Animals
S

Attention

Whale carcass washes up on beach in Lincolnshire, UK

Image
Six team members from the Mablethorpe Coastguard were called out after the carcass was first spotted.
A warning has been issued to the public not to approach a dead whale which has washed up on a Lincolnshire beach.

Coastal experts have confirmed that the large brown carcass spotted on the beach at Huttoft is a whale, but cannot yet identify which species it is.

However they have warned that the carcass could leak bodily fluids which are harmful to dogs.

A maritime operations officer for the east coast and Humber, said: "The local [coastguard] team has been out to the whale.

Smiley

Sporty deer scores the goal!

You gotta see this to believe it.

Deer Scores
© Screen Capture Youtube

A sporty deer stole the attention of kids' soccer fans when he showed up out of the blue and ran onto the field. In the middle of the video you can actually see him score, amusing the little players and their parents who came see the game, but got a brush with wildlife as a bonus.

Attention

Man survives black bear attack in Eastpoint, Florida

Image
FWC investigating bear attack in Eastpoint, Franklin County
It wasn't an ordinary day at the Sportsman's Lodge and Hotel.

Charlie Griffin came face to face with a bear after checking the dumpster Friday.

"I done this and a bear came out of there, I couldn't get away from him," said Griffin.

He says the 400 pound bear popped out of the dumpster and ran him down.

"And the bear caught me right around here," as Griffin point's out the spot.

Slashed by the bear on the arm, Charlie ran leaving bloody prints.

"I was heading back this way, and I slipped right here fell down here. and after I fell down the bear went back that way," said Griffin as he points where he fell behind the truck.

Attention

Woman nearly killed in kangaroo attack near Adelaide, Australia

Image
© Dean MartinMargaret Acton was attacked and badly injured by a kangaroo while walking her dog "Jess" on the family property in the Adelaide Hills.
Margaret Acton can still remember the blows raining down on her body.

Her towering attacker showed no hesitation as he struck and scratched violently at her head, face, upper body and legs dozens of times.

But Mrs Acton's attacker wasn't an intruder in her home. Astonishingly, it was a two-metre tall kangaroo that lives in scrubland on her Adelaide Hills property.

When the blows from the huge male marsupial finally stopped โ€” only after her dog Jess intervened โ€” Mrs Acton could feel the warm blood gushing down her face and neck as it flowed freely from shocking wounds that had opened up her scalp.

Butterfly

Flamingos migrating to Caspian Sea in mortal danger - lost in Siberia

Flamingos siberia
© Anuruddha / Reuters Greater Flamingos land at Bundala National Park, Hambantota, Sri Lanka.
A video posted online of a group of flamingos stranded in Western Siberia is raising concerns that the birds will die without human help.

Russian social media VKontakte user Pavel Shaposhnikov posted the video on his page with the caption: "I'm shocked! Watched a flock of flamingos on River Tom! 25.10.2015 in the Kemerovo region."


The average temperature in the Kemerovo region at this time of year is near zero degrees Celsius, and drops lower at night.

The birds have likely lost their way while migrating from Kazakhstan. This has happened before: the first such case of lost flamingos dates back to 1907 in the region's records.

Nikolay Skalon, a professor in the zoology and ecology department of Kemerovo State University, told Russian media that "younger birds lose their way because of changing weather when the autumn storms start," and added that they can only survive with human help.

Normally, the flamingos that spend the summers in Kazakhstan are meant to fly toward the Caspian sea for winter.

Temperatures in Kemerovo are set to drop to -10 degrees Celsius toward the end of the week - too cold for the pink birds, who are used to tropical and subtropical climes.

Comment: More animal strangeness.


Eye 2

Alligator killed swimmer in Blue Spring, Florida; medical examiner confirms

Image
Florida Fish and Wildlife officials fatally shot a 12-foot alligator that was found near a swimmer's dead body
Families were back in the clear waters of Blue Spring State Park on Wednesday, tubing and swimming down the narrow run that becomes packed with manatees every winter.

Park visitors said they weren't deterred by what the Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Wednesday was the first fatality from an alligator attack since 2007.

Jennifer Burroughs, 30, visiting with her family from Melbourne, said the news scared her at first. But she had already booked a cabin and spent money to make the visit happen.

"We booked it, we're doing it, we're committed," she said as she was loading her small children into an inflatable ring. "I feel like I'm going to be on the lookout now. I know what happened, so I'm going to be looking out."

Questions into the specific circumstances of 61-year-old James Okkerse's death linger as officials remained closed-mouthed about what park officials did or did not do leading up to the tragedy. The day before, visitors reported two sightings of the 12-foot alligator linked to his death. The alligator was later shot and killed.


