Animals
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Attention

Dead whale with balloon-like swelling found on beach in Chile

Julian Robinson
Daily Mail
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 19:37 UTC
Although the whale is about 52ft long, pictures show how an enormous balloon-like swelling dwarfs its entire head
Although the whale is about 52ft long, pictures show how an enormous balloon-like swelling dwarfs its entire head
This is the moment tourists flocked to see a dead whale - despite warnings a huge swelling coming out of its head could explode at any moment.

The giant carcass was discovered washed up on a beach in Pelluhue, in the central Chilean region of Maule.

Although the whale is about 52ft long, pictures show how an enormous balloon-like swelling dwarfs its entire head.

Thought to be a minke whale, the carcass has attracted tourists and scientists - but there are already fears it could explode.

President of the Vets of Wild Fauna Association Betsy Pincheira said: 'The protuberance is caused because of the common decomposition process. It is an accumulation of gas, generally methane.

'I wish people would not approach because this could explode.'

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Bizarro Earth

Yellow fever killing thousands of monkeys in Brazil


Science Daily
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 17:55 UTC
Northern Muriqui monkeys
Northern Muriqui monkeys
Yellow fever, a virus carried by mosquitoes and endemic to Africa and South America, has robbed the private, federally-protected reserve of its brown howlers in an unprecedented wave of death that has swept through the region since late 2016, killing thousands of monkeys.

Karen Strier, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of anthropology, has studied the monkeys of this forest since 1983. She visited the reserve -- her long-term study site near the city of Caratinga -- in the state of Minas Gerais, in January of 2017. "It was just silence, a sense of emptiness," she says. "It was like the energy was sucked out of the universe."

Using what in some cases are decades of historical data, Strier and a team of Brazilian scientists focused on studying primates in Brazil's patchwork Atlantic Forest are poised to help understand and manage what happens next. They have never seen monkeys perish in such numbers, so quickly, from disease.

Comment: See also: Yellow fever outbreak in Brazil worries U.S. officials

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Frog

New striped rain-frog species discovered in Ecuador's cloud forests

Kacey Deamer
Live Science
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 17:34 UTC
Ecuadorian rainfrog
© Jaime Culebras/Colorado State University
Researchers have documented a new 'spectacular-looking' species of frog they've named the Ecuadorian rainfrog (Pristimantis ecuadorensis).
A yellow-green frog with eye-catching stripes that was discovered recently in Ecuador's cloud forests has now been deemed a new species of rain frog, according to a new study.

Across the U.S. and Canada, there are about 110 described frog species. By comparison, Ecuador — which is about the size of Colorado — is home to 570 frog species, and counting, according to the researchers. The latest species discovery in Ecuador came from an expedition that focused on studying a similar, threatened frog called the ornate rain frog (Pristimantis ornatissimus).

Scientists previously thought the ornate rain frog population was a single species.
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Attention

Signs and Portents: Four-legged chicken born in Brazil (VIDEO)


RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 13:47 UTC
four-legged chicken
© RuptlyThe chick was expected to die within hours of being born.
A Brazilian chicken has no shortage of legs to samba dance with after being born with four of the extremities. Despite bleak predictions that the chick would die within hours of being born, it has defied all odds, strutting with pride for ten days so far.

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Attention

Signs and Portents: Two-headed lamb born in Conwy, Wales

Andrew Forgrave
Daily Post
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 12:44 UTC
A lamb was born with two heads amid a rise in cases of Schmallenberg virus
A lamb was born with two heads amid a rise in cases of Schmallenberg virus
Farmers urged to get livestock tested for Schmallenberg virus (SBV), which is on the rise in the UK

Farmers are being warned to test their livestock for a virus that causes birth defects in livestock.

Lambing flocks across the country are experiencing higher than normal losses from deformed lambs, while early calving herds are also yielding calves with congenital defects.

The birth - at a farm in Conwy - comes amid growing concerns about the rise of Schmallenberg virus (SBV). The lamb was put down shortly after birth.
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Wolf

Family dog kills 8-month-old boy in Lusby, Maryland

Jack Pointer
wtop.com
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 11:17 UTC
Dog attack
A family dog fatally mauled an 8-month-old boy in a Lusby, Maryland, home Thursday afternoon.

According to the Calvert County Sheriff's Department, deputies were dispatched to Prancer Court in Lusby after the attack was reported just after 1 p.m.

Deputies arrived within one minute of the initial call, the department said, and saw the dog still attacking the child. They shot the dog to stop the attack and immediately determined that the boy had died.

