Animals
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Red Flag

Angry rhino flips his lid and a car at German safari park


Deutsche Welle
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 19:02 UTC
Kusini the rhinoceros overturns a small vehicle carrying a parkkeeper, who emerged unscathed.
Kusini the rhinoceros overturns a small vehicle carrying a parkkeeper, who emerged unscathed.
The zookeeper emerged from the attack on her small hatchback with only bruises. It's unclear what enraged the 30-year-old rhinoceros.

A rhinoceros at the German safari Serengeti Park attacked an animal keeper in her car, overturning the vehicle three times, the park confirmed Tuesday.

A visitor to the park in Hodenhagen, a municipality in the German state of Lower Saxony, filmed the encounter, in which the 30-year-old rhino bull, named Kusini, slammed his horns and body into the animal keeper's car before rolling it over, as seen in a video published by German daily Bild.

The zookeeper, who was driving a small hatchback painted with stripes, emerged mostly unscathed from the attack, only sustaining a few bruises, Fabrizio Sepe, the manager of the Serengeti Park, told the dpa news agency.

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Attention

Ten melon-headed whales strand on beach in Hawaii


Maui Now
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 18:00 UTC
DEAD WHALES
© Kuʻuleialoha Kalanikau
Tourists staying in the Sugar Beach area woke up to find 10 stranded whales in front of their beachfront condos this morning.

At first glance Canadian Shellie McClinton said she thought it was a human body.

"It was a shock at first,"McClinton said. "It's still so sad to see them like this."

Responding to the sightings this morning, state the Department of Land and Natural Resources taped off the area to keep bystanders at a safe distance. However the whales are a federally protected species, which brings them under the jurisdiction of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Fisheries division.

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Cloud Lightning

20 cows killed by lightning bolt in Spain

Simon Green
Daily Star (UK)
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 11:12 UTC
20 cows were killed by lightning
© CEN20 cows were killed by lightning
This is the distressing moment a farmer discovered his 20 cows dead after they had apparently been struck by lightning - freezing their blood in the process.

The gruesome deaths are thought to have happened during a thunderstorm on the Geras Mountain in the Spanish municipality of Geras de Gordon.

In the clip, the creatures' corpses are seen strewn across the mountain.

The farmer had reportedly rented the whole mountain so the cattle could graze.

But - despite the height at which they were living - neighbours claimed it is uncommon for lightning to strike cattle.

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Binoculars

Tropical seabird seen for the first time ever off Cornwall, UK

Lisa Letcher
Cornwall Live
Wed, 28 Aug 2019 13:31 UTC
Images taken by a bird-watcher in Cornwall show the brown booby fishing off the coast in St Ives.
© Keith JenningsImages taken by a bird-watcher in Cornwall show the brown booby fishing off the coast in St Ives.
The brown booby bird is usually found in tropical oceans and on beaches off the Pacific coast but has been seen at St Ives

'Birders' have flocked to St Ives after sightings of an extremely rare bird that has never been reported before in the UK.

The bird, a brown booby, was spotted for the first time on Tuesday (August 27) at The Island in St Ives.

The bird was captured in these remarkable images by bird-watcher Keith Jennings. He took them as the bird was close inshore off The Island at 7.34am on Tuesday.
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Doberman

Man critically injured during ferocious attack by 2 dogs in Philadelphia - caught on camera


Hawaii News Now
Mon, 26 Aug 2019 19:05 UTC
Man, 57, tackled to ground, critically injured during dog attack in .
Man critically injured during dog attack
Police in Philadelphia say they were forced to fire their guns at two dogs that viciously attacked a 57-year-old man in order to save the victim's life.

Security video from a nearby market shows a 57-year-old man running for his life early Monday morning, before he is tackled to the ground by two dogs, a bullmastiff and a pit bull.
The man was bitten several times on his arms and legs and even dragged like a rag doll.

"He has three dog bites at this time to both arms and his one leg. They say the bites to his arm are very, very severe, down to the bone. That's why officers actually applied a tourniquet because his arms were bleeding that heavily," said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.

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Fish

Russia releases killer whales from captivity


Digital Journal
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 18:15 UTC
Releasing Killer Whale
© STR, AFP/FileThe All-Russian Fisheries and Oceanography Institute has released 10 killer whales since June.
Russian environmentalists celebrated a "huge victory" on Tuesday after the last of a group of killer whales kept in a notorious facility were released into the sea following year-long captivity.

But 75 beluga whales still languished in pens in the so-called "whale jail" in the Russian Far East, and the question remains whether Russia's controversial practise of catching wild marine mammals for the aquarium industry will be banned.

