Animals
S


Attention

Series of dead and stranded bottlenose dolphins in the Philippines

Gabriel Cardinoza
newsinfo.inquirer.net
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 11:02 UTC
Image
© Flickr/Jeffk42.
Two bottlenose dolphins were found dead at the Tondaligan Beach here and on the shores of neighboring Binmaley town in Pangasinan province, in what has turned out to be a series of beaching in Lingayen Gulf since Monday.

Westly Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) here, said one more dolphin was found dying at about 6 a.m. at the Lingayen beach in Lingayen town.

At 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Rosario said another dolphin beached just at the shoreline at the back of the NIFTDC.

Two more dolphins were found on the shores of the island village of Pugaro here at about 8 p.m. on the same day.
Read More...
Red Flag

6 unprovoked shark attacks off Californian coast in 2014

Veronica Rocha
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:14 UTC
Image
© David Fleetham / Discovery ChannelThough being attacked by a shark like this great white is extremely unlikely, the number of unprovoked shark attacks worldwide has grown at a steady pace since 1900. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, there were 39 reported shark attacks in California from 2001 to 2013.
A recent report says there were six unprovoked shark attacks along the U.S. Pacific Coast in 2014. All of them were in California, and all the sharks were great whites.

Four of the attacks occurred in October, one in July and another in December, according to the Shark Research Committee's recently released 2014 report. Remarkably, in all attacks, only two surfers were injured.

"I am surprised we don't have more of them," said Ralph Collier, the shark expert and researcher who wrote the report, which specifically looks at attacks that were deemed not to be provoked by humans.

Last July's shark attack in Manhattan Beach, for example, was not included. In that attack, long-distance swimmer Steve Robles was bitten by a 7-foot juvenile shark.
Read More...
Question

Texas residents on edge as more dogs go missing

Philip Townsend
WFAA.com
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 07:03 UTC

Wise County - Jack, a two-year-old black lab, has been missing from the Lewis family's backyard since Dec. 27.

His bright blue collar still hangs above his kennel."It makes me think of him," said Robin Lewis.

But it wasn't until Robin turned to Facebook that she realized there may be much more to his disappearance.

"If you back track it to the beginning of November, it's frightening."

Two dogs from her neighbor Jana's yard went missing on the same day.

Around the same time, Cassidy McKibben's four-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Lily, disappeared.

"I noticed that my fence was messed up, and I have posted something everyday since she's been gone," McKibben said.

They would eventually learn more than 40 dogs have gone missing in and around Wise County in just the last two months.
Read More...
Butterfly

Australia sees largest number of butterflies in 40 years

Natasha Chaku
Deccan Herald
Thu, 22 Jan 2015 22:44 UTC
Image
© Hongming KanThe Blue Tiger butterfly
Australia has witnessed the largest number of butterflies in 40 years with a combination of rain and heat providing perfect breeding conditions for the insects, an expert has said.

According to Queensland Museum's director of entomology, Christine Lambkin, the combination of rain and heat has provided perfect breeding conditions for the insects which can been seen fluttering through the skies.

"We have had a long extended dry period that has been broken by good rains at the right time of the year. So we have got the warmth as well as the rain and that is what has caused the adults to break the aestivation (insect hibernation) and emerge in numbers.

"Some of them will be trying to mate and lay eggs so that the caterpillars are going to come up on that flush new growth from the rain," Lambkin said.
Read More...
Question

Huge flock of birds invade Houston, Texas neighborhood


abc7.com
Fri, 23 Jan 2015 22:10 UTC
Image
A giant flock of birds invaded the sky in a Houston neighborhood.
It was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's movie 'The Birds.' A giant flock of birds invaded the sky in a Houston neighborhood.

The birds covered the utility wires and the edges of roofs. The man who shot the video was driving by when he spotted the amazing sight.

Read More...
Question

Strange animal behaviour: Hippo cannibalism caught on camera in South Africa

Sarah Griffiths
Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 20:52 UTC
Image
Scientists have captured one of the first cases of cannibalism in hippopotamuses on camera.
In times of famine, some animals go to desperate measures to stay alive, including eating members of their own species.

Now scientists have captured one of the first cases of cannibalism in hippopotamuses on camera.

The grisly photographs show a hippo eating a corpse of another floating in a river in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
Read More...
Attention

Wild boar smashes up restaurant in South Korea

Mikey Smith
Daily Mirror, UK
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:33 UTC
Image
Dozens of diners ran for their lives as a raging wild boar smashed its way into a motorway service station cafe - and the carnage was caught on CCTV

This is the moment terrified diners ran for their lives when a wild pig smashed its way into a service station restaurant in South Korea.

Dozens of customers fled in terror as a rampaging wild boar broke into the Highway Rest Stop cafe, smashing windows and slamming into walls.

The angry animal attacked the glass door of the cafe at full speed before wreaking havoc inside as punters scrambled to avoid a pummelling - with some even standing on tables to get out of the way.


Comment: See also:

Read More...
Binoculars

Rare Arctic gyrfalcon found in Wells Harbor, Maine

Bob Duchesne
Bangor Daily News
Fri, 23 Jan 2015 21:51 UTC
Image
© Bob DuchesneGyrfalcon (dark morph)
We interrupt this column for a special announcement: "A gyrfalcon has appeared in Wells Harbor!"

The gyrfalcon is the largest falcon in the world, capable of taking down a Canada goose. It preys principally on ptarmigan, a chicken-like bird of the tundra, but it is so powerful that it is known to dine on other formidable raptors of the north, such as short-eared owls and rough-legged hawks. It breeds in barren arctic regions around the world, but occasionally wanders southward in winter. It seldom stays long in one place.

My small group was on the prowl for snowy owls when we visited southern Maine last weekend. Several unusual birds also were known to be in the area, including a king eider in Ogunquit. The forecast was ideal, so down Interstate 95 we went. As we pulled into the public parking lot next to the harbor in Wells, a large hawk rested on the nearest tree - in fact, the only tree on the lot.

Comment: See also: Rare Arctic gyrfalcon seen in Madbury, New Hampshire

Read More...
Attention

Hundreds of dead seabirds found in north Iceland

Zoë Robert
icelandreview.com
Sun, 25 Jan 2015 20:34 UTC
Image
© Wikipedia.
Hundreds of dead guillemots were recently found by farmer Gunnar Óli Hákonarsson at Sandur in Aðaldalur, North Iceland. The birds, which were found on a beach east of the mouth of Skjálfandafljót river, are believed to have died from starvation due to bad weather in December. Foxes and ravens have been scavenging on the bird carcasses.

Böðvar Þórisson at the Natural Institute of the West Fjords told mbl.is this week that a large number of seabirds were found dead in Ísafjörður earlier this month. An increase in seagulls, which are more aggressive in their feeding habits, may be to blame, he said.

According to Róbert Á. Stefánsson at the Natural Institute of West Iceland, even seagulls have been hungry this winter.

Comment: See also: "Massive chick deaths" in Iceland's seabird colonies

Unexplainable seabird deaths puzzle scientists in Iceland

Read More...
Attention

Dead pilot whale washed ashore at Fairy Meadow, Australia

Brianna Parkins
Illawarra Mercury
Sun, 25 Jan 2015 14:53 UTC
Image
© Colin Douch
A five metre long whale carcass has been found washed ashore between Fairy Meadow and Towradgi beaches this morning.

The female adult pilot whale died at sea from natural causes according to the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA).

''The whale was showing clear signs of illness, it was underweight and excessive lice was found in its mouth,'' said ORRCA spokeswoman Shona Lorigan.
Read More...