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Peru's Nazca lines reveal mysterious new animal images

Rossella Lorenzi
Discovery News
Tue, 14 Jul 2015 10:26 UTC
Nazca Geoglyphs
© University of YamagataSome of the newly found geoglyphs are believed to depict llamas.
The Nazca Plateau in Peru contains two dozen new geoglyphs that predate by two centuries the famous monkey, spider and hummingbird listed at the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Almost invisible on the surface, the images were captured by researchers from the University of Yamagata in Japan thanks to 3-D scans of the ground a mile north of the city of Nazca.

The team discovered 24 geoglyphs of animals, "some of which probably depict Andean native camelid, llamas," the researchers said in a press release.

The number of images adds to the 17 geoglyphs of similar style unearthed in the adjacent area by the same team last year, stretching the discovery to 41 ancient outlines.

"All these geoglyphs were drawn on the slopes of the hill, to make them clearly visible," team leader Masato Sakai said.
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Arrow Down

Dead humpback whale buried in Northland, New Zealand

Kristin Edge
nzherald.co.nz
Tue, 14 Jul 2015 17:44 UTC
Image
A decomposing humpback whale on Ninety Mile Beach was named and blessed before bones were taken and the remains buried.
A decomposing humpback whale washed on to Northland's Ninety Mile Beach has been blessed, named and the bonesburied.

The 8.8m juvenile whale came ashore last Thursday near the Waipapakauri ramp entry to the Far North beach.

Local resident Peter Kitchen said the high tides had pushed the whale up the beach and local iwi members had intended to carry out a prayer and work on extracting the bones on Sunday morning.

However, the high tides had washed the whale another 8km north by Sunday morning.

Mr Kitchen said locals had worked in with Department of Conservation (DoC) and were given the go-ahead to remove the bones.

"We had the gear to do the job and worked on getting the bones out. We had a karakia and named it Waiora before burying the remains and bones," Mr Kitchen said.
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Roses

Woman dies following pit bull terrier attack in Cleveland, Ohio


19actionnews.com
Mon, 13 Jul 2015 14:40 UTC
Image
Annie Williams dies after dog attack.
A woman attacked by a dog around 2 p.m. Sunday has died.

Annie Williams, 71, of Cleveland, died at South Pointe Hospital after being attacked by a pit bull on Pennington Road. Crews transported Williams to the hospital, but it was too late.

Williams was picking up her two granddaughters from their father when the dog attacked. A 13-year-old relative was inside the car at the time of the incident.

Family members say the dog's owner lives in the home where she was picking up her grandchildren. The pit bull was not licensed in Cuyahoga County.

911 dispatch: What's the dog doing?

Caller: I don't know. He's on top of a lady! Somebody's trying to get him off, but they can't get him off!

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Binoculars

Another albatross species turns up in the wrong hemisphere, this time on Suffolk coast, UK

Stuart Winter
Daily Express, UK
Tue, 14 Jul 2015 13:09 UTC
Image
© RSPBBlack-browed albatross by Ruedi Abbuehl
For golfers, an albatross is achieving an impressive three under par, but for wildlife lovers it is one of the rarest sights in birdwatching.

Little wonder that birdwatchers were celebrating when an incredibly rare black-browed albatross touched down for a few moments on Sunday afternoon at the Suffolk nature sanctuary where the BBC records the popular wildlife show.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' Minsmere reserve is known as one of the best places in Britain to see rare creatures but the albatross's brief visit has left conservationists nonplussed.

By rights, black-browed albatrosses are birds of the South Atlantic and there are only a handful of records of them wandering north of the Equator into British waters.

According to reports from the BirdGuides information service, the albatross was spotted sitting on a pool close to the reserve's South Hide before flying off with its powerful, eight-foot wing span towards the North Sea.

Comment: See also:Lost yellow-nosed albatross from the South Atlantic turns up near Reykjavík, Iceland

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Fish

Rare sunfish washes up on remote beach off Tasmania, Australia

Tina Brodal
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:14 UTC
Image
The giant unexpected 1000 kg ocean sunfish washed up on Maria island off the East coast of Tasmania
A rare 1000 kg ocean sunfish measuring nearly three meters has washed up on a remote beach on Maria island off the east coast of Tasmania.

When the rare fish, also known as a Mola Mola, is found, it's always in tropical waters, so when local Ian Johnstone spotted the fish on nature reserve Maria Island over the weekend, he'd never seen anything like it.

Mr Johnstone is the owner of Maria Island Walk, which is an upmarket four day guided walk.

'I suspect potential global warming issues and warmer water is to blame,' Mr Johnstone told Daily Mail Australia about how he believed the dead sunfish ended up there.

The sunfish is the heaviest bony fish species in the world, and its name stems from the fact that they more than often can be seen basking in the sun near the surface.

