Animals
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Binoculars

Lone king penguin discovered thousands of kilometres from Antarctica on Australian beach

Phone photos were taken of the King Penguin
© Steve JenkinsPhone photos were taken of the King Penguin
A king penguin has been filmed on a South Australia coastline, raising questions about why the bird is thousands of kilometres away from its usual sub-Antarctic habitat.

Jeff Campbell, the chair of Friends of Shorebirds South East, was part of a group of eight people doing a bird survey along the Coorong beach when they spotted the penguin. 'It came right up to us ... It put its head back and made a braying call, quite loud, then bowed to us,' he said.

There are about 120,000 king penguin pairs on Macquarie Island, which is about halfway between Tasmania and the Antarctic. Experts say the penguin may have got off track looking for somewhere to moult.


Attention

Large, endangered shark washes up on Rhode Island beach

A large porbeagle shark was found dead on a beach in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.
© Atlantic Shark InstituteA large porbeagle shark was found dead on a beach in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.
An endangered shark weighing "several hundred" pounds washed up on a Rhode Island beach Wednesday, giving researchers a rare opportunity to study the species.

The 8-foot, 8-inch female porbeagle appeared on Watch Hill/East Beach when the tide went out, the Atlantic Shark Institute said. It's not clear yet what happened to the shark, and a necropsy is planned in Narragansett.

"While unfortunate, at that size she can provide vital information to researchers and we hope to share more when the necropsy is completed," the institute said.


Doberman

10-year-old girl mauled to death by stray dogs in Uttar Pradesh, India

dog attack
A 10-year-old girl was killed by a pack of stray dogs in Siddharth Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh. The incident has raised concerns about the growing issue of stray dog attacks in the region.

Cops confirmed that the minor identified as Tarannum, daughter of one Abid Ali and a Class 4 student, along with other kids was grazing goats when the stray dogs attacked her. She received over two dozen severe injuries all over her body, including her head.

Village head Vyas Pandey informed that the other children accompanying her managed to escape and raised an alarm, following which villagers reached the spot and rescued Tarannum. He added that the girl was cremated after a post-mortem examination on Thursday morning.

Circle officer (CO) of Itwa, Jairam confirmed the incident and said that police officials reached the village and contacted the girl's father to register a case but her parents refused to file a report.

Attention

Dead whale washes up on Huntington Beach shore in California

A 30-foot dead gray whale was spotted off Huntington Beach on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, likely washed ashore by the storms.
© Eric MeyerA 30-foot dead gray whale was spotted off Huntington Beach on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, likely washed ashore by the storms.
A dead whale washed up on the Huntington Beach shore Thursday.

Authorities said the whale had been decomposing for a while before they arrived. It's unclear how they are going to move the carcass.

It is in the north end of the Beach near the Bolsa Chica Reservoir.


Binoculars

Raptors in freefall: Birds of prey experiencing population collapse across Africa

Secretarybird numbers have fallen by 80 per cent over a period of 30 years.
© GettySecretarybird numbers have fallen by 80 per cent over a period of 30 years.
Large raptors, including many species of eagle, are declining at alarming rates outside of protected areas in Africa, finds a new report.

Populations of 10 species with a body mass of more than 1.3kg have plummeted by 80 per cent over a period of 30 years, with those of another 11 species halving during the same time period.

As a result, the African hawk-eagle, designated as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, should be reclassified as Critically Endangered, while Beaudouin's snake-eagle should go from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered, reports the paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Bateleurs, martial eagles and secretarybirds all suffered 80 per cent declines too.

Wolf

One dead and two wounded in Kenya hyena attack

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Marauding hyenas killed a man and wounded two people near a university outside the Kenyan capital, officials said Tuesday.

Anthony Pasha was dismembered and killed by hyenas while he was collecting firewood at a forest close to his home, according to family members.

"The hyena attacked him and it chased him away from the forest. He left his firewood and then the hyenas dragged him down this stream and finished him off here," said his cousin Kaaji Lesian.

