Sarmeeli Mallick Odisha TV Sat, 29 Sep 2018 13:16 UTC
A person was killed and two others sustained critical injuries in bear attack in Basudevpur area of Angul district today. Following the incident, locals staged demonstration demanding compensation for the kin of the deceased.
The deceased has been identified as Girish Meher of Bhoipada village.
According to reports, the trio was attacked by the bear while they were collecting mushrooms in a nearby forest. While Meher died on the spot, the two others Prakash Mahakud and Sudam Jal who sustained grievous injuries were rushed to Boudh hospital.
Soon after the incident, locals sat on demonstration demanding compensation for the kin of the deceased.
Till last report came in, officials of the district administration held talks with the locals in order to restore normalcy in the area.
At least half of the world's killer whale populations are doomed to extinction due to toxic and persistent pollution of the oceans, according to a major new study.
Although the poisonous chemicals, PCBs, have been banned for decades, they are still leaking into the seas. They become concentrated up the food chain; as a result, killer whales, the top predators, are the most contaminated animals on the planet. Worse, their fat-rich milk passes on very high doses to their newborn calves.
PCB concentrations found in killer whales can be 100 times safe levels and severely damage reproductive organs, cause cancer and damage the immune system. The new research analysed the prospects for killer whale populations over the next century and found those offshore from industrialised nations could vanish as soon as 30-50 years.
Comment: While pollution is clearly devastating vast swathes of our planet, it's essential we factor in the ongoing climatic shifts to truly understand what's happening to wildlife:
Michael Sasso and Justina Vasquez Tampa Bay Times Fri, 28 Sep 2018 12:22 UTC
North Carolina farming flooding
For Chris Smith, whose North Carolina farm is home to 30,000 chickens and 150 acres of sweet potatoes, the fight to survive Hurricane Florence is not yet over.
As torrential rains from the storm filled local waterways and flooded nearby roads, Smith, one of hundreds of local farmers in a state known for its poultry and hog operations, found himself cut off from supplies, power and any way to move his birds out.
The ferocity of the storm was surprising, according to Smith. "We thought we weren't in a flood-prone area, but we had a pretty good scare," he said. He rationed the feed he had on-hand as best he could, and used 250 gallons of diesel per day to keep his generators running.
Now Smith, who counts himself lucky that his flock survived, is looking to quickly move his chickens to processing plants before the weekend, when more showers are forecast and the nearby Neuse River may flood further. He's not alone. Seeking to minimize deaths from a storm that's already killed millions of animals, farmers are turning to helicopters, boats and heavy trucks to supply farms stranded by flooding and debris.
We have seen a unusually large number of reports of beached bottlenose whales and other deep ocean whales this summer. Scientists have been unable to determine the cause of these deaths. Marine biologists in Norway have also noticed an unusually high number of beached deep ocean whales this summer.
Earlier this week biologists with the North-West Iceland Natural History Museum NNV investigated a bottlenose whale, a 9 m (30 ft) long male, which was found beached near Ytri-Ingveldarstaðir farm in Skagafjörður fjord in N. Iceland. The whale appears to have died relatively recently and washed ashore. Bjarni Jónsson, the director of NNV, told the National Broadcasting Service RÚV that it appears whale beachings are more common this year than in recent years.
Three seperate beachings were reported in the Eastfjords last week, bringing the total number of reported beachings in the region to nine. In many cases the animals in question have been bottlenose whales. Two bottlenose dolphins beached themselves on Engey island outside the Old Harbor in downtown Reykjavík earlier this month. One of those whales was rescued, the other died.
Dead whale washed up at Haxstead's Beach south of Mystery Bay on Friday
A dead whale has washed up on Haxstead's Beach south of Mystery Bay today (Friday, September 28).
As a precaution people are advised not to enter the water in the area of Mystery Bay and Tilba as the whale carcass may have attracted sharks to the area.
The whale looks to be white on the underside and is not fully grown.
For a handful of researchers surveying marine life off British Columbia's coast -- it was a whale of a tale.
This summer, a group of biologists and Canadian Coast Guard members became the first people to report seeing endangered sei whales in Canadian waters in more than half a century.
