Animals
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Attention

Pedestrian is kicked to the ground by belligerent monkey

Amie Gordon
Daily Mail
Sun, 10 Apr 2016 15:00 UTC
The monkey then leaps in the air and pounces, dealing a powerful blow to the man's back with its feet
The monkey then leaps in the air and pounces, dealing a powerful blow to the man's back with its feet
One unsuspecting pedestrian was viciously assaulted in the street and kicked to the ground in a terrifying attack - by a monkey.

Incredible video footage has captured the moment a man walking along a street was drop-kicked to the ground by the animal.

The monkey can be seen running at speed behind the man, before jumping up and kicking him, dealing a powerful blow to the man's back and knocking him to the ground.

The primate - deceptively stronger than it looks - then flees, pouncing onto a nearby car then escaping over a wall.

Stunned bystanders appear on the scene, clearly shocked by what they have just seen.

The victim, who was knocked flat onto his face, slowly stands up, evidently shaken by the 'attack'.

Footage shows how the man's legs buckle below him and he is knocked straight to the ground
Footage shows how the man's legs buckle below him and he is knocked straight to the ground
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Question

Two dozen dead birds discovered along road in Chantilly, Virginia

Martin Weil and Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 19:30 UTC
Dead starlings
© Fairfax County Police DepartmentDead starlings
Two dozen dead birds, believed to be European starlings, were found Friday along a road in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County.

No cause could be determined for the deaths of the birds found near Avion Parkway and Lee Jackson Memorial Highway.

Nothing suggested that the deaths were the result of malice, but the birds appear to be among the most unwelcome of creatures, often because of the wastes they leave in trees and on buildings.

Although large numbers of dead starlings are found throughout the area from time to time, starlings represent a story of startling multiplicative power. Sixty were introduced to this country in 1890, and, by 2000, their number was more than 200 million. The deaths will be investigated.

Dead starlings
© Fairfax County Police DepartmentDead starlings
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Eye 2

Symbolism? Electrocuted snake found while eating another by city workers in Morganton, North Carolina

Ben Hooper
UPI
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 14:24 UTC
Two snakes were electrocuted when they crawled into an electrical box on E. Parker Road.
© City of MorgantonTwo snakes were electrocuted when they crawled into an electrical box on E. Parker Road.
Workers in a North Carolina city found a snake had electrocuted itself at a home slated for demolition and a second snake died while trying to eat the first.

The City of Morganton said in a Facebook post that Electric Services Department workers visited a home last week to disconnect the power prior to its scheduled demolition and they were greeted with a bizarre sight when they opened the electrical box.

"They were greeted by two dead snakes that had managed to climb into the box. One snake slithered across two hot terminals and was electrocuted; the second snake was biting the first and received the jolt as well," the post said.

The post quoted Electric Services Director Brooks Kirby as saying workers find electrocuted snakes every two or three years "and that's one time too many!"

Comment: For more on snakes discovered at unusual locations and of a symbolic interpretation of same, see: Snakes alive! Countless reports of snakes turning up in weird places

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Attention

Shark attacks jet ski off Fraser Island, Australia (VIDEO)


RT
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 13:26 UTC
Shark attacks jet ski
© LiveLeak / YouTube
Two incredibly brave (or incredibly stupid) tourists got way too close to a shark while enjoying a jet ski excursion in Australia and were lucky to escape without injury.

While cruising around Fraser Island's idyllic blue waters off the coast of Queensland, the couple noticed a shadow in the waters below and - cue the Jaws theme - decided to check it out.

Getting far too close for comfort, the pair was lucky to escape when the shark launched from the water to attack but only connected with the jet ski and, thankfully, not one of their limbs.

"No one was injured although the jetski did get some small scuff marks where the shark contacted the ski," the couple wrote online afterwards.

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Attention

Violent elephant runs amok and kills two mahouts in India


Times of India
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 20:28 UTC
The elephant that killed two mahouts at Karukanchal being brought under control
© E V RageshThe elephant that killed two mahouts at Karukanchal being brought under control
An elephant which turned violent killed both its mahouts besides creating a ruckus in Champakkara in Kottayam district on Thursday. Gopinathan Nair, 60, from Karukachal and Akhil (Kannan), 30, from Ithithanam were killed. It was the elephant Channanikkad Ayyappan which had turned violent round 3pm.

The elephant floored the first mahout Nair before goring him to death. Following this the elephant ran out of the compound and the second mahout Kannan was killed while he tried to chain the elephant. Gopinathan succumbed to injuries while being taken to the hospital while Kannan succumbed to injuries at the Medical College Hospital.

The elephant which had turned violent ran nearly seven kilometres before tranquilised by veterinary surgeon Sabu C Issac of the elephant squad by around 4.30pm. The local residents went through tense moments for over an hour.

Angry elephant
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Cloud Lightning

Storm kills 5,000 birds in Jessore, Bangladesh


The Financial Express
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:18 UTC
Dead birds
Dead birds
Roughly 5,000 birds of different species were killed as a nor'wester wreaked havoc at Tirerhat village in Jessore Sadar upazila on Wednesday night.

