Animals
S


Grey Alien

Another animal mutilation reported in rural Oklahoma


Christian County Headliner News
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 14:00 UTC
Pygmy
© Wikimedia Commons A pygmy goat on a stump.
Ten weeks ago, I wrote a column on a goat mutilation that occurred in rural Montgomery County Kansas on April 3. When I referred back to that column in my files, I also caught a moment of cerebral flatulence I had when writing and proofreading it: I had inadvertently typed in July rather than April.

On June 27, I received a telephone call from the man whose goat had been the victim. It seems that a second mutilation has taken place in the adjoining county to the south across the state line, in rural Nowata County, Oklahoma.

He had already called the gentleman whose yearling heifer had been the victim, explained his own experience with his goat being mutilated, and after receiving directions drove down to talk to him.

It seems that I have an excellent new contact in that area.The grisly discovery was made early on the morning of June 18, when the owner of the 120-acre family farm for three generations, made his regular check of his mixed-breed herd of cattle and saw the heifer down and not moving.

Upon closer inspection, he found the animal was not only dead, but had been the victim of a classic mutilation. He had heard of other such incidents in the area in years past and was familiar with at least the basic scenario.

His heifer, which had appeared to be perfectly healthy the day before, was lying on its right side with its head facing northeast. There was no sign of a struggle or any obvious cause of death such as a bullet hole. The missing parts of the animal had all been removed with clean, almost surgical incisions and there was no trace of blood to be found on or around the carcass.

One element reported in many other such incidents was absent, however; the other cattle in the pasture were basically ignoring the dead heifer, displaying no signs of nervousness around it or having any interest in it whatsoever.

Comment:

The bizarre case of the mutilated cow

US: Cattle Mutilations - Puzzled Farmers Talked to Authorities, Veterinarians and the FBI

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Video: Colorado, US ranch horse mutilation investigated by MUFON's Chuck Zukowski

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Mutilated cows found at Missouri farm, police not ruling out the possibility of aliens

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Fish

Fish shoal filmed on flooded streets of Wuhan, China

CCTV News
You Tube
Thu, 07 Jul 2016 13:03 UTC
Fish seen on flooded streets of central China's Wuhan
Fish seen on flooded streets of central China's Wuhan
Wuhan, the capital city of central China's Hubei Province, is on red alert for more heavy rainfall.

Now, after the torrential downpours overnight, the city has been inundated.

In the latest video showing the current scene of the downtown area, plenty of fish were seen swimming in the flooded streets.

Take a look.

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Red Flag

Covered in ash: Chinstrap penguins threatened by volcanic eruption

Greg Uyeno
Live Science
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 10:01 UTC
chinstrap penguins
© Pete Bucktrout, British Antarctic SurveyVolcanic ash threatens an enormous colony of chinstrap penguins.

The hatcheries of migratory penguins can be magical places, full of fluffy chicks and doting parents. But things are less picturesque when you add volcanic ash to the mix. A volcano on the northernmost island of an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean has been spewing ash and smoke since March, threatening one of the largest colonies of penguins in the world, according to a new study.

Zavodovski Island, one of the South Sandwich Islands, is uninhabited by humans, but it is home to more than 1 million chinstrap penguins, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). BAS researchers found the volcanic eruption via satellite imagery and fishermen from nearby South Georgia were able to photograph ash blowing eastward across the island over penguin-nesting grounds.

"We donꞌt know what impact the ash will have on the penguins," Peter Fretwell, a geographer with the BAS, said in a statement. "If it has been heavy and widespread it may have a serious effect on the population."

Comment: Further reading:

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Cheeseburger

Fast food binges from garbage dumps turning bears into 'couch potatoes'

Andy Coghlan
New Scientist
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
Foraging for rubbish
© Laurent Geslin/NaturePL.comForaging for rubbish

Garbage dumps are turning bears into couch potatoes. A survey of brown bears in north-east Turkey has revealed how visiting a dump has completely changed local bears' lifestyles. Bears that visited the dump became more sedentary, no longer migrating and foraging over the same distance as those that didn't.

"It's surprising that two substantially distinct lifestyles can develop and coexist within a small and isolated subpopulation," says Gabriele Cozzi of the University of Zurich in Switzerland. This is a first for brown bears, he says, although such differences have been found within groups of black bears.

Cozzi and his team radio-tagged 16 bears, then followed their movement for an average of 10 months, and up to 20 months. They found that the 10 "dump bears" - seven males and three females - did not stray far from the dump, except to hibernate during the winter.

By contrast, the six bears - three males and three females - that never visited the dump ventured far and wide. These bears migrated an average of 165 kilometres each year in search of food, especially in the period before hibernation, when they were probably "fattening up".

Comment: Urban Black Bears 'Live Fast, Die Young'

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Attention

Pod of rare whales spotted off the coast of Dunedin, New Zealand


stuff.co.nz
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 15:49 UTC
A rare Shepherd's Beaked Whale spotted from a University of Otago Research vessel In late June.
© University of OtagoA rare Shepherd's Beaked Whale spotted from a University of Otago Research vessel In late June.
A pod of rare whales was spotted off Dunedin's coast - the first such sighting in New Zealand waters.

