Animals
S


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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Health

Mule deer attacks man in Draper backyard, Utah

Ben Lockhart
ksl.com
Mon, 08 Feb 2016 17:50 UTC
Mule deer
Mule deer
A mule deer attacked a Draper man in his backyard Monday, causing "significant wounds" to the man, as well as an injury to the family dog.

The attack, which occurred around 8 a.m. in the SunCrest subdivision in the southeast area of the city, resulted in officers "putting the deer down" after subduing the animal in a struggle, according to a statement issued by Draper.

The injured man's daughter called police to say the deer had hurt the family dog and "was engaged" with her father, city officials said.

"When Animal Services supervisor Dennis Wilson arrived on scene, he found the man lying on the ground with the deer pushing its antlers down into him," a news release states. "Officer Wilson grabbed the deer and pulled the antlers away from the man. The man was able to get up and walk back to the house."

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Attention

Another dead cetacean found on Indian coast: Cadaver of whale washes up at Brahmagiri

Pramit Pramathes
The Samaya
Tue, 09 Feb 2016 17:22 UTC
Cadaver of Whale
Cadaver of Whale
Days after dead whales were found near the coast in Odisha's Ganjam and Kendrapara locale, another cadaver of whale was found from the coast close Motagaon zone in Brahmagiri locale on Tuesday morning.

Prior this month, a cadaver of a whale measuring 33 feet long with a width of 12 feet was located at Podampetta coast in Ganjam area on February 3 while the corpse of another whale measuring 66 feet long was found at Chinchiri mouth at Rajnagar in Kendrapara locale on February 5.

A few days before this, a giant dead whale washed ashore at the Juhi beach in Mumbai.

Last month, carcasses of more than 60 whales were sighted along the coast in Tamil Nadu a month ago

Following the death of the whales, the State Environment and Forest department has decided to apprise the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) of the unusual death of the giant marine mammals.
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Black Cat

Leopard attack leaves 6 injured at school in India

Sonam Joshi
MashableUK
Mon, 08 Feb 2016 14:02 UTC
The leopard attacking Sanjay Gubbi, a wildlife conservationist.
© Sampath Kumar G.P. The leopard attacking Sanjay Gubbi, a wildlife conservationist.
A suburban school in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru had an unexpected visit from a male leopard on Sunday morning. Since it was a holiday, there were no children in the school, but the ten-hour-long effort to capture the animal left six people injured.

CCTV footage showed the eight-year-old leopard first entering the Vibgyor International School at around 4 a.m. The security guards alerted the police soon after, but the wild cat escaped to hide in the nearby bushes. After it re-entered the school, the scared leopard mauled several people, including conservation scientist Sanjay Gubbi, forest department employee Benny Maurius and a photojournalist. Security cameras also showed it brawling with a man near a swimming pool.
WATCH: Leopard strays into Vibgyor School campus in Kundalahalli (Bengaluru)https://t.co/bt1bLI1I8P

— ANI (@ANI_news) February 7, 2016
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