Animals
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Attention

Dead whale found off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates


Bhatkallys
Sat, 17 Jun 2017 11:07 UTC
Dead whale
Dead whale
A 20-metre long whale weighing 30 tonnes was found dead three miles off the coast of Fujairah.

A top official at the Fujairah Municipality said they were notified about the whale by the Fujairah Port Authority. A specialised team from the municipality's environment department then managed to drag the giant whale to the shore using special tools. The official said: "We do not yet know what kind of whale it is, but we do know it belongs to the region and is an endangered species," he said.

The partially decomposed cadaver of the mammoth creature was spotted after a foul smell carried to the coastline. The municipality is working on disposing off the carcass in a safe way with help of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and the Fujairah Department of Public Works.

Experts are yet to find out the cause of death. "We don't know how or why it died. It is decomposed and it seems like it died several days ago," the official said.
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Attention

Dead humpback whale washes ashore at Beavertail State Park, Rhode Island


Bristol Herald Courier
Sat, 17 Jun 2017 10:48 UTC
People view a humpback whale that washed ashore in Jamestown on Friday
© Veronica MunschPeople view a humpback whale that washed ashore in Jamestown on Friday
Officials say a beached humpback whale was found on the shore and declared dead at a state park in Rhode Island.

The Newport Daily News reports that the whale was discovered at Beavertail State Park in Jamestown on Friday.

Dale Wolbrink, a spokesman for the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, told the newspaper Saturday that rescuers arrived Friday afternoon and the whale was pronounced dead.

Wolbrink says the male whale is 9.7 meters in length.

He says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will determine the best course of action to deal with the whale. The animal will stay in the place where it was discovered.

Source: AP
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Fish

Dozens of bathers savaged in a wave of horrific piranha attacks near resorts in Brazil

Janet Tappin Coelho
Daily Mail
Fri, 16 Jun 2017 14:38 UTC
Tourists have complained that local authorities are not doing enough to remind them of the threats of the shoals of predatory fish
Tourists have complained that local authorities are not doing enough to remind them of the threats of the shoals of predatory fish
Bathers in Brazil have been savaged in a wave of horrific attacks by piranhas scavenging for food near popular holiday resorts.

Scores of tourists have complained to local authorities are not doing enough to warn of the threats of shoals of the predatory fish.

Last Saturday a young woman had a chunk of flesh bitten out of the sole of her foot by the omnivorous six-inch red-eye species after swimming off the Praia de Cristo in north east Brazil.

The 22-year-old was rushed to hospital suffering from shock and heavy blood loss from the open wound.

She is the sixth person to be attacked by white piranha in the region this month and one of over forty since the beginning of this year.
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Attention

Second week of June sees more dead fish, cattle and birds around the world


The Big Wobble
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 12:27 UTC
dead fish
© ndtv.com
The Big Wobble's weekly look back at mass animal die off's in diverse places around the world.

On Saturday the Radioagencia Nacional reported 23,000 turtles, sea birds and dolphins have been found dead during past two years along coast of Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Another 2,500 were rescued in poor health conditions and collected for treatment. The main causes of deaths have been the ingestion of garbage and accidents with fishing nets, varying according to species. The biggest victims are the green turtles, the little fox (small migratory seabird), the porpoises and the gray dolphins.

Also on Saturday South China Sea Network reported a massive die off of fish in a fish farm in Lingshui, China.

Experts blame hypoxia.
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Attention

Thousands upon thousands of dead fish, seals, sea lions, dolphins, pelicans and lobsters: Business as usual on planet Earth


The Big Wobble
Sat, 03 Jun 2017 08:57 UTC
dead fish
The Huffington Post reported on Wednesday; Hundreds of dead sea birds and sea lions washing up on beaches in California, America.

Since April, dying marine animals and birds have been washing up en masse on the shores of Southern California's beaches.

The Ventura County Star reported that dozens of sick or dead sea lions had been spotted in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Several other dying or dead animals, including loons, pelicans and even dolphins had also been found.

Elaine Ibarra, who works with the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, told CBS Los Angeles that hundreds of seabirds, including pelicans and loons, have died in Southern California in recent weeks. It's the worst seabird die-off in the area that she's ever seen, she said.

Red tide is thought to be the reason for the deaths...
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Bizarro Earth

It's our home now! Swarm of honeybees take over car in Hull, UK and they don't want to leave

Signe Dean
Science Alert
Thu, 15 Jun 2017 18:43 UTC
Bees takeover car Hull UK
© Hull Daily MailIt's our home now!

