Animals
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Blue Planet

A century later, baby tortoises have been discovered thriving on the Galapagos Island of Pinzon


The Hearty Soul
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 07:14 UTC
Tortoises
In the 18th century, an unfortunate incident with stow-away hungry rats from a docking ship led to the depletion of the tortoise population in the Galapagos Island of Pinzon, Ecuador [1]. The species was formerly thriving and basking in their numbers on the island, until the invasion of the rats.

These rodents ate the tortoise eggs and those of other species, disrupting the natural order of the island's ecosystem. Birth rates became so unstable that the tortoises became an endangered species. It was nearly impossible for a baby tortoise to survive out there in the wild.

Rodent infestation, attacks from larger species, and destructive human activities nearly wiped out the baby tortoise population in Pinzon, leading to a 100-year absence from the wild.

Today, more than 500 baby tortoises are thriving in Pinzon, and they were all born and bred in the Island [2]. This wonderful development is a testament to the success of conservation efforts over the decades. The rats were completely cleared out of the island by air-dropped rat poison in 2012, and the tortoise population has been on a steady increase since then.
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Binoculars

Yellow-browed warbler from Asia found in Markleeville, California - first ever record for lower 48 states

Kurt Hildebrand
Record Courier
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 18:39 UTC
The first confirmed sighting of a yellow-browed warbler in the lower 48 was found by Todd Easterla in Markleeville on Oct. 25.
© Todd EasterlaThe first confirmed sighting of a yellow-browed warbler in the lower 48 was found by Todd Easterla in Markleeville on Oct. 25.
People with binoculars and cameras flocked to Markleeville last week after a confirmed sighting of a rare bird near the Alpine County Courthouse.

El Dorado Hills resident and birder Todd Easterla said he was making his rounds looking for birds for his county list when he hit the jackpot.

"I wasn't expecting it," he said. "I went up there hoping to find some water birds, like loons, at the little lakes up there, but I wasn't expecting to find a little passerine, especially one from Siberia."

He said the warbler was his 260th bird that wasn't introduced by humans.

"It was around 4:30 p.m.," he said. "It gets dark up there by 5 and I was panicking because I needed to get a photo of it for the rare birds record committee."
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Attention

North Japan man left blind after suspected bear attack outside home


The Mainichi
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 14:01 UTC
print
A 46-year-old dispatch worker in this northern Japan city was seriously injured in an apparent bear attack outside of his home on Oct. 31, police said.

Among his injuries, the man suffered fractures to bones in his head, and was blinded in both eyes. Akita Prefectural Police's Akita-Higashi Police Station is warning residents to remain vigilant in the wake of the attack.

According to police investigators, the eastern side of the man's home faces a mountain forest. They said the man had arrived home and just stepped off his bicycle when an apparent black animal suddenly emerged from the shadows of where he parked his bike and mauled him.
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Fire

Hundreds of koalas feared dead as lightning sparks wildfire in Australia

Emily Mee
Sky News
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 13:40 UTC
Conservationists fear hundreds of koalas have perished in wildfires
© Rob Griffith/APConservationists fear hundreds of koalas have perished in wildfires that have razed prime habitat on Australia’s east coast.
Hundreds of koalas are feared dead after wildfires ravaged Australia's east coast.

Some 2,000 hectares of land were burned through in the blaze, around two-thirds of which was koala habitat.

The fire was started by a lightning strike on Friday near Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

Sue Ashton, who runs Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, said there was little optimism about the consequences of the fire.

"If we look at a 50% survival rate, that's around 350 koalas and that's absolutely devastating," she said.

"We're hoping it's not as bad as that, but because of the intensity of the fire and the way koalas behave during fire, we're not holding out too much hope."

She said the search for survivors would begin on Thursday.
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Binoculars

King Penguin turns up thousands of kilometers from home at Cape Point Beach, South Africa

Kiernan
2oceansvibe.com
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 12:27 UTC
penguin
© SANParksLost King Penguin
I'm a birder - there I said it - and this is pretty damn exciting.

Yesterday, an email popped into my inbox from the SA Rare Bird News group, or SARBN for short.

The subject line read 'MEGA ALERT', so you knew it was something juicy, but this really is a massive sighting for all the twitchers out there.


