Animals
S


Ice Cream Bar

Crow demands ice cream from vendor in India

Ben Hooper
UPI
Tue, 23 Feb 2016 19:03 UTC
Crow and ice cream
An insistent crow paid a visit to an ice cream stand in India and refused to stop calling out until it was given one of the frozen treats.

Video of the crow's visit to an ice cream stand in Pondicherry shows the bird perched on the edge of the stand and calling out for the attention of the amused vendor.

The smiling vendor makes the crow wait for a moment before getting out a small cup of ice cream and a spoon.

The man uses the spoon to feed the crow ice cream a little bit at a time.

The uploader said the crow, which was caught on camera last fall, makes daily visits to the ice cream stand to get a beak-full of frozen goodness.

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Attention

26 dead gannets found at Ormond Beach, Florida

Emily Blackwood
Ormond Beach Observer
Tue, 23 Feb 2016 16:02 UTC
Dead Northern Gannet
© J. Walker FischerOne of many dead gannets washed ashore on Ormond Beach on Feb. 19
Twenty-six dead Northern Gannets have been brought in to the center since Valentine's Day.

While Ormond Beach resident Walker Fischer was taking a stroll on the beach this past Friday, he counted four dead Northern Gannets and a pelican within a mile's walk.

The Volusia County Beach Patrol said the increase was not uncommon for this time of year. Due to migration patterns, there is an increase in the amount birds in the area, and they find a few dead birds every day. They believe the recent death are mostly like of natural causes.
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Bizarro Earth

13 bald eagles died in Maryland

Brian Clark Howard
National Geographic
Tue, 23 Feb 2016 11:57 UTC
Dead blad eagle
© Maryland Natural Resources PoliceOne of the eagles found dead on a Maryland farm
It's a whodunit for the animal kingdom: State and federal wildlife officials are trying to find out what happened to 13 bald eagles that were discovered dead on Maryland's Eastern Shore on Saturday.

The birds of prey were found on a farm in rural Caroline County, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Washington, D.C. and just west of the 3,800-acre Idylwild Natural Area. A man looking for shed deer antlers found some of the birds and phoned state officials, who then found several more.

Comment: Interesting how they immediately assume someone is responsible and thus a reward is offered, but they don't know the cause of death. How about out-gassing due to the Earth opening up? On a related note, this is certainly symbolic given that the national bird of the USA is the bald eagle.

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Question

Dozens of dead birds found along highway in Youngstown, Ohio

Mike Gauntner
wfmj.com
Sun, 21 Feb 2016 14:33 UTC
Dead birds
Dead birds
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is investigating the death of dozens of birds found Saturday along Interstate 680 in Youngstown.

Passers-by spotted the carcasses of large black birds along the north bound lane near Midlothian Boulevard.

ODNR Wildlife Officer Jesse Janosik told 21 News that he would take photographs of the dead birds and collect samples for testing.

Janosik says he expects it will take a couple of days before it is determined what caused the animals to die.

According to the Division of Wildlife website, ODNR actively follows up on reports of any wildlife diseases in Ohio and monitors the health of wildlife populations to ensure their long-term conservation.

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Fish

Bizarre deep sea fish found off Victoria coast, Australia

Nelson Groom and Tang Li
Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 20 Feb 2016 19:02 UTC
bizarre deep sea creature
The bizarre deep sea creature is the second in the past few weeks to be caught in Australian waters

A bizarre deep sea creature with bug eyes and dozens of needle-like teeth has been pulled ahsore - the second sea monster to appear in Australian waters in less than a week.

The outlandish creature was caught off the Victoria state coast by a fishing trawler, the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association said.

Experts said the animal may be an Endo's Goosefish - Lophiodes endoi, also known by some people as 'monkfish' - is a deepwater member of the anglerfish family.

Growing to 38cm, this species can be found around the south-eastern and western margins of Australia's continental shelf in waters ranging from 275-500m deep.
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Attention

Dead whale found in waters off Zambales, Philippines

Allan Macatuno
Inquirer.net
Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:52 UTC
A PYGMY sperm whale that beached in San Narciso, Zambales, on Sunday died on Monday.
© OCEAN ADVENTUREA pygmy sperm whale that beached in San Narciso, Zambales, on Sunday died on Monday.
A dead whale was found in the waters off the coastal town of Candelaria in Zambales province on Saturday morning, local police said.