The last thing you want to find coming home on a Sunday afternoon is a swarm of some 20,000 bees covering your car. But that's exactly what happened to Shirley Taylor from Hull, UK just this weekend.

The whole block went into involuntary lockdown as the swarm of bees literally took over the bonnet of Taylor's car, and stung several people in the process. But bees are really precious insects, so all they could do was steer clear and call the local beekeepers to the rescue.

Swarming is a seasonal process that honeybees go through when their existing colony becomes too large, and a new queen bee leaves it with a huge group of worker bees in tow. The swarm picks an interim spot to hang out for a few hours and sends out scout bees to look for a suitable new home, typically a tree cavity.

It's a dangerous process for bee swarms to be travelling out in the open in search of a new nest. They can't pack a lunch and have to subsist on whatever honey and nectar they've gobbled down in preparation for the trip - if they don't find a new home in time, the whole swarm can even starve.
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Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Extremely rare Elegant tern from North America turns up in Pagham Harbour, UK


Bognor Regis Observer
Thu, 15 Jun 2017 18:13 UTC
Elegant Tern (above and Sandwich Tern below)
© Baz ScampionElegant Tern (above and Sandwich Tern below)
Thousands of bird watchers have been descending on Pagham Harbour to catch a glimpse of a rare North American visitor.

A single elegant tern has been delighting visitors to Church Norton since it 'terned up' on Saturday.

The elegant tern is a near threatened species and its arrival at the RSPB Nature Reserve is believed to be the first ever sighting in the UK.

So far more than 2,500 people have been to see it.

"Our staff and volunteers have completed a lot of improvement works to tern habitats at the reserve in the last few years," said Roy Newnham, visitor experience officer at the RSPB's Pagham Harbour.

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Eagle

Symbolic? Second bald eagle crashes into Chicago building in 2 weeks

Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas and Elyssa Cherney
Chicago Tribune
Wed, 14 Jun 2017 17:27 UTC
The fallen
The fallen
Wildlife rescuers are hoping for a better outcome for a bald eagle found injured downtown late Monday, the second of two bald eagles found injured near the Lake Michigan shoreline in as many weeks. The first bird died.

A 1-year-old female bald eagle is believed to have flown into the Sofitel Hotel, 20 E. Chestnut St., Monday night. The hotel's general manager said one of his employees called police and Chicago Animal Care and Control to ensure the health of the animal and the safety of hotel guests and staff.

Birds flying into Chicago buildings are common enough that the volunteer group Chicago Bird Collision Monitors was founded in 2003, but the group's director, Annette Prince said she hasn't heard of an eagle striking a city building since that same year.

Tuesday morning, the young eagle was taken to Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation in Barrington, which cares for about 3,400 animals a year - about 2,800 of them birds - said that group's founder, Dawn Keller, who was also surprised by the incident.
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Wolf

Baby attacked by dog in Pueblo, Colorado; 2nd attack within a week


kktv.com
Thu, 15 Jun 2017 17:16 UTC
dog attack
A 1 1/2-year-old baby boy who was attacked by a dog will have surgery Wednesday, according to the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region.

The attack happened just before 6 p.m. Tuesday in the 2400 block of Winnipeg Street in Pueblo.

The Pueblo Police Department, Animal Law Enforcement and Pueblo Animal Services Division all responded to the attack.

According to the father of the boy, his son was in the living room with the family's dog. Someone knocked on the door while the father was in the kitchen. At that time, the father says he heard barking and growling from the dog in the living room.

The dad went into the living room and found the dog attacking his son. He was able to get the boy outside and scream for help. The Humane Society says a neighbor called 911 to help the family.
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Binoculars

Winging it: Ladybugs make complex origami-like folds to stash their wings

Emily Conover
Science News
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 15:30 UTC
ladybugs
© Kazuya Saito 2017WINGING IT Ladybugs fold up their wings when they land. To view that process, scientists replaced part of a ladybug’s red-and-black wing case with a transparent resin.
Those who struggle to fit a vacation wardrobe into a carry-on might learn from ladybugs. The flying beetles neatly fold up their wings when they land, stashing the delicate appendages underneath their protective red and black forewings.

To learn how one species of ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) achieves such efficient packing, scientists needed to see under the bug's spotted exterior. So a team from Japan replaced part of a ladybug's forewing with a transparent bit of resin, to get a first-of-its-kind glimpse of the folding.

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