Animals
S


Cow

Elephant rampages in Indian town, panicking residents


Chicago Tribune
Wed, 10 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Elephant on street
© Tribune news services
A wild elephant rampaged through an east Indian town Wednesday, smashing cars and homes and sending panicked people running before the animal was tranquilized to be returned to the forest.

As the frightened elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorcycles, crowds of people gathered to watch from balconies and rooftops. Some followed from a distance as the elephant moved through the streets.

"The elephant was scared and was trying to go back to the jungle," said Papaiya Sarkar, a 40-year-old homemaker who watched the elephant amble down a street near her home.
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Cow Skull

28-foot-long dead whale found in Ratnagiri, India

Clara Lewis
The Times of India
Thu, 11 Feb 2016 19:42 UTC
whale
A 28 feet long dead whale was washed ashore on the remote rocky coast of Aagari village of Dapoli taluka in Ratnagiri district. The dead whale was spotted on Wednesday night, said N Vasudevan, chief conservator of forests, in charge of marine bio-diversity.

The whale species is yet to be confirmed.

This is the third incident this year when whale have been washed ashore. While the whale at Juhu too was dead and the body washed ashore, at Dapoli, a blue whale that had come close to the shores, was directed back into the sea by local forest officials and villagers. At Juhu the body was buried in the sand.

Vasudevan said the site where the dead whale was found is rocky and difficult to reach. "We have collected tissues to ascertain the cause of the death but will not be able to bury it,'' he said. He said there was also no expertise to conduct a post-mortem.

"The body was highly disintegrated which indicates that it had died in the sea," he said.
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Wolf

Dog touted as 'good with children' kills mother of two in Snug Harbor, North Carolina


13wmaz
Thu, 11 Feb 2016 17:59 UTC
dog attack
A mother of two in Snug Harbor died Wednesday after her dog mauled her inside her home.

Perquimans County Sheriff Eric Tilley said the attack happened around 1 p.m. in the 1200 block of Snug Harbor Road.

Suzanne Story, 36, died just as a medical crew from Norfolk landed to take her to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Story's family told 13News Now she got the female Pit Bull from Virginia about a week ago after she saw an advertisement in a newspaper. The ad said the dog was good with small children.

"I think they had a problem with the dog and didn't know how to handle it, and they were just trying to get rid of it, and they did," said Story's stepfather, Randy Brown. "Found somebody that would take it, and ended up with a death."

Brown added that the people who had the dog gave her to Story at no charge.

"Brought the dog down here, and said that the dog was gentle, it was good with people, good with children, it had never attacked any person," Brown stated. "Why a dog would attack her, I mean, is beyond me, but it had to have been the dog, not her."

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Attention

Number of turtles with body tumors dramatically increasing in Florida

Josh L Davis
IFL Science
Tue, 09 Feb 2016 15:18 UTC
The tumors are thought to be caused by a herpes virus, and can blind the reptiles.
© Peter Bennett & Ursula Keuper-Bennett/Wikimedia The tumors are thought to be caused by a herpes virus, and can blind the reptiles.
Off the coast of Florida, the population of green sea turtles has dramatically rebounded. From fewer than 500 nests recorded on the beaches nearly 30 years ago, last year saw a record 28,000 clutches of eggs laid. But despite this impressive recovery, they now seem to be facing another problem. More and more of the reptiles are being found infected with a potentially deadly disease, which causes tumors to grow all over their bodies.

The disease, known as fibropapillomatosis, is thought to be caused by a herpes virus and is specific to sea turtles. Despite looking harmful, the tumors that develop on the surface are mainly benign, but problems arise when they grow over the turtles' eyes, which prevents them from seeing and therefore feeding. Around 20 years ago, vets at the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys were seeing around eight turtles a month with the tumors, but recently they have seen a massive increase, now seeing around eight a week.
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Attention

Dead sei whale found in Malaysia

Mohd Farhaan Shah
The Star (Malaysia)
Wed, 10 Feb 2016 18:20 UTC
Dead sei whale
Dead sei whale
The dead whale that was found beached at the Sungai Sarang Buaya river mouth is the same one found and rescued in Pontian two days ago.