Residents of Barangay (village) Dampay discovered the carcass of the whale floating some 100 kilometers from the coastline at 9 a.m., said SPO4 Tomas Mejos, team leader of a unit deployed by the Candelaria Police Station.

"The whale was about the size of a minibus," Mejos said in a telephone interview.

The species of the whale has yet to be identified, Mejos added.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Central Luzon has sent a team to determine the cause of the whale's death, said Nelson Bien, chief of the agency's fisheries resources and management division.

As of 1 p.m., residents were still towing the animal to the shore, Mejos added.
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Eye 2

Signs and Portents: Rare two-headed python hatched in Wodonga, Australia


wpxi.com
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 12:34 UTC
Two headed snake
© The Daily Mail/FacebookA two headed snake was hatched in Australia.
Snakes are creepy enough, but a python that hatched with two heads is taking the Internet by storm.

The baby snake is only a week old, born last Saturday.

Owner John McNamara, who is an Australian snake breeder, thought he just had twins, but it was more.

From the tail to the neck, the little coastal carpet python looks like any other snake, but from the neck up, that's when you see four eyes, two mouths and two heads.

As The Border Mail described it, the snake looks like the mythological hydra.

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Binoculars

World's oldest wild bird just became a parent for the 40th time

Laura Geggel
Live Science
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:48 UTC
The Laysan albatross
© Kiah Walker / USFWS VolunteerA wild, banded bird named Wisdom, the world's oldest animal to give birth, greets her new chick, named Kūkini, the Hawaiian word for "messenger."
The world's oldest known wild bird just added a new chick to the family — her 40th one, experts say.

The Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis), named Wisdom, is at least 65 years old but shows no signs of slowing down. Wildlife officials at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii saw her lay an egg on Nov. 28, 2015, and incubate it for several weeks.

A fuzzy, gray chick cracked out of its shell on Feb. 1. But Wisdom wasn't there when the baby chick hatched: She had headed out to sea on Jan. 20, leaving her mate on nest duty. She returned just after Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7) with a full belly and settled down on the nest, allowing her mate to fly off to sea in search of food, officials said.

Wildlife officials wasted no time in naming the chick, dubbing it Kūkini, which means "messenger" in Hawaiian.
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Fish

Piranha attacks on swimmers in Brazil leave over 50 people injured in a month

Janet Tappin Coelho
The Independent (UK)
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 18:37 UTC
A white piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus)
© AlamyA white piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus), aka ‘white bitch’, held by a fisherman in Los llanos, Venezuela
Hundreds of swimmers in Brazil are being warned to stay out of the water following a spate of attacks by shoals of deadly piranha, which has left more than 50 people injured in just over a month.

Unsuspecting tourists have had chunks of flesh bitten out of their hands and feet as drought conditions in the South American country force the lethal predators to migrate from their natural habitat to deeper waters packed with holidaymakers.

This week at least eight bathers were bitten by the man-eaters, known as "white bitches", the 6in-long species blamed for the attacks, on beaches in Palmas, in Tocantins State, north-east Brazil. Three children were among the casualties as people took to the waters to cool off during the hot holiday weekend. A four-year-old boy had a chunk taken out of his heel.
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Attention

15ft basking shark found dead in Skelmorlie, Scotland


BBC
Fri, 19 Feb 2016 12:50 UTC
Dead 15ft basking shark washes up in Scotland
© Largs Coastguard Recue TeamDead 15ft basking shark washes up in Scotland
Pictures have been released of a dead 15ft (5m) basking shark which washed up at Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the fish, which weighed "a few tonnes" was found near the A78 Shore Road.

North Ayrshire Council was notified along with Largs Coastguard Rescue Team which photographed the shark.

Basking sharks can be up to 40ft long and are the largest fish found in British waters.

They are the second largest fish in the world, after the whale shark, according to the Shark Trust charity.
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