The attack reportedly occurred while a family friend was watching the child.

An investigation is ongoing, and a news conference with Sheriff Mike Evans is scheduled for noon Friday.

Comment: Other recent reports of serious dog attacks within the last 3 days: Child taken to hospital following dog attack in El Paso County, Colorado

Pit bull in NJ 'viciously' bites 5 people, including child

North Carolina woman critically hurt after being attacked by great danes

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Attention

Signs and Portents: Two-headed calf born in Krabi, Thailand


Phuket Gazette
Sat, 18 Mar 2017 19:04 UTC
The calves were born with two heads, six legs and two tails.
© SanookThe calves were born with two heads, six legs and two tails.
A two-headed calf born in Krabi yesterday has risen to fame after the owner said the animal brought her luck while in the womb, reports Sanook.com.

The conjoined twins were stillborn with two heads, six legs and two tails at the house of Ms Samrong, 47, who resides in Klong Thom district in Krabi.

Ms Samrong said that she had already won prizes in the lottery three times while the calves were in the uterus.

Visitors saw the creature laid out amid flowers, candles and incense. People were already praying to it for the next round of lottery numbers.

Ms Samrong says she plans to have it stuffed, treated with formalin and put in a four sided glass case to be kept at Wat Tru Toey.
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Camera

Confirmed sighting of Night parrot in Western Australia for first time in 100 years

Calla Wahlquist
The Guardian
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 18:47 UTC
This photo of a rare night parrot, thought to be extinct in Western Australia, was captured in the state’s arid inland region by a team of bird enthusiasts.
© Bruce Greatwich This photo of a rare night parrot, thought to be extinct in Western Australia, was captured in the state’s arid inland region by a team of bird enthusiasts.
Birdwatchers 'elated' after snapping photo of the endangered species in state's arid interior in discovery that could significantly impact on mining developments

A night parrot has been photographed in Western Australia, adding another twist to the mysterious history of the species that was presumed extinct until it was rediscovered in Queensland four years ago.

It is the first verified sighting of the bird in WA for almost 100 years and follows a history of unverified sightings, disbelieved reports and futile ecological surveys that rivals the hunt for the (presumably still) extinct Thylacine in Tasmania.

The discovery was made by a group of four friends from Broome who have dedicated the better part of seven years to locating the bird, examining detailed maps, trekking into likely habitats, and spending evenings in the state's arid interior listening for unusual bird calls.
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Wolf

Stray dogs and monkeys turn on residents of Gurugram, India

Piyush Ohrie
Millennium Post
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 18:33 UTC
Dog attack
The citizens of Gurugram are on high alert after incidents of attacks by stray animals in various residential areas of the city took a steep rise.

Already plagued with rising number of strays in the residential areas, now a large number of dog bite cases are being reported from various colonies of the Millennium City.

The dog bites are being coupled with attacks launched by monkeys residing in these areas of the city. The complaints of such attacks have been reported from private residential colonies like DLF township, Sushant Lok, South City, Valley View and several HUDA sectors.

The reports showcases, six such cases of dog bites from Sector 17 area. In the latest incident, a pack of dogs attacked an elderly person in the same sector.
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Wolf

Los Angeles killer pit bulls euthanized...are dog attacks now an epidemic?

Phyllis M Daugherty
City Watch
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 18:33 UTC
PIT BULLS
ANIMAL WATCH-GM Brenda Barnette announced at the LA Animal Services' Commission meeting on March 14, that the two Pit Bulls impounded after the tragic attack which killed Valentin Herrera, 76, and his small dog last month have been euthanized.

Mr. Herrera and his 5-year-old Pomeranian were walking in the 2600 block of Lincoln Park Blvd. near his home on February 2, when two male Pit Bulls which had escaped from a nearby yard grabbed the tiny dog, "shredding his body like a piece of material," according to a neighbor. An eyewitness said that the owner of the Pit Bulls saw the dogs attacking but took no action to stop them.

When he tried to save his best friend, Mr. Herrera was also attacked, suffering severe injuries to his head and arms.

He underwent surgery but remained in a coma and never regained consciousness. According to a statement by a family member on their GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses, "...after about 3 weeks of being in the hospital the doctors have told us that his brain is no longer functioning. The family and I have decided to let him go and rest, because we know he has been through so much."

Mr. Herrera died on February 28, just before a scheduled hearing on the attack by the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services on March 1.
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