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Fri, 24 Sep 2021
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Locust swarm INVADES tech & financial hub outside India's capital


RT
Sun, 28 Jun 2020 18:01 UTC
locusts
© AFP / Sanjay Kanojia
Footage shows a massive swarm of locusts invading the Indian city of Gurugram, located just southwest of New Delhi. The cloud of insects is a rare sight in the city - a posh financial and technology hub.

The locusts descended upon the streets of Gurugram on Saturday, flying in a large, cloud-like mass and resting upon anything they pleased. The invasion was anticipated, and the local authorities urged residents to close their doors and windows beforehand.

Videos show thousands of desert locusts flying around, making the entire scene blurry.
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Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Short-tailed Shearwater that breeds in Australia found in Ireland - new Western Palearctic record

Paul Archer
BirdGuides
Sat, 27 Jun 2020 18:13 UTC
Short-tailed Shearwater, Tramore Bay, Co Waterford, 22 June 2020
© Arlo Jacques
Short-tailed Shearwater, Tramore Bay, Co Waterford, 22 June 2020
A shearwater washed up on the beach at Tramore Bay, Co Waterford, on Monday 22 June adds to the recent run of stunning seabirds recorded in Europe so far this summer.

The bird was in an extremely poor state when found during Monday's gale and, unfortunately, it has subsequently died while in a rehabilitation centre. At the time, it was recovered by Arlo Jacques and Adrian Allen and rested overnight. Initially, it was expected to be a Manx, but as it dried out and the true colour and pattern of the underparts became obvious, the identification turned towards it being a Balearic Shearwater.

Before being sent on to the experienced rehabilitation facility, some key measurements were taken. The bird was in moult and missing three inner primaries, making very accurate measurements of wing length quite difficult to assess but they exceed and thus rule out any variant of Manx and Balearic Shearwater, while falling well short for Sooty Shearwater. Critically, though the bill measurements are just at the maximum known range, a careful assessment of this character provides adequate evidence that this is in fact a Short-tailed Shearwater.

Comment: For further details to some of the astounding extralimital records of the seabirds mentioned above, see:

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Attention

Brazil declares crop emergency bracing for a biblical plague of locusts


Sputnik International
Fri, 26 Jun 2020 10:14 UTC
Locusts
The invasion of insects has already devastated India, Pakistan, Africa and some parts of the Middle East, causing billions of dollars in damages. In Somalia locusts destroyed 500 acres of cropland and plunged one million people into a food crisis.

Brazil's Agriculture Ministry declared a crop emergency on Thursday as the country braces for a plague of locusts of biblical proportions. The move will help authorities to implement steps to suppress the invasion of voracious insects and take other emergency measures should the locusts reach the fertile southern states Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. However, the ministry noted that such a scenario is unlikely.

The swarm of locusts, which consists of 40 million insects, first hit Paraguay and then travelled to Argentina and is now 100 kilometres from Brazil's border. Argentina and Brazil are some of the largest producers of corn and soy. Officials in Buenos Aires say so far the crop-munching insects have not caused as much damage as they did in Pakistan and India (the latter saw 600,000 hectares of the crops destroyed). Officials say low temperatures prevent insects from moving and reproducing.

Comment: 450 billion locusts have been killed this year, but devastating swarms still ravage Africa, India and the Middle East

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Doberman

Two pit bulls kill 72-year-old owner in Mandeville, Louisiana


wafb.com
Fri, 26 Jun 2020 11:07 UTC
PIT BULL ATTACK
A 72-year-old woman was attacked by her two pit bulls on Thursday at her home near Mandeville. She died later from her injuries.

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office responded to the call at around 2: 15 p.m. in the 600 block of Chereuil Street.

"This is very sad," Sheriff Randy Smith said. "My thoughts and prayers go out the victim's family and to the neighbor who was injured trying to help her. I also thank the deputies who responded and provided medical care in an effort to try and save this woman's life."

After neighbors reported the attack, police arrived on the scene, where the attack was still happening.
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Hearts

Humans and dogs have been sledding together for nearly 10,000 years

Jason Bittel
National Geographic
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 12:00 UTC
husky
© Katie Orlinsky, Nat Geo Image Collection
A team of sled dogs race on the Herbert Glacier, near Juneau, Alaska. This group of dog breeds has not interbred with wolves, a surprising discovery.
Greenland sled dogs, a fluffy, curly-tailed canine native to the harsh Arctic tundra, could be the oldest dog breed, according to the first study to take a deep dive into the animals' genetic history. The sled dog branch of the family tree, which includes various types of huskies and malamutes, broke off from the rest of the dogs around 9,500 years ago, versus something like a labradoodle, which only became a breed in 1989.

Scientists know that dogs likely evolved from Eurasian wolves, but exactly when or where that transformation took place is a matter of great mystery. To better understand the genetics of sled dogs and their place in the world, scientists sequenced the genome of a dog from Siberia's Zhokhov archaeological site, dating to around 9,500 years ago.