Comment: Other reports of rare Sunfish for the past year -

Spate of rare deep sea tropical fish found on Norfolk beaches, UK

Rare ocean sunfish weighing 1.5 tons washes ashore at Palu, Indonesia

Rare deep sea Ocean Sunfish found for the first time in Pakistan's waters

Deep ocean sunfish found on beach in North Queensferry, Scotland

"Rare" 300-pound warm-water Mola sunfish washes up on Washington coast

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Wolf

Pack of dogs injure three in Evansville, Indiana

Zach Evans
Evansville Courier and Press
Sun, 12 Jul 2015 17:22 UTC
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Pit bull terrier
Evansville police shot and killed two dogs that were part of a larger pack that attacked and bit several people Saturday afternoon.

Terri L. Jackson, 30, was one of the victims.

"I was just walking down the street. There were like five dogs across the street. ... One of the dogs ran up to me and started barking," Jackson said.

She didn't think anything of it and kept walking along South Linwood Avenue around 5 p.m. Saturday.

"Then the dog bit me on the back of my leg," she said.

The dog, an "aggressive" pit bull, tried to bite her again, but a neighbor came at the dog with a large stick as a distraction.

Jackson lay bleeding from the wound as the neighbor fended off the dog.
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Attention

Police warn of possible coyote attacks in Natick, Massachusetts

Jennifer Smith
The Boston Globe
Sun, 12 Jul 2015 16:28 UTC
Image
Coyote
Natick police are warning residents after two women in town were reportedly attacked by a wild animal, described as a gray fox or coyote.

State Environmental Police were notified around 9:30 p.m. Saturday that Natick law enforcement had received two separate calls that evening "for encounters with what was initially reported to be either a fox or coyote," said Peter Lorenz, the Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs communications director.

The attacks occurred in 100 block of East Central Street, police said in a Facebook post. The block is a residential and retail area between large stretches of forested land.

Police said the animal did not appear to be provoked before the incidents and is "aggressive and is quite possibly not healthy," Natick police said in their post.

An Environmental Police officer dispatched to Natick gathered additional information and consulted with Natick police. The animal, whose description is most consistent with a gray fox, has not been located, according to Energy and Environmental Affairs officials.


Comment: Se also: Spate of coyote attacks on four children in Irvine, California

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Attention

Rat attack fears at care home in Stockholm, Sweden


thelocal.se
Thu, 09 Jul 2015 13:29 UTC
Image
© Fredrik Sandberg/SCANPIXA Stockholm care home has been struggling with a rat problem.
Suspected rat attacks have sparked fears at a care home in the Swedish capital after several residents suffered mysterious bite wounds.

Just a month after a woman had to be taken to hospital after a rat attacked her in a Gothenburg care home, it looks as if the hairy beasts have struck again.

The Sofiagården care home in Stockholm has reported itself to Sweden's Health and Social Care Inspectorate after mysterious scratches, bruises and wounds begun appearing on several of the elderly residents last month.

Nobody was able to say how they had got their injuries, but care home bosses believe that rats could be behind them.

"We can't say with certainty that they are definitely scratches or bites by rats, but the suspicion alone means that we have acted on it - we are obliged to do that under the law," head of operations Maj-Lis Johansson told local newspaper Stockholm Direkt on Thursday.
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Attention

Blue stinging jellyfish invade Norway and Sweden coasts


thelocal.no
Fri, 10 Jul 2015 13:16 UTC
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© Franzi takes photos/FlcikrBlue jellyfish.
Record numbers of blue stinging jellyfish are thronging the southern coast of Norway, mounting a growing a menace to swimmers.

The jellyfish, which usually found in slightly warmer waters than red jellyfish, can give unpleasant stings.

"I can't remember receiving so many reported sightings ever before," Jan Helge Fosså, a marine biologist at Norway's Institute of Marine Research told Aftenposten.

Fosså said that he expected the jellyfish to follow the currents further north, but was unsure of why numbers had reached such high levels.

Large numbers of blue jellyfish have also been spotted off Sweden's western coast.
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Wolf

Dog attack sends 3 children to hospital in Temecula, California

Alex Groves and Patrick O'Neill
The Press-Enterprise
Sun, 12 Jul 2015 12:36 UTC
Image
An example of an American Staffordshire terrier, shown in a 2002 file photo.
Three Temecula children were hospitalized after a family friend's dog attacked them Saturday, July 11 in Temecula, Riverside County sheriff's deputies said.

All three children - ages 4, 14, and 15 - were taken to a local hospital with injuries to their arms. One later was flown to a hospital in San Diego for further treatment. The names and possible relationship of the children were not disclosed.

The extent of their injuries and their conditions were not available.

The dog - an American Staffordshire terrier, a breed of pit bull - was turned over to animal control officers.

The children were attacked just before 5 p.m. Saturday in the 40000 block of Chantemar Way in Temecula, according to a Riverside County Sheriff's Department news release.

"Witnesses stated the dog ... mistook children playing as aggressive actions," the release said.

It attacked one of them, and when two other children tried to help, the dog attacked them as well, the release said.

When deputies arrived, they confined the dog to a bathroom and called animal control.
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