"This was very exciting because we didn't expect it," said Thomas Doniol-Valcroze, a research biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
"People on my team had never seen them."
The sei whale, one of the fastest marine mammals in the world, is part of the same family as blue and fin whales.
With butterfly migration yet to start in the Pachaimalai and Puliyancholai hills, researchers are citing multiple factors, including the recent floods in Kerala, for this delay in micro fauna movement in the ecologically-sensitive Western and Eastern Ghats.
"In the past five years, I had observed butterfly migration in Pachaimalai and Puliyancholai hills from July onwards. But, this year, even near the end of September, there is no sign of butterflies congregating in both habitats," said Q Ashoka Chakkaravarthy, wildlife conservationist and scholar of environmental science, Tiruchy.
Though Kerala faced nature's fury in August, ecologists are suggesting the floods are among the major factors that have affected the ecology of the Ghats. "Deforestation is going in many places in the State due to widening of roads and other infrastructure projects. In fact, large-scale tree cutting is going between the Thuraiyur and Perambalur areas. This will affect the survival of several organisms."
Roshina Jowaheer Country Living Mon, 24 Sep 2018 20:39 UTC
Small tortoiseshell
The number of the UK's small tortoiseshell butterflies has plummeted this summer despite the record-breaking heatwave.
One of Britain's best-known garden butterflies, the small tortoiseshell, was once common and widespread, but only 23,000 of the insects were counted during this year's three-week Big Butterfly Count, which coincided with the hottest summer on record.
Charity Butterfly Conservation says sightings fell by 32% compared with last year and the population has collapsed by 75% since the 1970s, with growing concerns among scientists for the species' long-term future.
Charles P. Pierce Esquire Wed, 26 Sep 2018 20:12 UTC
Monarch butterflies
On Tuesday evening, outside of what we veteran Beltway newshounds call the Gohmert Side of the Capitol, the Congressional Pollinator Protection Caucus, which is an actual thing, held a bipartisan twilight event that involved the release of 50 monarch butterflies into the darkening sky. One of them alighted on a little boy's shoulder and stayed there for quite a long time. The little boy got his picture taken by everyone. This was a nice moment. As Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio, said, "We should all be able to agree on butterflies."
The CPPC is serious business. Between the destruction of monarch habitats through pesticides, most notably milkweed, and the ongoing mystery of colony collapse among the bees, American agriculture is endangered. At Tuesday night's event, it was made plain that without agriculture, there is no food, and with pollinators, there is no agriculture. In 2017, according to the Center For Biological Diversity, the overwintering population of monarchs dropped by a third.
Every year in the high-altitude lake area of Ozogoche, in eastern Ecuador, hundreds of upland sandpipers (known in Spanish as cuvivíes ) fall dead in the months of September and October. Many theories have hoped to explain this bizarre occurrence in the Andean province of Chimborazo but it's not yet clear why these small greyish birds throw themselves into the freezing cold water of the lakes that are considered sacred by the local indigenous community.
While locals think of it as a supernatural phenomenon thought of as a gift to Mother Earth, researchers are trying to find a scientific explanation. Ornithologist Tatiana Santander has ruled out the possibility that the birds could have a sickness that was making them dive into the lake. "This happens every year, so it's a bit hard to prove that the birds are sick and die this way," Santander told AP.
Another theory says that the sulfuric steam from volcanic lakes is intoxicating the birds, however, no other local species appear to suffer from this. Although she hasn't been able to prove any of the theories, Santander believes the weather has something to do with the mysterious actions of the birds. "We consider that, because of the weather of the place, the strong winds make the birds fall into the lake and they receive a thermal shock that causes their death."
What is truth anyway? The truth is the essence of something, its natural state, something as it really is. It is really a quest for love, because to truly love something we must know it for what it really is. Perhaps we can sense in an unconscious way that there is a deeper truth to everything and everyone, and we are led to search for the truth about it, so that we can truly love it for what it really is.
- Joe Quinn
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Recent Comments
What a mixed up society, when this even has to come up for consideration. Ten years ago this would not have been needed.
Comment: While pollution is clearly devastating vast swathes of our planet, it's essential we factor in the ongoing climatic shifts to truly understand what's happening to wildlife: