Earth ChangesS


Magic Wand

Florida, US: 3 million bees found in Miami home


UPI
Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:59 UTC
A Miami beekeeper said he removed the second largest hive he has encountered in his 20-year career -- about 3 million bees -- from a home.

Beekeeper Adrian Valero said he was called to remove the hive after three people in the area were stung by the bees, which residents of the house said had been around for about a year, WSVN-TV, Miami, reported Wednesday.
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Wolf

Capacity for Empathy: Dogs 'can catch human yawns too'


PTI
Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:19 UTC
If you think that yawning is only contagious in humans, you are wrong, for a study has revealed that man's best friend also yawns to empathise with its owner.

Previously, only humans and their close primate relatives were thought to find yawning infectious. Now, a team at London University's Birkbeck College has carried out the study and found that a dog can also catch an attack of the yawns from its master, the 'Biology Letters' journal reported.
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Fish

California, US: Harbor porpoises' deaths a mystery to wildlife experts

Julia Scott
Bay Area News Group
Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:56 UTC
A large number of dead harbor porpoises have been washing up on beaches in San Mateo County and elsewhere in the Bay Area this summer, and marine mammal experts are at a loss to explain what could be killing them.

A total of 24 harbor porpoises "12 males, 9 females, and three still in utero" have been discovered by beachcombers since early June, according to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. More carcasses are likely to show up in August.

"It's the tip of the iceberg. These are open ocean animals. For every one we find dead there are probably many others that are out there," said Mary Jane Schramm, spokeswoman for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.
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Attention

Orkney: Probe into mystery bird illness


BBC News
Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:12 UTC
An investigation is under way after dozens of dead and dying seabirds were found on Orkney.

The birds - greater black-backed gulls - seemed to be suffering from an illness which first made them lethargic and unable to fly, then killed them.
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Bizarro Earth

Colorado: Mountain lion snatches dog from owners' bedroom


KUSA
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:02 UTC
JEFFERSON COUNTY - A family was stunned when a mountain lion entered their home early Monday morning, killed one of their dogs right beside their bed, and carried it off into the night. The dog was a 12-year-old yellow lab named 'Scout.'
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Pharoah

Fires Threaten Several Ancient Sites In Turkey


RedOrbit
Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:32 UTC
On Friday, fires threatened several sites of ancient culture in Istanbul as fire fighters backed by a dozen aircraft struggled to extinguish scattered blazes engulfing woodlands in the coastal tourism province of Antalya.

Fire fighters said up to 4,000 hectares (9,885 acres) of woodlands in Antalya could be destroyed if they are not contained. No deaths or injuries have been reported, but television images showed destroyed houses and fleeing villagers.

Antalya Forest Directorate spokesman Aydogan Turedi said flames were approaching an ancient Greek amphitheatre in Aspendos, 37 km (23 miles) from the Mediterranean resort of Side.
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Fish

Ancient sea turtles jeopardized by poachers, fisheries

Reese Halter
The Calgary Herald
Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:29 UTC
Sea turtles are ancient, but not primitive. Having evolved on land some 200 million years ago, they spend their entire lives at sea except to lay eggs on rugged beaches around the globe.

Leatherback turtles are the largest of the seven seafaring species and they are truly remarkable, most worthy of admiration and in need of protection.

Leatherbacks are Earth's last warm-blooded reptiles and their weight can easily exceed one ton.
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Bizarro Earth

China: Death toll rises in latest Sichuan earthquake


CNN
Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:38 UTC
The death toll from a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck central China's battered Sichuan province climbed to two Wednesday, with another 22 injured, local emergency officials reported. A light, 4.8-magnitude quake rattled the same area on Wednesday.

Sichuan is still recovering from a devastating 7.9-magnitude temblor in May.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of Tuesday's strong quake was about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north-northwest of Guangyuan, near Sichuan's border with neighboring Gansu province.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Tropical Storm Edouard hits Texas coast

Chris Baltimore
Reuters
Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:40 UTC
HOUSTON - Tropical Storm Edouard plowed into a wildlife refuge on the upper Texas coast early on Tuesday, bringing driving rains and peak winds near 65 mph (100 kmh) but leaving key energy installations mostly unscathed.

Edouard, the fifth tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, was just shy of hurricane strength when it came ashore at the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, halfway between High Island and Sabine Pass, forecasters said.

Edouard
©REUTERS/NOAA/Handout.
NOAA satellite image shows Tropical Storm Edouard in the Gulf of Mexico August 4, 2008.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the storm was about 40 miles (65 km) west of Port Arthur, Texas, and about 45 miles miles (70 km) north-northeast of Galveston, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
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Info

'Lost world' of gorillas discovered in the Congo

Priya Shetty
New Scientist
Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:57 UTC
The discovery of a critically endangered gorilla population in the vast forests of northern Congo is a mammoth 125,000 - double that of previous estimates - should make even the most pessimistic conservation biologist smile.

Western lowlands gorillas.
©WCS
Western lowlands gorillas.

The numbers of western lowland gorillas living across 47,000 square kilometres of dense forestland were thought to have plummeted from 100,000 to half that number since the 1980s.

Just last year, the threat from the deadly ebola virus and indiscriminate bushmeat hunters prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to add the apes to their critically endangered list.

The results of the census by the Wildlife Conservation Society and local government researchers were announced today at a meeting of the International Primatological Society in Edinburgh, UK.
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