Johor Fisheries Department director Munir Mohd Nawi said the mammal is from the highly endangered Balaenoptera borealis species.

Widely known as sei whale, it is the third largest of its kind in the whale family.

He said a forensics team from the Turtles and Marine Ecosystem Centre was examining the carcass.
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Attention

Body of minke whale washes up at Sheringham, UK

Alex Hurrell
Eastern Daily Press
Wed, 10 Feb 2016 18:10 UTC
The dead creature, at first thought to be a giant squid, rolling in the surf at Weybourne.
© Sue WebberThe dead creature, at first thought to be a giant squid, rolling in the surf at Weybourne.
The 20ft-long minke whale, first spotted at Salthouse last month, came to rest over a wooden groyne at Sheringham.

North Norfolk District Council chiefs went to investigate this afternoon. A council spokesman said: "We are currently assessing the situation to see whether it is necessary to remove the minke whale carcass before the next high tide or allow tonight's high tide to move the carcass and for nature to take its course."

Chiefs were advising people not to touch the whale or allow dogs to come into contact with it.

The badly-decomposed body, which has been gradually rolling down the coast, came to rest at Weybourne on Tuesday evening.
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Fish

Deep water oarfish caught alive off Japan


Global News
Tue, 09 Feb 2016 14:21 UTC
Oarfish
Oarfish
Japanese fishermen made a rare catch on Monday when they found a huge oarfish in their nets.

The fish will now be housed at an aquarium.

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Attention

Number of unprovoked shark attacks reached record high in 2015


RT
Wed, 10 Feb 2016 14:18 UTC
shark
© Andrea Comas/ Reuters
The number of unprovoked shark attacks reached a record high of 98 in 2015 - a massive jump of 26 from 2014, beating the previous record of 88 from back in 2000.

The US led the way with 59 unprovoked attacks, surpassing its previous high of 53 in 2012 and 2000, according to the International Shark Attack File, which began compiling data 57 years ago.

While the number of attacks increased, the number of fatalities remained on par with previous years, with six fatalities recorded across the globe - two on Reunion Island and single incidents in Australia, New Caledonia, Egypt, and Hawaii.
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Wolf

Dialects found to distinguish wolf species

Richard Farrell
Discovery News
Tue, 09 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
wolves howling
© Time Davis/Corbis
Wolf species have distinctive howling repertoires that function like dialects, finds the biggest study ever done on canid howling.

A research team from the United States, United Kingdom, Spain and India ran more than 2,000 different recorded howls from 13 canid species and subspecies (the canid family includes wolves, jackals, and domestic dogs) through a software algorithm that boiled them down to 21 howl types (depending on pitch and other characteristics).

They found that different wolf species use the howl types in ways that are specific to them. Timber wolves, for example, use a preponderance of low, flat howls, as opposed to higher vocals used by red wolves.

The scientists said their findings could aid in conservation efforts. For example, while most of the vocal dialects they studied were distinct enough between species to prevent confusion, a few were so similar that they could help fuel interbreeding between different species.

Comment: Also see Wolves identify each other by howl

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Health

Bear attacks people on Turkish street

Kara O'Neill
Daily Mirror, UK
Thu, 04 Feb 2016 19:30 UTC
Sedated: Police used a tranquiliser gun to calm the animal
Sedated: Police used a tranquiliser gun to calm the animal
This is the terrifying moment a huge bear was let loose in a city - and started attacking local residents.

The huge creature was spotted by horrified passers-by as it ran through the streets in Turkey. The exact location of the footage is not clear.

The video then takes a dark turn, as the bear grabs hold of one man and drags him to the floor.

Panicked bystanders attempt to help him and are eventually able to drag him away from the angry animal .

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