Animals
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Rare deepwater oarfish washes up on Mexican beach sparking earthquake fears

Tiffany Lo
Daily Star (UK)
Wed, 22 Jul 2020 12:13 UTC
The oarfish measured about 13ft long as Cavalin and friend David held it up for a picture
© CENThe oarfish measured about 13ft long as Cavalin and friend David held it up for a picture
The fish is sometimes known as the "earthquake fish" as it is sometimes coincidentally seen days before earthquakes strike an area. They were famously spotted in Japan just before the deadly Fukushima earthquake in 2011

A giant deepwater eel-like fish which some bizarrely believe is a sign of an impending earthquake has been filmed washing ashore at a Mexican resort.

The 13ft long oarfish was found by aquaculture engineer Fernando Cavalin and his friend David de Zabedrosky in Baja California's Pichilingue Bay in La Paz on Sunday.

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Attention

100-ton dead blue whale found stranded, decomposing in Kupang Bay, Indonesia

Djemi Amnifu
The Jakarta Post
Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:14 UTC
Local flock to Na Batu Kepala Beach in Nunhila subdistrict, Alak district, East Nusa Tenggara, where a 100-ton dead blue whale was found stranded and decaying on Tuesday afternoon.
© Sigiranus Marutho BereLocal flock to Na Batu Kepala Beach in Nunhila subdistrict, Alak district, East Nusa Tenggara, where a 100-ton dead blue whale was found stranded and decaying on Tuesday afternoon.
Fishermen found a 100 ton dead blue whale stranded and decaying in Kupang Bay, specifically on Na Batu Kepala Beach in Nunhila subdistrict, Alak district, East Nusa Tenggara, on Tuesday afternoon.

The blue whale is the largest animal on Earth. The discovery of the 29-meter-long carcass immediately went viral and became a spectacle for thousands of residents of Kupang city and its surrounding areas.

"[We] responded quickly to reports from residents regarding the marine mammal stranded at the beach," Kupang Water Conservation Area Agency (BKKPN) head Ikram Sangadji said on Tuesday.

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Attention

Two killed in elephant attack in Odisha, India


Ommcom News
Mon, 20 Jul 2020 12:20 UTC
elephant
Two persons have been killed in elephant attack near Gailo village under Dhenkanal Sadar Forest range in Odisha.

The deceased have been identified as Phagua Dehury and Siba Dehury of Gunudei village said police.
Phagua and his nephew Siba, who belong to the fishermen community, had gone to river Brahmani yesterday for fishing.

"Two persons of our village Gundeipur have been killed in an elephant attack. One is Phagunath Dehury(55) and other is his nephew Siba(20). They are fishermen and their occupation is fishing. While they were returning home after fishing they were attacked by an elephant leading to their death," said Sarpanch Gundeipur Panchayat Jyotirmayee Lenka.

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Bug

Giant swarm of flying ants spotted from space over UK


Sky News
Sun, 19 Jul 2020 16:48 UTC
Flying ants
A spokesman for the Met Office says there are likely to be "thousands" of insects within the cloud spotted above England's coast.

A 50-mile-wide swarm of flying ants has been making its way over the UK - and it's so huge that it has been spotted from space.

The enormous cloud of insects was picked up by the Met Office's weather radar over Kent and Sussex, on England's southeast coast.

The weather service said smaller swarms could be seen over London.

A video was released by the Met Office, alongside a tweet saying: "It's not raining in London, Kent or Sussex, but our radar says otherwise...

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Attention

Elephant crushes scholar to death in Sri Lanka - 121 people killed in 2019 - "The trend is getting worse"


Macaubusiness.com
Tue, 21 Jul 2020 20:15 UTC
Charging elephant
© GettyCharging elephant
A young university scholar has become the latest victim of a deadly wild elephant attack in Sri Lanka, officials said Monday, after a growing spate of similar incidents across the island nation.

The 32-year-old was returning to her hostel at the University of Jaffna on Sunday when she was trampled.

"She was with another friend who managed to escape the attack," a local police officer told AFP.

"Wildlife authorities have tried to track down the elephant, but with no luck."

