were mullet. But their deaths reman a total mystery.
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Attention

Baby injured in raccoon attack inside home in Philadelphia

Jeff Chirico
abc11.com
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 18:26 UTC
Raccoon
Raccoon
Distraught parents said a raccoon attacked their baby girl inside their own home.

Four-month-old Journi Blake Rodgers' injuries are so bad that she's getting treatment at the hospital.

Neighbors were horrified when shown images of the child, bloodied following the attack.

Her family said it happened Wednesday in their first-floor apartment on the 2100 block of North 22nd Street.

"A raccoon dragging an innocent baby off a bed onto the floor," said the child's uncle, Kenny McDuffy. "What was he going to do? Eat her? Kill her?"


Comment: See also: Surge of vicious raccoon attacks on people in the United States

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Binoculars

Rarely seen white morph gyrfalcon from the high Arctic spotted in New Brunswick, Canada

Nathalie Sturgeon
CBC News
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:04 UTC
This gyrfalcon eats seagulls and duck.
© Nora HebertThis gyrfalcon eats seagulls and duck.
A women from Bouctouche got the sighting of a lifetime this week after spotting the largest known falcon in the world.

Nora Hebert found a white morph gyrfalcon at Caissie Cape Wharf near Grande-Digue on Monday.

"He was right beside the road eating his lunch," said Hebert.

She said the bird was spooked when she got out her car, but she was able to snap a few pictures before it flew away.

"Oh my God, I have to get a picture of him," said Hebert, telling the tale to Information Morning Moncton.

The white morph gyrfalcon is a bird with shades of white, gray and dark brown. Their bodies are thick and their tail is long. Females are typically larger than males.
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Question

Bitcoin: Is it nothing but monkey business?


Screeble
Fri, 22 Dec 2017 01:55 UTC
Monkey
© Unknown
A long long time ago, there was this bustling village, on a beautiful Caribbean island, called Dopeyville.

Sure it was far away from the mainlands, away from most of the action, but it still had decent burger joints, coffee cafes not owned by global chains, and you could get tasty homebrew beers in its rough-and-tumble bars. In short, life in Dopeyville was simple, yet great.

What's more, it's got one big claim to fame: The place was well-known for its boatloads of monkeys. Enough monkeys to make them a commodity as common as wheat.

One day, a merchant came to the village. He found an abandoned building - it would take capital to fix, but the walls were firm and the roof only needed a patch. Gutted and redone it, he made it his place.
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Attention

Rare manatees endure another deadly year, with 513 deaths

Jim Waymer
Florida Today
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 19:49 UTC
Manatees endure another deadly year
Manatees endure another deadly year
Thirteen manatees died in unlucky collisions with boats in Brevard County this year, the most to perish that way in the county since 2010.

Statewide, 101 manatees died from boat strikes, 20 percent of this year's 513 manatee deaths. That was a typical percentage of the overall deaths but also the second highest boat-strike manatee death toll on record. Last year, a record 106 manatees died from boat strikes, according to statistics compiled by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

But boats tend to kill only about 1 percent of the manatee population, which some estimates put in the range of 8,000 or more manatees, statewide, boating advocates say. So slowing down their boats with go-slow zones shouldn't be the focus of manatee protections, some boaters assert. State biologists counter that they recover an unknown percentage of the overall manatee carcasses in any given year. Also unknown, they say, is how many of the manatees they find too rotted to tell what killed them had died from boat strikes.
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Attention

Signs and Portents: Kitten born with two faces in South Africa

Kristin Hugo
Newsweek
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 19:35 UTC
Bettie Bee, the two-faced kitten, is eight days old in this picture.
Bettie Bee, the two-faced kitten, is eight days old in this picture.
Like other kittens, Bettie Bee has four paws, one tail and two ears. But in one way, she is an oddity: she has two noses, two mouths and three eyes. She is a rare two-faced cat, or "Janus Cat."

When a house cat in Eastern Cape, South Africa, birthed three kittens, it was clear that one of them was unique. While otherwise apparently normal, this special kitten's double face made it difficult for her to nurse, which meant she was at risk of starving to death. The cat-owner brought the strange kitten to a nearby cat rescuer who is known for taking in special-needs cats.