The Shepherd's Beaked Whales were spotted from a University of Otago Research vessel in late June.

The Shepherd's Beaked Whale, Tasmacetus shepherdii, is one of the least known cetaceans in the world, and was previously known from only nine confirmed sightings in the world of live members of the species, and 55 strandings of dead whales.

Dr Will Rayment, from Otago's Department of Marine Science, led a survey expedition of the submarine canyons off the Otago coast aboard the vessel Polaris II.

"There have previously been no confirmed sightings in New Zealand waters, although New Zealand is the world's stranding hotspot for the species."
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Attention

Shark bites woman multiple times off Melbourne Beach, Florida; 5th recent attack for the area

Chris Bonanno
Florida Today
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 12:45 UTC
Shark attacks
A woman suffered injuries consistent with shark bites Wednesday afternoon in unincorporated Melbourne Beach, according to Brevard County Fire Rescue.

The woman suffered a bite on her buttocks and thigh and a deeper bite on her left hand and wrist area, Chief Mark Schollmeyer said. She also saw the animal.

The unidentified 42-year-old woman is from New Jersey, according to Brevard County Ocean Lifeguard Division chief Eisen Witcher.

The 3:30 p.m. incident took place near 2999 S. Highway A1A about a quarter-mile from a lifeguard tower.

The attack appears to be the fifth confirmed shark bite to take place off Brevard's 72-mile shoreline this year.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning kills 7 buffaloes in India


The Times of India
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:08 UTC
Lightning
Seven buffaloes were killed by lightning strikes in a jungle above Bhanara village of Manali late on Tuesday night, said sources.

However, the owner of the buffaloes got to know about this only on Wednesday morning. Roshal Lal, a resident of Mandi district , said he was sleeping in his tent near the pasture, when the lightning occurred during a thunderstorm.
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Fish

Rare deep sea oarfish found on beach in South Africa


Mossel Bay Avertiser
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 10:49 UTC
Campers at the Hartenbos Caravan Park came across an oarfish on the beach yesterday.
© Rhoda da SilvaCampers at the Hartenbos Caravan Park came across an oarfish on the beach yesterday.
Campers at the Hartenbos Caravan Park came across an oarfish on the beach yesterday.

Antonia Pereira da Silva says it was high tide at around 16:00 when he saw the 1.3m long oarfish coming out with the surf.

Oarfish are large, greatly elongated, pelagic lampriform fish belonging to the small family Regalecidae.

This type of fish is rarely seen.

A marine biologist from Oceans Research in Mossel Bay, Dr Enrico Genarri, urges residents to report any other findings of oarfish in the area.

"It will be best to keep the fish in shallow water. Our team will then tag the fish and release it. This will be crucial for our team to obtain more information about this rare fish."

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Attention

Man critically injured by bear in Kashmir, India; unprecedented surge in attacks reported

Aakash Hassan
Kashmir Life
Thu, 07 Jul 2016 18:30 UTC
Himalayan Black Bear is visible in the lower reaches from spring to autumn and hibernate in winter in Kashmir.
Himalayan Black Bear is visible in the lower reaches from spring to autumn and hibernate in winter in Kashmir.
A bear severely injured a man in Pehru Mattan while he was working in his apple orchard, here in south Kashmir's Islamabad district.

The person identified as Mohideen Beigh from Pehru was shifted to district hospital Islamabad with blood drenched body.

The doctors at the Islamabad hospital after dressing his wounds referred him to Srinagar, terming his condition critical.

Meanwhile, wild life department has rushed a rescue team to the spot where the wild animal was attacked the man.

"We have sent a team there to get hold of the animal," said Wild Life warden Islamabad Mohammad Sadiq.

Pertinently, there has been an unprecedented surge in the cases of bear attacks in Mattan area from last couple of months.

Comment: See also these other recent reports from India: Bear kills man and injures another seven within an hour in India

Sloth bear mauls farmer to death in Telangana, India

Bear mauls 6 people in Odisha, India

Sloth bear kills 3 before being shot dead in India

Read More...
Arrow Down

Mysterious: Turtle eggs not hatching on Australian island

Kacey Deamer
Live Science
Thu, 07 Jul 2016 07:08 UTC
Turtle
© Oregon State University/FlickrA green turtle hatchling heads toward the sea.
There may be such a thing as too many turtles, according to scientists investigating why so few turtle eggs were hatching on Raine Island, located on the tip of Australiaꞌs Great Barrier Reef.

For more than 1,000 years, green sea turtles have nested on Raine Island, where they dig pits to lay and bury their developing eggs. Yet after a millennia of fruitful nesting seasons, the island has recently had a drop in the rate of successful hatches — now less than 30 percent, even in undisturbed nests.

With protective coral along the broad sandy beaches, and no land-based predators, scientists were stumped as to why an otherwise ideal nesting location would have so few baby turtles hatching from eggs and scuttling down to the water.

Comment: Further reading:

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