She sustained multiple head injuries and died in hospital on Monday, officials added.
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Attention

Dead humpback whale found floating offshore near Montauk, New York - 4th for Long Island since April

Tallor K. Vecsey
The Independent
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 20:00 UTC
The dead whale was about 4.5 miles off Montauk
© Independent/Rob DiGiovanniThe dead whale was about 4.5 miles off Montauk Friday afternoon.
Boaters should be on the lookout for a floating humpback whale caracass in the ocean waters off Montauk.

The dead whale, first discovered Friday morning, is not being removed from the water just yet. The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS) said that due to current conditions in the ocean and the location of the whale, its team has decided the best course of action is to place a location tag on the carcass and track its movements.

AMSEAS will be tracking the data collected from the tag to determine the next steps.

As of Friday afternoon, the whale is 4.5 miles offshore near Montauk. It is fairly decomposed, which would make towing a lengthy and difficult process, AMSEAS said.

No necropsy examination is planned at this time.

Comment: A day earlier on the west coast another dead humpback was discovered on the shoreline of Humboldt County, California:

A humpback whale calf, mouth agape, lies dead on beach about a half mile north of the Mattole River mouth.
© Russ NamitzA humpback whale calf, mouth agape, lies dead on beach about a half mile north of the Mattole River mouth.


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Attention

Shark pulls 10-year-old boy from boat, attacks him off the coast of Tasmania, Australia


whdh.com
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 12:45 UTC
SHARK
A 10-year-old boy is in hospital with injuries to the head and chest after a shark grabbed him from a boat and attacked him off the coast of Tasmania, Australia.

The shark swam away when the boy's father jumped into the water, but the child suffered lacerations across his body, Ambulance Tasmania said on Friday.

He is in stable condition following the incident, which took place off Stanley on Tasmania's northwest coast.

"The boy, from the North-West, was aboard a six-metre vessel on a fishing expedition about five kilometres from shore with his father and two other men when a shark grabbed him from the boat," authorities said.

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Doberman

Toddler killed, 2 adults hurt after attack by family dog in East Providence, Rhode Island


NBC Boston
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 12:05 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
The dog, described as a pit bull-type breed, was injured and was later euthanized, according to police

A toddler was killed and two adults were injured in an attack by the family dog, police in Rhode Island said Friday.

Police responded to an East Providence home at about 2:45 p.m. Thursday for a report of a disturbance and learned that a 15-month-old child had been bitten by a dog, East Providence police said in a Facebook post.

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Attention

Rare beaked whales have mysteriously washed ashore in York and Phippsburg, Maine

Nick Sambides Jr.
Bangor Daily News
Thu, 16 Jul 2020 11:10 UTC
beaked whale
With their dolphin-like noses, beaked whales are among the ocean's most mysterious whale species, and they aren't usually found near Maine. Only four beaked whale sightings have been documented in coastal waters in the past 20 years.

But to the surprise — and alarm — of ocean biologists, two have washed up on Maine shores — one last month in York, a dead 14-foot, 2,200-pound Blainville's beaked whale, and the other in Phippsburg, where a 1,700-pound female Sowerby's beaked whale died after being saved from a mudflat in Atkins Bay on Saturday, the Times Record reported.

It's troubling that no cause of death has been identified in either case, said Lynda Doughty, director of Bath-based Marine Mammals of Maine. There are 22 known species of beaked whales, but sightings are so infrequent that knowledge of them is scant, the Times Record reported.
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Binoculars

Tropical Brown Booby seabird turns up on the coast of Ireland

Philip Bromwell
RTE
Tue, 14 Jul 2020 19:36 UTC
Brown Booby
© Dick Coombes-BirdWatch IrelandBrown Booby
Birders are continuing to flock to Greystones in Co Wicklow after what is believed to be the first ever sighting of a Brown Booby in Ireland.

The large seabird is usually found fishing in tropical waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

It was spotted yesterday afternoon in Greystones and has delighted birders by loitering at the beach today.

Niall Hatch from BirdWatch Ireland said: "It's a species that's supposed to be in the tropical Atlantic, where it's found in the West Indies and the Cape Verde islands.

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