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Fri, 24 Sep 2021
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Animals

Bug

Endemic locust species observed eating its own males for the first time in Turkey

Bradyporus karabagi
© DHA
A female Bradyporus karabagi eats a male of her own species alive, near the Karacadağ dormant volcano, Diyarbakır, Turkey, June 1, 2020.
Females of an endemic species of locust, colloquially known as the fat locust, have been observed eating males alive to have more qualified spawn in Turkey's southeastern region.

The Bradyporus karabagi species lives only in southeastern Turkey and has been spotted around the Karacadağ dormant volcano, located between Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa and Mardin provinces. Officials made an application to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2017 to include fat locusts on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Bradyporus karabagi has not been able to spread its habitat to a larger area because it is a wingless species, experts say.

Speaking on the issue, professor Ali Satar of Dicle University told Demirören News Agency (DHA) said that although cannibalism is a common practice among the ensifera suborder of insects, they witnessed this practice for the first time among the Bradyporus karabagi species.

Doberman

Pit bull attacks, kills owner in Jeffersonville, Indiana

PIT BULL ATTACK
A man died following a pit bull attack in Jeffersonville, WAVE 3 News has learned.

Jeffersonville police officers responded to the 800 block of West Larkspur Drive on a report of a man being bitten by a dog Wednesday morning. Det. Josh Schiller confirmed it happened just after midnight.

The first officer to arrive tried to stop the pit bull attack with pepper spray, but was unsuccessful. The officer then shot the dog to end the attack, according to a statement from the Jeffersonville Police Department.

Officers then tried to render medical aid to the victim, a man in his early 60′s, until EMS arrived. EMS workers arrived and then also tried to render aid, but it was too late. The man died at the scene. He has not been identified.

Det. Schiller confirmed the dog died and that it was owned by the victim.


Heart - Black

Hundreds of elephants dead in mysterious mass die-off in Botswana

elephant deaths

Aerial images of some of the elephant carcasses seen in the Okavango Delta
More than 350 elephants have died in northern Botswana in a mysterious mass die-off described by scientists as a "conservation disaster".

A cluster of elephant deaths was first reported in the Okavango Delta in early May, with 169 individuals dead by the end of the month. By mid June, the number had more than doubled, with 70% of the deaths clustered around waterholes, according to local sources who wish to remain anonymous.

"This is a mass die-off on a level that hasn't been seen in a very, very long time. Outside of drought, I don't know of a die-off that has been this significant," said Dr Niall McCann, the director of conservation at UK-based charity National Park Rescue.

Comment: See also: The terrifying phenomenon plummeting species towards extinction


Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Gray-tailed tattler shorebird from Asia never before recorded in Canada found in Kitimat, British Columbia

gray-tailed tattler

Gray-tailed tattler
A bird native to Asia was spotted at Minette Bay recently, bringing in birders from all over B.C.

Birders in Kitimat and across B.C. got a special treat last week when a rare bird native to Asia, the gray-tailed tattler, was spotted at Minette Bay.

The gray-tailed tattler travels to breed in northeast Siberia, then migrates to anywhere from Southeast Asia to Australia.

This is the first time the bird has been recorded in Canada, according to local bird expert Walter Thorne.

Doberman

23-month-old child killed by dog in Quinlan, Texas

PIT BULL ATTACK
A 23-month-old child was killed in Hunt County Monday morning after being attacked by a dog, the Hunt County Sheriff's Office said.

Shortly after 11:00 a.m. deputies responded to the 9900 block of Private Road 3820 in the Easy Living addition regarding a dog bite call.

The first deputy on scene found an infant in the roadway "who had suffered major trauma as a result of a dog attack."

The child was rushed by ambulance to Hunt Regional Medical Center in Quinlan, but the child did not survive.

Preliminary information shows the child had gotten out of the enclosed yard without family members realizing it and went down the gravel road.


Doberman

Man dead following pit bull attack in Kamloops, British Columbia

PIT BULL ATTACK
The BC Coroners Service is investigating a man's death following reports of a dog attack in Kamloops.

Kamloops RCMP say they were called around 11:45 a.m. Monday to a home in the 900-block of Singh Street.

People in the house told RCMP that a pit bull owned by a resident attacked a man who was visiting.

The man subsequently died of his injuries.

Police say the dog is currently secured on the deck of the home.


Info

Complex linguistic feature not unique to humans says new study

Complex linguistic features
© S. Ferrigno, Harvard University
Evidence is piling up to suggest humans are not as different from animals as many like to think.

New research adds more fuel to the debate, showing that a complex ability thought to be a hallmark of human language is not only innate across different ages and cultures, but can also be picked up by monkeys.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, tested the ability to embed a smaller phrase within another phrase in three- to five-year-old children, US adults, native Bolivian adults and three rhesus macaques named Horatio, Beyoncé and Coltrane.

Nesting phrases, or recursion, enables us to organise ideas in language, by creating the structure of a pair within another pair, for example.

"You can take a phrase like 'the cat meowed', and nest 'the dog chased' in the centre of the sentence to make 'the cat the dog chased meowed'," explains lead author Stephen Ferrigno from Harvard University, US.

"To understand the meaning of this sentence, the inner noun needs to be matched to the inner verb. The same is true with the outer noun/verb pair."

Cloud Precipitation

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Strange events happening across our planet

More Chinese regions brace for floods as storms shift east

More Chinese regions brace for floods as storms shift east
Incredible events continue to sweep our planet from now locust swarms in S. America moving toward the US, 200 year floods in Europe, 50 year floods Japan, 100 year floods China, worlds longest lightning bolt in Brazil and rail traffic down 21.9% compared to 2019.


Comment: For more information on extreme weather events from around the world, check out our monthly Earth Changes Summaries. The latest video: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - May 2020: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs




Eye 2

Boy killed after being dragged by crocodile into river in Odisha, India

Representational Image

Representational Image
In a man-animal conflict a life was lost in Malkangiri district when a minor boy was killed after a full-grown crocodile attacked and dragged him into the Sileru river in Chitrakonda here.

According to sources, the incident occurred on Saturday when a crocodile reportedly dragged him into the river, while he was roaming near the river bank.

However, the mutilated body, that is missing the legs and the hands, was spotted in the river today morning.

The family said that the minor boy was killed in crocodile attack.

Attention

Grizzly bear attacks federal biologist in Montana

BEAR
A grizzly bear has attacked a federal biologist during a surprise encounter at a research site in Montana's Centennial Valley.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson Joseph Szuszwalak said the biologist, who was not named, was treated for serious bite wounds Wednesday before being released from a hospital in Rexburg, Idaho, the Missoulian reported.

The biologist heard a noise in the brush while monitoring a sage grouse research project and saw two grizzly bears less than 100 yards (300 feet) away, Szuszwalak said. One bear stood up while the other charged.