Locals said they found around 5,000 birds, including Doel, Shalik, Masranga, Bulbuli and Ghughu, lying dead at different places of the village after the storm on Thursday morning, according to a news agency report.

Later, they buried the dead birds at the village.

Dr. Saibur Rahman Mollah, dean of the Environmental Science Faculty of Jessore University of Science and Technology, said the death of such a large number of birds will certainly have a bad impact on the biodiversity of the area.

Source: SRS
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Bizarro Earth

Radioactive wild boars on the rampage in Fukushima disaster zone, devastating crops and threatening residents


RT
Wed, 06 Apr 2016 00:12 UTC
wild boar
© Petras Malukas / AFP
Northern Japan is raising an alarm, as the area surrounding the Fukushima Nuclear disaster zone has been overwhelmed by radioactive wild boars, whose population has increased dramatically over the past 4 years, as they breed freely in the exclusion zone.

With the number of animals steadily growing, the boar population has been devastating the crops of farms in the area. Since the nuclear disaster of 2011, damage to agriculture caused by boars in the Fukushima prefecture has doubled, amounting to some $15 million, according to a report from The Times. Boars also pose a threat to public safety, as reports of rampaging wild beast injuring local residents while roaming the streets have become more frequent over the past few years.

As boars do not have any natural predators to keep their population in check, local governments all over Japan have been organizing big hunting parties to decrease the population. In the three years prior to 2014, the number of boars killed increased more than four times, from 3,000 to 13,000. As reported by Yomiuri news outlet, the government in Fukushima has been offering rewards to hunters in order to "inspire" them to cull the boars. Despite the effort, however, the effect has been limited, as the animals reproduce quickly.

Comment:


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Smiley

Leaked Panama Papers reveal that bears sh!t in the woods

Andrew
NewsThump
Wed, 06 Apr 2016 20:04 UTC
Bear in Woods
© NewsThump
Journalists have today published more startling and completely unexpected revelations leaked from Panama Law firm Mossack Fonseca, this time revealing that bears shit in the woods.

The papers, which have previously revealed startling and completely unexpected allegations of money laundering and tax avoidance against public figures such as Vladimir Putin, President al-Assad of Syria, Fifa officials and Conservative party fundraisers, were shown to a visibly stunned audience at a press conference earlier today.

Professor Ursula Majors from the National Institute of Bear Behaviour stammered, "I had absolutely no suspicion about this.

"We knew that bears lived in the woods, slept in the woods, ate in the woods, and urinated in the woods.

"We knew that they gave birth in the woods and died in the woods.

"But we had no idea whatsoever that bears shit in the woods."

Professor Majors continued: "Even once when I was on a six month field trip in the woods, and found that I had trodden in bear excrement whilst nearby a male grizzly wiped his posterior with a roll of Andrex, complaining about a curry he'd had the night before - even then I had no idea that it would one day be revealed that bears shit in the woods.

"This changes everything."

Journalists have warned people to be ready for more startling and completely unexpected revelations from the Panama Papers later today, this time concerning the Pope's religious beliefs.

Comment: For obvious reasons, it's too much to expect most Westerners to realize that Putin and al-Assad are actually decent leaders.

As we can see though, they are not at all surprised to hear confirmation that Western leaders are utterly corrupt.

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Attention

Elephant kills family of 5 in India


RTE News
Tue, 05 Apr 2016 13:00 UTC
Charging elephant
© GettyCharging elephant
A rampaging elephant has killed five members of a family including a nine-day old infant in a remote village in India's northeastern frontier, a local official said this afternoon.

The elephant trampled the family to death while they were asleep in their thatched hut in the early hours of this morning in Behali forest, 256km from Assam state's capital Guwahati.

Both parents, their infant daughter and two other children died during the incident, while their three-year-old daughter survived the attack and was being treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

"The family was asleep when the elephant attacked their hut," Rajiv Chaudhary, a divisional forestry officer, told AFP.

He said the elephant had apparently strayed from its herd when it charged the home.
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Family

Animal study shows that having cooperative social skills enhances mental abilities

Virginia Morrell
Science
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 09:00 UTC
animal puzzle experiment, animal social skills
Using tools doesn't make humans, dolphins, and crows smart. Rather, it's the stress and challenge of living with others—recognizing friend from foe, calculating who to deceive and who to befriend—that led these and other social creatures to evolve their cognitive skills. That's the gist of the social intelligence hypothesis, an idea that's been around since 1966. But does having to remember whose lice need picking actually improve other mental abilities, like figuring out how to open a locked box with a hunk of meat inside? A new study of four carnivores—two social and two solitary species—suggests that it does.

"They've taken an important issue and tested it in a simple but novel way," says Richard Byrne, an evolutionary psychologist at The University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the study. "The results are clear: The cognitive benefit from being a social carnivore does transfer" to a mental ability that has nothing to do with being social, he says.

Other researchers think the results aren't as clear-cut. "It is important and a valuable stepping stone in our quest to understand how intelligence evolved, but like all studies, it is one piece of a larger puzzle," says Sarah Benson-Amram, a zoologist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, whose recent comparative study of 39 species of carnivores reached the opposite conclusion.
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