The All-Russian Fisheries and Oceanography Institute, or VNIRO, has released a total of 10 killer whales, or orcas, and 12 of 87 beluga whales since June, sending them on an arduous 1,800-kilometre (1,120 mile) route by truck and boat.

On Tuesday, VNIRO said in a statement that the last two killer whales and six of the belugas had been released into the wild.

"All 10 orcas from the Srednyaya Bay (facility) have been set free," it said.

The fisheries institute earlier said it has prioritised releasing the killer whales over the summer, as belugas are a more resilient Arctic species that can be taken to the ocean in the colder months.

Environmentalists and marine mammal researchers had criticised the way the initial releases were handled.

Greenpeace said the fourth release on Tuesday was more transparent to the public, while demanding that Russia "publish plans for the release of the remaining belugas".
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Attention

Signs and Portents: Mutant cow born with two heads in Argentina

Simon Green
Daily Star (UK)
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 19:47 UTC
The calf could move both its heads independently
© CENThe calf could move both its heads independently
A poor calf born with two heads has been filmed lying on the ground next to its mother moments after being born.

The deformed cow, born at the Los Chimagons Farm near the town of Hilario Ascasubi in the eastern Argentine province of Buenos Aires, is able to move both its heads and can breathe through them as well in the clip.

But tragically, the creature died just 12 hours after birth.

Fernando Dumrauf, the farmer who discovered the animal, said its mum was unable to breastfeed it because "half of the body answered to one head while the other half responded to the other".

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Apple Green

'If you see it, kill it': Spotted lanternfly spreads to 7 US counties

Len Melisurgo
NJ.com
Sun, 25 Aug 2019 20:34 UTC
spotted lantern fly
© Camden County Government
This invasive insect, known as the spotted lanternfly, has begun to spread into more areas of New Jersey than ever before, posing a potential threat to crops and fruit trees.

Remember those exotic-looking insects that some agriculture officials feared would hitch a ride on Christmas trees last winter and expand their turf? Turns out the Christmas tree threat never materialized, but during recent months spotted lanternflies have invaded a few more counties in New Jersey.

The most recent sightings of spotted lanternflies were confirmed this week in Camden County, prompting public officials to urge residents to be on the lookout for those invasive insects in an effort to stop them from destroying crops or fruit trees.

If you do happen to spot one of these bugs at your home, in your yard or on your car, what should you do?

Comment: While some insects numbers are exploding and plaguing areas, an overall collapse in the insect population is also occurring:

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Info

Similar brains but mouse studies don't always tell the right story

Paul Biegler
Cosmos Magazine
Sun, 25 Aug 2019 18:50 UTC
Human Brain
© SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY - ROGER HARRIS/GETTY IMAGES
The most detailed study of its kind has found human brains are remarkably similar to mouse brains. But it also found subtle differences that could explain why many psych drugs that show promise in mouse studies don't work in people.

The outer layer of the human brain, called the cortex, is a bona fide biological marvel, playing a leading role in thinking, talking, remembering, moving limbs and, for good measure, consciousness.

Such superpowers call for serious kit.

Our brain boasts 16 billion neurons, the cells that relay messages, and a supporting cast of 61 billion other cells that provide neurons with scaffolding, insulation, nutrition and protection from disease.

In all, the human cortex is 1000 times bigger than that of the mouse, a species we parted company with 65 million years ago when our last common ancestor is believed to have lived.

Despite that evolutionary gulf, research led by Ed Lein from the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, US, has found that we share a surprising amount of brain architecture with our rodent cousins.
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Attention

14 brown bears filmed near village in Magadan region, Russia - attacks on humans in 2019 'unprecedented'


The Siberian Times
Tue, 20 Aug 2019 12:10 UTC
A collage of two screen grabs shows a pack of 14 brown bears filmed surrounding a truck in Magadan region
A collage of two screen grabs shows a pack of 14 brown bears filmed surrounding a truck in Magadan region
The recording comes as several people get killed and wounded in recent 'worst-ever' bear attacks.

Reports about bears becoming extremely active in searching for food next to towns and villages - and attacking people in the process - come from many areas of Siberia and the Far East of Russia.

This footage with an unusually large group of animals prowling around the village of Takhtoyamsk in Magadan region, on shore of the Sea of Okhotsk, appears to be the most peaceful of all encounters.

But elsewhere this was not the case, and even here it could turn nasty.

Experts say the number of bear attacks on humans this year is 'unprecedented'.

There were three such attacks within the last week, with two men killed in Kamchatka and Khabarovsk region, and a young woman wounded in Chukotka.

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