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Scientist finds bird couples use their songs as a complex form of communicating with each other

Tarpley Hitt
Miami Herald
Thu, 29 Mar 2018 16:57 UTC
Canebrake wren
© Karla Rivera-CaceresCanebrake wrens are known for their highly coordinated, operatic duets. This adult male wren was photographed mid-song
On a dewy summer morning, Karla Rivera-Cáceres, an ornithology researcher at the University of Miami, crouched in her usual workspace -- the tall grasses of Costa Rica's woodland -- and heard something unusual.

Rivera-Cáceres studies bird song, and that day she was listening to the canebrake wren, a brown bird whose bland appearance (it was once named the "plain wren") belies an unusual and extremely complex call.

Canebrake wrens are songbirds, the subset of species whose calls develop beyond the standard tweet or chirp into full-fledged ballads -- and within that group they are part of a somewhat exclusive club: duetting birds.

When two of these wrens communicate, they weave their songs into an elaborate, Sonny and Cher-style duet. They warble back and forth, literally finishing each other's phrases, with such high coordination that, to an outsider, they sound like a single voice.

But as Rivera-Cáceres sat listening that morning in 2011, she noticed something odd about this pair's effort: their duet was really bad.
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Attention

Baby boy snatched by monkey found dead in Odisha, India

Binita Jaiswal
The Times of India
Sun, 01 Apr 2018 12:55 UTC
The baby’s father, Ramakrushna Nayak lies prostrate before God, praying for safety of his child in Talabasta village of Odisha’s Cuttack district.
© SambadThe baby’s father, Ramakrushna Nayak lies prostrate before God, praying for safety of his child in Talabasta village of Odisha’s Cuttack district.
The body of a 16-day-old boy, who snatched by a monkey from his home in Odisha's Cuttack district, was recovered from a well in the backyard of the house on Sunday morning.

The incident occured in Talabasta village in Banki on Saturday at the residence of Rama Krushna Nayak, boy's father.

The body was sent to Banki Hospital for postmortem to know the exact cause of the death. Police said a woman had gone to the well to fetch water when she spotted baby's body floating in it. She immediately informed other family members after which the body was fished out from the well.
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Bug

Locusts swarm in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions, Western Australia

Michelle Stanley
abc.net.au
Sun, 01 Apr 2018 12:12 UTC
Locusts swarming through Western Australia's Pilbara and Kimberley regions
© cms.ausgeo.bauer-media.net.au.Locusts swarming through Western Australia's Pilbara and Kimberley regions
Locusts swarming through Western Australia's Pilbara and Kimberley regions are costing pastoralists thousands of dollars in lost pasture and control efforts.

The warm and wet summer in the north provided a perfect breeding ground for the yellow-winged locust.

Pastoralists believed locust numbers had not been so high for decades.

Bettini Beef Pastoral Group general manager Mark Bettini said in his 30 years in the Pilbara, the worst locust plague he had seen was in 1998 at De Grey Station, 100 kilometres east of Port Hedland.

"You could not see the tin on the roof for grasshoppers," Mr Bettini said.
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Attention

Dead dolphin found in Harrison County, Mississippi - 28th in the state for 2018 so far

Joyce Philippe
wlox.com
Sun, 01 Apr 2018 12:29 UTC
Twenty-eight dolphins have been found on the beach this year in South Mississippi.
© WLOXTwenty-eight dolphins have been found on the beach this year in South Mississippi.
An adult female dolphin was found dead on the Long Beach and Pass Christian line Sunday afternoon.

This marks the 28th dead dolphin found in South Mississippi in 2018. It's a higher number than usual, according to Eric Pulis from The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies.

He expects to see more appear in the upcoming weeks. "This is dolphin stranding season, it lasts last throughout spring,"said Pulis.

The dolphin sighting was reportedly called in by the public. It later was brought to IMMS for a necropsy.
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Wolf

Video of pit bull terrier attacking residents in Delhi, India

Aadil Ikram Zaki Iqbal
India
Mon, 02 Apr 2018 12:10 UTC
pit bull attack
A pit bull terrier dog attacked residents of Uttam Nagar, leaving three people injured. The attack by a Pit Bull Terrier dog took place on March 28 and was recorded in a CCTV camera. The video of the incident shows a furious dog attacking kids and other people in a lane of Uttam Nagar area.