"I was actually anticipating that we would find some sort of precursor of domestic dogs," says lead author Mikkel-Holger Sinding, a paleogeneticist and Ph.D. student at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Comment: See also:

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Health

Boy recovering from shark attack off Homestead, Florida


whsv.com
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 18:56 UTC
When 7-year-old Jacob was bitten by what his mother believes was a bull shark, he didn’t shed a tear, despite wounds that required 19 stitches.
© WSVN/CNN
When 7-year-old Jacob was bitten by what his mother believes was a bull shark, he didn’t shed a tear, despite wounds that required 19 stitches.
A 7-year-old Florida boy received 19 stitches after he was bitten in the leg by what his mother believes may have been a bull shark on a trip to the beach.

The 7-year-old, only identified as Jacob, sustained three wounds to his leg Monday after he says he went into the water at Homestead Bayfront Park in Homestead, Florida, and an animal bit him.

"All we saw was the blood coming down," said Jacob's mother, only identified as Ethel.

Ethel says when Jacob was attacked, he didn't shed a tear. Lifeguards quickly gave him medical attention, and he was then taken to the hospital, where he got 19 stitches.

"He was cool, calm and collect[ed]. I, on the other hand, was a mess," Ethel said.
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Attention

Rare Right Whale found dead off New Jersey coast


Maine Public
Fri, 26 Jun 2020 18:49 UTC
Federal authorities say the carcass of a critically endangered species of whale was found floating off the coast of New Jersey.

A dead North Atlantic right whale is seen off the coast of Long Island, New York in Sept. 2019.
© NY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
A dead North Atlantic right whale is seen off the coast of Long Island, New York in Sept. 2019.
The whale was a North Atlantic right whale and it was found on Thursday.

The whales number only about 400, and have suffered high mortality and poor reproduction in recent years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the whale was found floating off the coast of Elberon, N.J.

The agency and the Marine Mammal Stranding Center are working on performing a necropsy of the animal to determine how it died.

Source: AP
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Question

Bearded seal from the Arctic is the Montreal area's latest unusual visitor

Katelyn Thomas
CTV News
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 18:25 UTC
A bearded seal is the latest marine mammal to be spotted in the St-Lawrence River

A bearded seal is the latest marine mammal to be spotted in the St-Lawrence River
Just a few weeks after the death of the stray humpback whale who enchanted Montrealers, a bearded seal has made its way to the area.

Originally from the arctic, the mammal was spotted Tuesday at the Bo-Bi-No marina in Laval, the city directly north of Montreal.

"We see them every year in Trois-Rivières but in Montreal, not for this species," said Marie-Ève Muller from the province's marine mammal research group (GREMM). "This is the first time."

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Snowflake Cold

Antarctica's Adélie penguins happier with less sea ice, research shows ice is growing

Research Organization of Information and Systems
Sci Tech Daily
Wed, 24 Jun 2020 12:00 UTC
penguins
© Yuuki Watanabe (National Institute of Polar Research, Japan)
Adélie penguins in Lützow-Holm Bay, Antarctica, enjoy easy access to food and increase body weight and breeding success in ice-free summer.
Researchers have been surprised to find that Adélie penguins in Antarctica prefer reduced sea-ice conditions, not just a little bit, but a lot. As climate models project rapid reduction of the continent's sea ice over the rest of the century, this iconic polar predator could be a rare global warming winner. Their research findings are published today (June 24, 2020) in Science Advances.

In recent decades, Antarctica has experienced a steady increase in the extent of its sea ice — frozen seawater — even as its polar twin, the Arctic, has suffered through a marked decrease. But this is not expected to last for much longer as the climate changes, with Antarctica also projected to see a decline in its sea ice, with all the consequences of such changes to the maritime habitat for the organisms that live there.


Comment: Relentless and baseless claims of global warming are debunked every year as the world, overall, gets cooler: Global cooling: Second largest 2-month temperature drop in history recorded by NOAA satellite


Comment: See also:

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Binoculars

Wrong place, wrong time: Cayenne Tern from eastern South America turns up in Wexford, Ireland

Sam Viles
BirdGuides
Wed, 24 Jun 2020 11:54 UTC
Cayenne Tern, Lady's Island Lake, Wexford (Paul Kelly).
© Paul Kelly
Cayenne Tern, Lady's Island Lake, Wexford
It's not every week that we have the privilege of writing about a Western Palearctic first in either Britain or Ireland. However, high-quality photographs of the putative adult female Cayenne Tern at Lady's Island Lake, Co Wexford, now seem to have allowed the bird's identity to be secured beyond reasonable doubt, with various plumage details considered to be past the limits of what a 'runt' Sandwich Tern or a hybrid might show. Most importantly, these include the bird's diminutive stature, a short, stout, mustard-yellow bill and a distinct charcoal secondary bar, as well as a primary pattern best matching that of Cayenne Tern.
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