Animals
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Attention

Thousands of birds fill the sky over Adelaide in Australia as they flee oncoming storm

Thousands of birds flee incoming storm in Australia
Thousands of birds flee incoming storm in Australia
Hordes of white birds screeched and flew away from an approaching storm at Andrews Farm, South Australia, on March 25.In the footage, the noisy birds, which appear to be corellas, fill the sky in Adelaide's north.


Source: Storyful

Smoking

Smoking elephant captured on camera lighting up jungle cigarette

Smoking elelphant
© Wildlife Conservation Society / YouTube
Footage purporting to show an elephant smoking is perplexing viewers online. While some domesticated animals have been known to mimic such human behavior, researchers are baffled as to how the pachyderm learned to light up.

In 2016, a group of researchers was visiting and assessing camera-traps in Nagaharole National Park in India when they stumbled across the footage, which was published only recently online.

"In India, the Forest Department burns fire lines to create fire breaks that can help control forest fires," Vinay Kumar, assistant director of the WCSs India Program told Live Science. "And this effort leaves behind wood charcoal on the forest floor." RT.com has contacted Kumar for additional comment.

Fish

Large amount of dead fish wash up on the coast of Oman

dead fish
A large quantity of dead fish washed ashore along the Seeb coastline over the past days.

The Muscat Municipality deployed teams of workers to clean up the beaches, without giving details about the causes which might have killed the fish.

Info

Young gorillas have learnt to dismantle poachers' snares in the wild

Young gorillas
© Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
Days after a poacher's trap killed a young mountain gorilla in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park in 2012, researchers spotted something remarkable: two four-year old gorillas working together to dismantle similar snares in the area.

"This is absolutely the first time that we've seen juveniles doing that ... I don't know of any other reports in the world of juveniles destroying snares," Veronica Vecellio from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Karisoke Research Centre in Rwanda told National Geographic at the time.

"We are the largest database and observer of wild gorillas ... so I would be very surprised if somebody else has seen that."

Thousands of these snares are set up by local bush meat hunters to catch antelopes and other animals for eating, and while they reportedly have no interest in primates, young gorillas are sometimes unintentionally caught up and left to die.

Comment:


See also:
Orangutans know herbal medicine
Rooted in our biology: Revealing insights on behavioral sex differences from our primate cousins
Bonobos observed making wooden spears, daggers and stone shovels like our human ancestors


Wolf

Woman mauled to death by at least one of her pit bull terriers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

PIT BULL ATTACK
A Milwaukee woman was found dead in her near west side home after being mauled to death by at least one of her pet dogs, according to the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office.

Hong Saengsamly, 49, was found by her son about 10 p.m. Saturday in the kitchen of her home in the 500 block of N. 28th St., according to a medical examiner's report.

Saengsamly suffered multiple puncture and blunt force injuries on her arms and shoulders and her death was due to "mauling by dogs," according to the report.


Comment: This was the second instance of a human fatality caused by a family pit bull-type within 2 days, for details of the other, see: Boy killed by family pit bull terrier in Converse, Texas.


Attention

Dead gray whale found off San Diego, California

A dead whale was found off the coast of Black's Beach Monday morning.
© San Diego Fire-Rescue DepartmentA dead whale was found off the coast of Black's Beach Monday morning.
A dead gray whale found in the water west of Black's Beach on Monday morning will be hauled to a landfill, officials said.

Lifeguards spotted the lifeless mammal around 11 a.m., San Diego Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Mónica Muñoz said.

National Marine Fisheries decided that lifeguards could tow the carcass to Fiesta Island, she said. It will be anchored there for the night, then a city crew will haul it to a landfill in the morning.

Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Tricoloured heron and great white egret turn up in Nova Scotia, Canada

The tricoloured heron, sighted this weekend in Sambro Head, N.S., is more commonly found in the southeast United States.
© Jason DainThe tricoloured heron, sighted this weekend in Sambro Head, N.S., is more commonly found in the southeast United States.
Birders in Nova Scotia are flocking to Sambro Head, N.S., after a sighting of two rare birds in a single marsh.

On Saturday, Diane LeBlanc left her home in Portuguese Cove to make her usual rounds of looking for birds. Once she was five minutes from home, she spotted an unusual bird in a marsh in Sambro Head.

"I immediately noticed this very large white bird in the middle of the marsh. Of course, my heart started racing, I got excited. I pulled the car over and saw this beautiful great egret, which is a bird that shouldn't be in Nova Scotia, so it was an exciting bird to see," she said.

The bird is common in the southern United States, according to the National Audubon Society website .


Attention

Mass stranding of 61 dolphins in Argentina, 49 die

According to local authorities, 49 of them died on the coast of the El Doradillo Protected Natural Area while 12 were returned to the sea alive
According to local authorities, 49 of them died on the coast of the El Doradillo Protected Natural Area while 12 were returned to the sea alive
More than 60 dolphins have been found stranded on a popular beach resort - and experts have said killer whales could be responsible.

Sixty-one short-beaked common dolphins were found washed up in Puerto Madryn, an Argentinian city in northern Patagonia.

According to local authorities, 49 of them died on the coast of the El Doradillo Protected Natural Area while 12 were returned to the sea alive.


Comment: This latest event comes just days after a mass stranding of over 150 pilot whales hit Hamelin Bay in Western Australia.


Wolf

Boy killed by family pit bull terrier in Converse, Texas

PIT BULL ATTACK
A 4-year-old boy in Converse was killed following an attack by his family's pet dog Sunday afternoon, officials said.

A Bexar County Sheriff's Office statement said the boy, identified later as Noah Trevino by the Bexar County Medical Examiner, was airlifted to an area hospital in serious life-threatening condition after being found with his neck in the jaws of the large, mixed-breed dog. The incident occurred in the backyard of Trevino's home on the 8900 block of Twincreek Farm.

Sheriff's Sgt. Elizabeth Gonzalez said the family freed Trevino from the dog's hold and began performing CPR until deputies arrived and took over.

Trevino was later pronounced dead at the hospital.


Comment: See also this other report of a similar recent attack: Woman mauled to death by at least one of her pit bull terriers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.


Attention

Dead pilot whale could be species not typically found in Nova Scotia waters

The Marine Animal Response Team says it's believed a pilot whale that washed ashore in Nova Scotia could be a species that's rarely seen in northern waters. se Team
© Marine Animal Response TeamThe Marine Animal Response Team says it's believed a pilot whale that washed ashore in Nova Scotia could be a species that's rarely seen in northern waters.
A pilot whale that washed ashore in Nova Scotia could be a species that's rarely seen in northern waters, the Marine Animal Response Team said Saturday.

Andrew Reid, the team's response co-ordinator, said the 2.7-metre juvenile whale washed ashore outside of Dartmouth, N.S., on the province's eastern shore earlier this month.

Reid said after examining the whale, it was determined that it could be a short-finned pilot whale.

Long-finned pilot whales are common off the coast of Nova Scotia, but short-finned pilot whales tend to favour warmer waters.

"They are more of a southern species," said Reid. "They definitely don't tend to range as far north as Nova Scotia, that we're aware of."

Comment: If it is a short-finned pilot whale that had become completely lost, this would be very interesting in light of the fact that 150 specimens of this specific species recently stranded on the coast of Western Australia. Could it be that something problematic in the environment is causing a drastic impairment in their ability to navigate effectively?

See also: Animal Magnetism: How the magnetic field influences animal navigation

Do solar storms lead to beached whales?

Whales flee from military sonar leading to mass strandings, research shows