Pasha's brother ran to his rescue after hearing screams from 21-year-old student, Kevin Mwenda, not knowing that his brother was also being attacked.

Bug

A trillion cicadas will descend on the US this spring in rare event

Periodical cicadas belonging to two separate broods, Brood XIII and Brood XIX, will emerge together in a dual emergence event that will see a trillion cicadas buzzing across 16 U.S. states.
Cicada
© Don Cornett via Getty ImagesA Brood X periodical cicada. There are 12 known broods of 17-year cicadas and three broods of 13-year cicadas.
More than a trillion cicadas could emerge throughout the U.S. Midwest and Southeast this spring as the schedules of two separate broods align for the first time since 1803.

Brood XIII and Brood XIX represent two distinct groups of periodical cicadas (Magicicada) that emerge according to 17- and 13-year life cycles, respectively. In a rare natural event that occurs once every 221 years, these two broods will synchronously tunnel through the ground to the surface starting in late April across 16 states.

The event, known as a dual emergence, could potentially lead the two broods to interbreed, experts told The New York Times.

"Under just the right circumstances and with just the right number of individuals cross breeding, you have the possibility of the creation of a new brood set to a new cycle," Floyd Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, told the Times.

Periodical cicadas, which comprise seven species, spend most of their lives underground as nymphs and feed off of sap that oozes from tree roots. After 13 or 17 years starved of daylight (depending on the species), the insects burrow to the surface using their front legs and transform into adults. The males vibrate membranes on the sides of their bodies to produce a song — potentially louder than a plane in a chorus — that attracts mates, according to The New York Times. Once a pair has finished mating, the females cut slits in tree branches to lay their eggs in.

Doberman

Grandmother mauled to death by two 'XL Bullys' in Essex, UK

Esther Martin, 68 (pictured) from Woodford Green, London - had previously told the dogs' owner that they were dangerous
Esther Martin, 68 (pictured) from Woodford Green, London - had previously told the dogs' owner that they were dangerous
A woman who was savagely mauled to death by two suspected XL Bully dogs last night was a grandmother visiting her grandson, MailOnline can reveal.

Essex Police officers were called to a property at Jaywick Sands, near Clacton-on-Sea, at around 4pm yesterday, where they found a woman who was seriously injured.

Officers believe she was attacked by two dogs, and the animals were later destroyed.

The police said the breeds are yet to be determined, but the family have claimed they were XL Bully dogs.

The woman died at the scene, and Essex Police said it was trying to establish the circumstances which led to the incident.


Doberman

Pack of dogs euthanized after man dies in Fort Hall, Idaho

dog attack
A pack of dogs was euthanized after a man was found dead in the Gibson District of the Fort Hall Reservation Wednesday.

Bingham County Coroner Jimmy Roberts identified the man as 19-year-old Carlon Galloway.

While Roberts confirmed the man was attacked by the dogs, the official cause of death is under investigation. Circumstances surrounding the attack have not been released.

Roberts said the Shoshone Bannock Tribes Fish and Game Department euthanized several dogs on the scene.

"This is an isolated incident and there is currently no danger to the public," said Echo Marshall, a spokeswoman for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

The man's death comes one year after a 7-year-old was mauled to death by a pack of dogs in Fort Hall. The owners of the dogs were cited and the animals were euthanized.

The FBI is investigating Wednesday's incident.

Doberman

Man dies after being mauled by dogs in Detroit

dog attack
A Detroit father who was mauled by three dogs earlier this week has died, his family said.

According to an update on the family's GoFundMe page, Harold Phillips died Friday evening.

Phillips was heading home from a bus stop near the corner of Longacre Street and W. Chicago Road when he was attacked. Due to the extent of his injuries, Phillips had his arm amputated.

City officials say the incident was preventable as the dogs' owner did not follow the city's ordinance and failed to secure them. The three dogs that attacked Phillips have been euthanized, and the owner received a total of $5,000 in fines.

On Thursday, Phillips' family announced that they were suing the city of Detroit and the dogs' owner.