Comment: See also: Alligator rips off woman's arm near Wekiva Island, Florida

Father, grandfather rescue boy from alligator attack at Lake Charlotte, Texas

Alligator kills man swimming at marina in Orange, Texas


Fish

Thousands of dead fish turn up in Lake Ivanhoe, Florida

Image
Thousands of fish were found dead in Lake Ivanhoe in Orlando, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officials are working to figure out how thousands of fish turned up dead at Orlando's Lake Ivanhoe.

Frank Hilgenberg, who lives near the lake, reached out to us, concerned about what he saw Thursday morning.

"I could smell it when I walked around the corner, because I'm upwind, and I thought, 'Hmm,'" Hilgenberg said. "I saw guys digging around, and as I got closer I realized there's, like, eight or 10 of them, and they're all netting out, unfortunately, the dead fish."

Officials from the city of Orlando and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they are working to determine what killed the fish.

Bug

Bridge crawling with thousands of spiders in Columbus, Ohio

Image
© Doral Chenoweth III/The Columbus Dispatch This Oct. 19, 2015 photo shows one of the thousands of spiders that are living on the new Main Street bridge over the Scioto River in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State University entomologist David Shetlar estimated that up to 5,000 spiders live there.
The Main Street bridge is crawling with spiders.

Crawling. With. Spiders.

But this is no Halloween tale. The $60 million bridge that spans the Scioto River and connects Downtown to Franklinton really is infested with thousands of orb weavers spinning intricate webs up and down the hand and guardrails.

If you pay close attention during the day, you can see the sun playing off the silk strands woven round and round on nearly every open span on the steel structure.

But at night, you can really see the webs, snagging thousands of flying insects that live in and around the river. (You can tell how successful the hunters are at night by all the repair work being done during daylight.)


Question

Dead birds wash up on beach in Tiny Township, Ontario

Image
© Brandon Rowe / CTV NewsSeveral dead birds washed up on the shore of Ardmore Beach in Tiny Township on Friday October 23, 2015.
An investigation is underway to figure out why a large number of dead birds have washed up on beaches in Tiny Township.

It's not uncommon to see ducks wash up on the beaches but on Thursday Tiny Township workers counted 66 dead birds.

"We find ourselves back here this year with another large amount of dead water fowl on the beach," says Tiny Township Mayor George Cornell.

The last major occurrence of dead birds was in 2011. On Friday workers removed 12 more ducks from the beach.

Attention

Signs and Portents: Missouri family finds a two-headed snake

Image
A two-headed snake
At first glance, you might do a double take. That's because it's a double snake...sort of, anyway. A Missouri family found a two-headed snake, and kept it as a pet, reports television station WDAF.

The Simpson family recently moved out to the country so their kids could experience nature. But they probably didn't expect to find what was slithering near their new home.

"I hadn't seen one before," said Azure Simpson, whose 3-year-old daughter found the rare snake. "But it was so tiny I guess it didn't really take me back too much."

Simpson decided to let her kids keep the snake for now. And while her kids are loving it, the family really did the snake a favor. Researchers say two-headed snakes usually don't last long in the wild.



Comment: 2015 does seems to be the year of the two-headed animal and of other freak critters. Check out the following list -

Signs and Portents: Lizard with 3 tails found in Kosovo

Signs and Portents: Weird mutant buffalo born in Thailand

Signs and Portents: Two-headed turtle hatched in China

Signs and Portents: Two-headed piglet found abandoned outside Buddhist temple in China

Signs and Portents: Two-headed calf found in dead cow's womb, Paraguay

Signs and Portents: Two-headed calf born in Peru

Signs and Portents: Two-headed sea slug found in Malaysian waters

Signs and Portents: Two-headed snake born in Chinese zoo

Signs and Portents: 4 rare albino green sea turtles born on Vamizi Island, Mozambique

Portents and signs: Cops nab 3 poachers with two-headed snake in India

Portents and signs: Two-headed pig born in Raeford, North Carolina

Portents and signs: Doubled-headed bullock sold at auction in Mareeba, Australia

Portents and signs: Two-headed lizard hatched in Birkenhead, UK

Portents and signs: Rare two-headed Russell's viper born in Hyderabad, India

Portents and signs: Piglet born with two heads in the Philippines

Portents and signs: Pig born with two heads and three eyes in Columbia

Portents and signs: Piglet born with 2 heads in China

Portents and signs: Dog with two bodies and eight legs born on Tonga

Portents and signs: Mutant pig born with strange features and appendage in China

Portents and signs: Mutant pig born in Scotland

Portents and signs: Calf born with 2 heads at Florida farm

Portents and signs: Lamb born with face like an 'angry old man' in Dagestan

Portents and signs: 5-legged lamb born in Wales