The rescuer, who wishes to remain anonymous, started tube-feeding the kitten. She wrote in an email to Newsweek that she "can feed either mouth, both are functional, both lead to the stomach." Because so many people wanted to see the kitten, the rescuer started a Facebook page for Bettie Bee with pictures and updates.
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Attention

Killer whale calf is found dead after being blown 25 yards onto land after Storm Caroline on Shetland, Scotland

Phoebe Southworth
Daily Mail
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 19:22 UTC
A killer whale calf is believed to have died in agony after being blown ashore by the ferocious 90mph gales of Storm Caroline
A killer whale calf is believed to have died in agony after being blown ashore by the ferocious 90mph gales of Storm Caroline
A killer whale calf is believed to have died in agony after being blown ashore by the ferocious 90mph gales of Storm Caroline.

Tragic images show the young orca's body on a grassy Shetland shoreline almost three weeks after the storm hit.

The three-metre long whale is thought to have died of dehydration or been crushed by its own body weight after becoming stranded.

It was discovered by a member of the public on the west coast of Shetland's main island at least 25 metres from the shoreline

The orca was probably separated from its mother by the weather, according to the Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary

Hillswick, the island's only wild animal rehabilitation centre, reported the beaching to the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (SMAS) who have carried out a post-mortem.
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Attention

Tiny bits of plastic are found in mussels from the European Arctic to China

Reuters and Shivali Best
Daily Mail
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 19:06 UTC
Tiny bits of plastic are contaminating mussels from the European Arctic to China
Tiny bits of plastic are contaminating mussels from the European Arctic to China, a new study has revealed. Mussels in apparently pristine Arctic waters had most plastic of any tested along the Norwegian coast, according to the researchers (stock image)
Tiny bits of plastic are contaminating mussels from the European Arctic to China, a new study has revealed.

Mussels in apparently pristine Arctic waters had the most plastic of any tested along the Norwegian coast, according to the researchers.

The worrying discovery is a sign of the global spread of ocean pollution that can end up on people's dinner plates.

A study by researchers from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) found that plastic had been found in mussels in Arctic waters.

Amy Lusher, one of the researchers who worked on the study, said that plastics may be getting swept north by ocean currents and winds from Europe and America, ending up swirling around the Arctic Ocean.

Comment: See also: Researchers find first evidence of deep-sea animals ingesting microplastics

Microplastic fibers found in tap water around the world, study reveals

Micro-plastics threaten ocean's ecosystem

Sustainability of fish populations threatened by microplastic particles

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Wolf

Woman dead after being attacked by dog in Phoenix, Arizona

Morgan Tanabe
abc15.com
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 14:09 UTC
canine attack
© Angela Antunes / CC by 2.0
A woman is dead after being attacked by a dog at a boarding facility in central Phoenix Wednesday afternoon.

Officials with Maricopa County Animal Care and Control say the incident happened at Canine Country Club and Feline Inn near 24th and Washington streets around 3:30 p.m.

The 69-year-old victim was taken to the hospital in "very critical condition," an MCACC spokesperson said. However, Phoenix police later confirmed that she has since passed away from her injuries.

The woman suffered injuries that appear to be consistent with dog bites, a police spokesperson said.

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Black Cat

Asiatic cheetahs on the edge of extinction with only 50 left alive

Robin McKie
The Guardian
Sat, 16 Dec 2017 12:56 UTC
A 7-year-old male Asiatic cheetah. The carnivore has disappeared across south and central Asia and is on the brink of extinction
© Vahid Salemi/APA 7-year-old male Asiatic cheetah. The carnivore has disappeared across south and central Asia and is on the brink of extinction
Conservationists have warned that the Asiatic cheetah is on the threshold of extinction following a UN decision to pull funding from conservation efforts to protect it.

Fewer than 50 of the critically endangered carnivores are thought to be left in the wild - all of them in Iran - and scientists fear that without urgent intervention there is little chance of saving one of the planet's most distinctive and graceful hunters.

"Lack of funding means extinction for the Asiatic cheetah, I'm afraid," the Iranian conservationist Jamshid Parchizadeh said. "Iran has already suffered from the loss of the Asiatic lion and the Caspian tiger. Now we are about to see the Asiatic cheetah go extinct as well."

The Asiatic cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, is slightly smaller and paler than its African cousin. It has a fawn-coloured coat with black spots on its head and neck, and distinctive black "tear marks" running from the corner of each eye down the side of its nose.
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