Proof of said email, before we carry on:
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Doberman

4-year-old boy fatally mauled by pit bull, mother hospitalized in Hazel Park, Michigan

Frank Witsil
Detroit Free Press
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 11:44 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A 4 year-old Hazel Park boy died Tuesday evening after a vicious attack by a 60-pound, male pit bull that the family was temporarily looking after, police said.

The child's mother had tried to fight the dog off with a knife.

"A preliminary finding appears that this case was a tragic incident," police said in a statement emailed Wednesday to the Free Press. "The Hazel Park Police Department extends its sympathy to the family and friends of the deceased."

It's unclear, Hazel Park Police said, what led to Tuesday's attack, but at about 6:45 p.m., a 14-year-old girl called 911 to frantically alert police that the dog pounced on her brother, and their mom was attempting to stop the animal.

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Attention

First ever dead sperm whale found on Welsh beach - only 2nd record for UK in a century

Ryan Fahey
Daily Mail
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 11:13 UTC
A sperm whale calf (pictured) has washed up on a North Wales beach. The marine mammal is believed to have become stranded at Hell's Mouth in Gwynedd yesterday
A sperm whale calf (pictured) has washed up on a North Wales beach. The marine mammal is believed to have become stranded at Hell's Mouth in Gwynedd yesterday
A sperm whale calf has washed up dead on a Welsh beach, only the second to do so in a century.

The marine mammal is believed to have become stranded at Hell's Mouth in Gwynedd yesterday.

It is the first time a sperm whale has ever washed up on a Welsh beach, and only the second time it has happened anywhere in the UK in over 100 years.

A team from Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) and the Zoological society of London (ZSL) are heading to North Wales to examine the calf, where they will be working with the Marine Environmental Monitoring.

The team have stressed that this is an unusual stranding and will be investigating the calf's cause of death.
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Eye 2

Signs and Portents: Chinese farmer finds two headed snake


Catch News
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 11:34 UTC
two headed snake
Recently, a Chinese farmer was astound after he found a two headed snake in his yard. As per the local reports, the farmer stated that he came across the two headed snake in his home on Monday. The event happened in a village in Hebei province.

The farmer, identified only by his last name Shenzhou stated that he managed to catch the snake and put in on display for others to see it. The two headed snake soon attracted a lot of visitors from in and around the village, all of them waiting with bated breath to catch a glimpse of the rare snake. However, the two headed snake escaped when a kid knocked the pot in which it was captured over.

A clip, posted by People's Daily China, exhibited the two headed reptile moving across the floor.

The clip has cumulated over 21,000 views since it was posted on social media. It has also gathered several reactions, some amazed and others intrigued.
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Bug

Tick-borne encephalitis found in UK for first time


The Guardian
Tue, 29 Oct 2019 09:46 UTC
A handful of infected ticks are believed to have been found in England
© edelmar/Getty ImagesA handful of infected ticks are believed to have been found in England.
A disease that can harm the brain, and which is spread to humans through tick bites, has been identified in the UK for the first time.

Public Health England (PHE) confirmed the presence of the tick-borne encephalitis virus in Thetford Forest, Norfolk, and on the Hampshire-Dorset border.

PHE said it believed a "handful" of infected ticks had been found in both locations, with only one highly probable case of tick-borne encephalitis so far.

The health body said the risk was very low but it was investigating how common ticks with the virus might be.

The small parasitic arachnids are becoming more common in parts of the UK, mainly due to increasing deer numbers. As well as living on deer, ticks can be found on cats, dogs and urban foxes.

Ticks can also live in undergrowth, and latch on to humans when they walk through long grass.
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Question

Nearly two dozen gulls found dead, seriously injured in Port Canaveral, Florida

Greg Pallone
mynews13.com
Mon, 28 Oct 2019 18:05 UTC
dead gulls
Nearly two dozen birds are dead in Brevard County, and we may never know why.

It's a Halloween week mystery that could have come out of a Hitchcock movie.

The team at Melbourne's Wild Florida Rescue got a call late Saturday night while at their annual Halloween party.

The Brevard Sheriff's Office deputies were at a sad scene on Mullet Road in Port Canaveral.

"When we got there we were shocked, there were gulls scattered straight down the road," Heather Pepe with Wild Florida Rescue told Spectrum News 13.

Comment: 3 weeks ago in the same state: More sick Laughing Gulls turn up on Anna Maria Island, Florida

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