In the video, the Pit Bull Terrier dog is seen grabbing a kid ferociously. People had to beat the dog for rescuing the kid from its hold. The animal then went after other people and left three people injured including a minor kid. It is not clear whether the dog was a pet.

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Attention

Man attacked by shark off Hawaii after it knocked him off his paddleboard


9news.com.au
Mon, 02 Apr 2018 12:00 UTC
shark
A man has been left in a critical condition after being bumped off his paddleboard by a shark that attacked him in waters off Hawaii's largest island over the weekend.

Hawaii authorities told US television network KHON the 25-year-old was paddleboarding around 9.30am with his father around 100 metres offshore of Kukio Beach when the animal swam up to him and knocked him into the water before biting him.

The man, who is believed to be a resident of the Kukio Golf and Beach Club, was rescued by a private safety team on the secluded beach and treated at the scene before being airlifted to hospital.

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Wolf

Video of pit bull lunging at seven-year-old boy and breaking his wrist in savage attack in Taiwan

Keiran Southern
Daily Mail
Wed, 28 Mar 2018 12:31 UTC
Money, a pit bull pup, is said to have felt threatened by a seven -year-old boy who was throwing treats in his direction in south-western Taiwan
Money, a pit bull pup, is said to have felt threatened by a seven -year-old boy who was throwing treats in his direction in south-western Taiwan
CCTV footage captured the heart-stopping moment a pit bull pup attacked a young boy who tried to feed it biscuits and broke his wrist.

The months-old pit bull mix named Money is believed to have felt threatened when the seven-year-old child who lives next door threw the snack in its direction.

Security video from the alleyway in Kaohsiung City's Hunei District in south-western Taiwan shows the boy trying to back away from the pooch, which continues to charge at him.

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Newspaper

For the first time in 20 years: Turtles return to nest on a Mumbai Beach

Josh Davis
IFLScience
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 13:53 UTC
Mumbai sea turtles
© roxybrownfoxy/shutterstock
For the first time in nearly two decades, a beach in Mumbai - one of the most populated cities in the world - is crawling with tiny baby turtles, proving that life truly does, uh, find a way.

Versova beach stretches along the eastern side of Mumbai, looking out onto the Arabian Sea. While olive ridley turtles are known to nest on other beaches around India, this is the first time in close to 20 years that they have done so in Mumbai, with around 90 hatchlings making their way into the sea.
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Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Trio of great white egrets make rare visit to Newfoundland, Canada


The Southern Gazette
Tue, 27 Mar 2018 14:31 UTC
A trio of great white egrets
© Austin W. ClarkeA trio of great white egrets have been reported in the Lewin's Cove Area
Some rare feathered visitors have caught the attention of bird enthusiasts on the Burin Peninsula in recent days.

Three great egrets have been reported in the Lewin's Cove area.

Egret visits are not unheard of in Newfoundland but they are rare - perhaps just a few each spring and fall, according to Bruce Mactavish, an environmental consultant and avid birdwatcher.

Great egrets are members of the heron family and are known for their all-white plumage.
great egret
Great white egret

Comment: See also this recent report from further south on the Canadian east coast : Wrong place, wrong time: Tricoloured heron and great white egret turn up in Nova Scotia, Canada

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Attention

Rampaging elephant crushes mahout to death during religious festival in Kerala, India

Sara Malm
Daily Mail
Wed, 21 Mar 2018 11:11 UTC
Attack: Two of the 'passengers' manage to flee, but two others are attacked by the elephant
Attack: Two of the 'passengers' manage to flee, but two others are attacked by the elephant
A man has been killed by an elephant at a religious festival in Kerala, India, after the animal suddenly ran rampage during a parade.

Graphic video footage shows the moment the elephant throws four people off its back, and gores and tramples its handler to death.

The angry bull elephant is seen tossing the dead body around on its tusks, before turning on another bull, as crowds of men, women and children flee for their lives.

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