Animals
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Bizarro Earth

Tourist attacked by Komodo Dragon in Indonesia while taking photographs


Heat Street
Thu, 04 May 2017 06:22 UTC
tourist bitten by komodo dragon indonesia
“This is the first incident of a human being bitten by a Komodo dragon in the past five years"
A tourist is being treated for serious leg injuries after being attacked by a Komodo dragon in Indonesia.

Local media reported that Lon Lee Alle, 50, who is from Singapore, was savaged in West Manggarai on Wednesday morning after ignoring warnings that he should not get too close to the vast reptiles.

According to the head of the nearby Komodo National Park, known only as Mr Sudiyono, Mr Alle had been watching several Komodo dragons devouring pigs and goats which belonged to villagers in the area when he decided to venture closer to them in order to take some pictures.

Mr Sudiyono told The Jakarta Post: "He must have been too close. A Komodo doesn't like to be disturbed when eating."

Komodo dragons can grow up to a maximum of 10ft in length and can weigh as much as 150lb. They have a keen sense of smell and are immensely strong.
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Bizarro Earth

Study finds wild dolphins immune systems 'chronically activated' due to industrial pollution in sea water

Charlotte England
The Independent
Thu, 04 May 2017 15:34 UTC
Dolphins
Dolphins
Wild dolphins have weaker immune systems than captive dolphins because of polluted sea water, a study has found.

Researcher's compared the immune health of four groups of bottlenose dolphins living in aquariums and off the coast of America.

Pollutants in the oceans around Florida and South Carolina were found to be putting a strain on the wild dolphins' immune systems, making it more difficult for the animals to fight off bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites.

Wild dolphins' immune systems appeared to be "chronically activated" as a result of the unhealthy environments they were living in, said the study's lead author Patricia Fair, a research professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.
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Snowflake Cold

Thousands of cattle killed by spring snow storm in Colorado

Janet Oravetz
9news.com
Wed, 03 May 2017 10:27 UTC
A storm that hit southeastern Colorado killed many cattle.
© Gary MelcherA storm that hit southeastern Colorado killed many cattle.
KUSA - The storm system that brought snow to the metro area over the weekend devastated parts of southeastern Colorado.

Farmers and ranchers in Baca and Prowers counties have lost cattle and countless crops due to the spring snow. The Colorado Farm bureau estimates the cattle deaths are into the thousands.

"Everybody is still out just trying to take care of what is alive," said farmer Gary Melcher. "They haven't had a chance to really analyze what the true loss is yet."

Even though the storm has passed ranchers are still trying to find animals that are still alive. Many of them were lost after fences collapsed under the weight of snow. Some of them are stuck, barely able to move through all that snow.
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Attention

Stranded pilot whale found dead on Wassaw Island, Georgia

Mary Landers
Savanna Morning News
Wed, 03 May 2017 09:54 UTC
Pilot whale carcass found on Wassaw Island
© Mary Landers Pilot whale carcass found on Wassaw Island
A group of scientists releasing a loggerhead sea turtle on Wassaw Island on Tuesday discovered the carcass of a pilot whale on the barrier island beach.

The 11-foot-long female whale appeared to have washed up on the previous high tide, said John "Crawfish" Crawford, a marine educator and naturalist with Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant.

Georgia's marine mammal coordinator, Department of Natural Resources biologist Clay George, performed a necrospy, or animal autopsy, on the whale Wednesday with assistance from Savannah State University students.

"This is only the second pilot whale to strand in Georgia in past 10 years," George wrote in an email. "Pilot whales are fairly common offshore, but their habitat is so far from shore that they rarely strand on the Georgia coast. We saw no signs of human causes or disease, but it was thin and had no food in its GI tract, so I suspect it died from natural causes. We'll send tissues to a pathologist, but it will be a couple months until we get results back. The marks on the fluke looked like fresh shark bites to me, which isn't unexpected if the whale was in bad shape prior to death."
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Attention

Hundreds of millions of migrating birds killed in window strikes across America

Carl Bachtel
wkyc.com
Tue, 02 May 2017 19:08 UTC
dead bird
Cemeteries are places people find their final rest. For birds, these green spaces in cities can save their lives.Birders have long known these gardens of stone attract migrating birds, and in downtown Cleveland, it's no different.Birder Ron Greene is visiting Erie Street Cemetery, looking for rarities. "I came in from Chesterland, looking for a yellow breasted chat."He found it. And a Brown Thrasher. And a Northern Waterthrush. And an American Redstart.

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Arrow Down

Alaska murre die-off followed by reproductive failure for survivors

Yereth Rosen
Alaska Dispatch News
Wed, 03 May 2017 18:55 UTC
Common Murre
© Glenn BartleyCommon Murre
The massive die-offs that left Alaska beaches coated with tens of thousands of murre carcasses in 2015 and 2016 also took a big toll on the birds' next generation when survivors failed to breed.

There was a near-total reproduction failure last year at all of the monitored breeding sites in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, federal biologists report.

At about 20 of the rocky outcroppings where common murres nest, lay eggs and hatch chicks, almost no fledglings were found, said Heather Renner, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Murres are black-and-white seabirds related to puffins and auks, are better at diving than flying, and look a bit like penguins. They are plentiful in Alaska's waters, normally numbering about 2.8 million, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Ice Cube

Rare sighting of walrus off Newfoundland, Canada

Maggie Gillis
CBC News
Tue, 02 May 2017 16:32 UTC
Ruby Taylor Peyton spent about half an hour watching this walrus Monday evening in White Cape Harbour.
© Ruby Taylor PeytonRuby Taylor Peyton spent about half an hour watching this walrus Monday evening in White Cape Harbour.
Whales and seals are a common sight in the waters off St. Lunaire-Griquet, at the tip of Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula. Even polar bears show up every now and again, but spotting a walrus was a first for many in the area.

Ruby Taylor Peyton heard the news and headed to the White Cape Harbour area around 6:30 p.m. Monday, where she snapped photos of the marine mammal bobbing in the water.

"Every now and then he'd poke up and just lie back down again," said Taylor Peyton, who had never seen a walrus in the area before.

"Pretty cool."
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Wolf

Boy is mauled by pack of wild dogs in Turkey

Natalie Evans
Mirror
Wed, 03 May 2017 15:46 UTC
He was set upon by a pack of wild dogs
He was set upon by a pack of wild dogs
CCTV captured the harrowing moment a little boy was savaged by a pack of dogs as he went in search of his lost football.

Eymen Deniz Ünlü was mauled by six street dogs after climbing over a fence to retrieve the ball, which had landed in a wooded area behind his home.

The five-year-old was caught on a nearby security camera jumping over the fence of his garden, in Sakarya's Erenler province in Turkey.

Seconds later, half a dozen wild dogs set upon the youngster, dragging him to the ground before repeatedly biting him.

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Cloud Lightning

Farmer and four of his camels killed by lightning in Oman


The National
Tue, 02 May 2017 19:13 UTC
LIGHTNING
An Omani farmer and four of his camels were struck and killed by lightning in central Oman on Tuesday morning during unseasonably stormy weather.

Hamed Al Adhubi, 58, was working on his family's farm in the village of Maadh when he was hit by intermittent lightning. The dead camels were found about 50 metres from his body, witnesses said.

"It was raining heavily for most of the night. It stopped in the morning but there was lightning every now and then," Amjad Mushtaq, a farm labourer who found Al Adhubi's body, told The National. "Part of the farm's fence was burnt and a few of the fruit trees were also felled by lightning."

Stormy weather is uncommon at this time of year in Oman, where heavy rain usually occurs between the months of November and March.
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Attention

Deep-sea oarfish found dead on the shore of Surigao City, Philippines


ABS-CBN News
Tue, 02 May 2017 18:20 UTC
A dead oarfish found on the shores of Surigao City.
© Dhonamars SyA dead oarfish found on the shores of Surigao City.
A dead oarfish was found along the shores of Magallanes Street, Surigao City Tuesday morning.

Agriculturist Mayette Abkilan said the oarfish measures 8-feet long and 1-foot wide.

Abkilan said a fisherman already reported seeing an oarfish that was still alive in the sea. She said residents have already buried the oarfish.

To some, deep-sea creatures such as oarfish that end up in shallow water are a good predictor of earthquakes.

According to Japanese folklore, oarfish are nature's version of prophets of doom.
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