Animals
S


Igloo

Mastodons weren't hunted to extinction by Ice Age humans - they simply froze to death, new study finds

Tristin Hopper
National Post
Mon, 01 Dec 2014 07:52 UTC
Mastodons_1
© National PostPaleontology student Hillary McLean pieces together a tusk of an ancient mastodon, part of an extensive discovery unearthed from Snowmass, Colo., inside a workroom at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Despite popular belief that North American mastodons were hunted to extinction by Ice Age humans, a new Canadian-led study is claiming that the prehistoric beasts simply froze to death.

"To think of scattered populations of Ice Age people with primitive technology driving huge animals to extinction, to me is almost silly," said Grant Zazula, chief paleontologist for the Yukon Territory and the study's lead author.

"It's not human nature just to see everything in your path and want to kill it," he said.

The paper, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, carbon dated 36 mastodon bones from across Canada and the United States.
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Attention

2 men attacked and injured by wild boar in Shizuoka, Japan


japantoday.com
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 22:13 UTC
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Two men were injured by a wild boar in Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Tuesday.

According to police, a 63-year-old man was attacked at around 11:30 a.m. in a field. NTV reported that he suffered injuries to his face, neck, hands and legs.

About 20 minutes later, a 64-year-old man was attacked by the same boar a few hundred meters away. He suffered injuries to his stomach and legs.

Police said neither man's injuries are life-threatening.

Members of a local hunting association captured the 1-meter-long boar about an hour later on a riverbank and disposed of it.
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Attention

Man dies following ferocious deer attack at Slovakian farm


Daily Mirror, UK
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 21:20 UTC
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© CENPaid deer price: One of animals at agricultural cooperative in Surovce
Police who opened a murder enquiry after a man died from more than 20 stab wounds have found the killer - a male stag that had speared him with its antlers.

Plumber Vladimir Kostur, 59, was installing a new watering system at a farm in the village of Surovce, Slovakia, when the 660lb beast charged, knocking him to the ground.

The raging stag, one of many deer being kept at the farm, then attacked stunned Kostur with its antlers, puncturing his body 20 times as he lay on the ground.

Pal Frantisek Cerny, 54, said: "I was just arriving to give Vlad a hand when I saw the stag appear out of nowhere and attack him.

Comment: See also: Deer farmer, 75, dies five days after being gored by stag in rutting season in Wales

Even more strange animal behavior: Deer crashes into restaurant in Iowa

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Attention

Remains of humpback whale found in Corolla, North Carolina

Sam Walker
outerbanksvoice.com
Tue, 09 Dec 2014 20:56 UTC
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© Karen ClarkThe whale was first discovered off Pine Island.
What remained of a badly decomposed juvenile humpback whale washed up off Corolla on Friday, then was swept away by the nor'easter, only to turn up Monday five miles to the south in Duck.

The Outer Banks Marine Mammal Stranding Network received a phone call Friday about a large dead whale floating off the sand bar in Pine Island, according to N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission program coordinator Karen Clark.

"On Saturday the team measured a 34-foot juvenile male humpback whale with severe scavenging," Clark said. "Externally there was nothing indicative for cause of death."
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Ice Cube

New species of bivalve mollusk discovered in depths of Arctic Ocean


Phys.org
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 00:00 UTC
new species bivalve mollusk
© Paul Valentich-ScottNew species of bivalve mollusk was recently described and named Wallerconcha sarae.
In the depths of the Arctic Ocean, buried deep in the sediment, an ancient creature waited for over a million years to be discovered. Paul Valentich-Scott, from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (California), and three scientists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS, Menlo Park, California), Charles L. Powell, Brian D. Edwards, and Thomas D. Lorenson were up to the challenge. Each with different expertise, they were able to collect, analyze, and identify a new genus and new species of bivalve mollusk.

The path to discovery is seldom simple or easy. This discovery is no exception. Brian Edwards was the chief scientist on a joint US-Canadian ice breaker expedition aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the summer of 2010. The primary purpose of the expedition was to map the Arctic seafloor and the sediments beneath. Dr. Edwards took deep sediment core samples to further understand the geology of the region including the unusual seafloor mound where these samples were collected. In several of these cores he uncovered bivalve seashells buried nearly 15 feet (4.5 m) below the seafloor surface.

Upon returning to his USGS laboratory in Menlo Park, California, Brian worked with Tom Lorenson on sampling the cores and extracting the shells. The recovered shells were then taken to USGS paleontologist Chuck Powell, for identification. While Chuck was able to ascertain the higher level classification of the clam shells (Family Thyasiridae), he was unable to determine the genus or species. Chuck contacted Paul Valentich-Scott, a clam specialist from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in California.

Comment: For news of other recently discovered species of flora and fauna see:

New species of deep-sea coral discovered off California coast

Two new species of venomous jellyfish found off Australia coast

New species of dinosaur discovered lying forgotten in a museum

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Arrow Down

Pit bull attack on San Diego woman results in surgery and permanent scars

Phyllis M Daugherty
Opposing Views
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 00:00 UTC
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A 70-pound female Pit Bull, who appeared to have recently had puppies, viciously attacked a beagle being walked by his owners and then bit the owner in the face on Sunday. The incident occurred near the intersection of 40th and Myrtle in City Heights, California, around 4 p.m., according to 10News.

Craig Moreno, who lives nearby, said he had just come home when he saw the woman on the corner in a position that looked like she was a hugging a dog. Then he heard her scream for help and realized she was trying to pull a beagle out of the jaws of the huge Pit Bull.

Several other people were also trying to help, Moreno said, so he just jumped right in and also held onto the beagle.

But the Pit Bull did not let loose - not even when a neighbor hit it with a golf club. It continued until someone found the woman's water bottle and began pouring water onto the dog's face. Moreno described to 10News how they pulled harder as they poured the rest of the water into the dog's face and it finally let go.

Comment: Canine attacks by pit bulls as well as other breeds are becoming all too common recently. However, it is not only dogs that are behaving strangely as there have been reports of wild animal attacks by numerous diverse species across the globe.

SOTT EXCLUSIVE: Global canine insurrection? Another week of savage dog attack reports

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Attention

Large number of grey seals washing up dead on Cornish beaches, UK


Falmouth Packet
Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:46 UTC
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© Caz Waddell
Huge numbers of dead seals have been found stranded on Cornish beaches recently, and wildlife experts admit they are baffled.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust says it has attended almost twice as many strandings of seals as would normally be expected for this time of year adding that, throughout October and November, 35 dead seals have washed up along the Cornish coastline, and over the same period a further 37 seals have been rescued alive from Cornish beaches by British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

Caz Waddell, from Cornwall Wildlife Trust said: "While bad weather will undoubtedly have been the cause of some of these strandings, the sheer number of cases has left us slightly baffled. We don't yet have any answers as to why this is happening, but it shows just how important it is for people to tell us about any stranded marine animal they see. The more animals we can study, the more we can try to get to the bottom of what might be going on."
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Attention

Rampaging moose stomps on 2 women walkers in Colorado

Maya Rodriguez
USA Today
Tue, 20 May 2014 11:06 UTC
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A moose on the rampage attacked two women walking with their dogs, injuring both severely.

The animals can weigh a half ton or more.

"We were just moseying along, hiking, enjoying our hike, and then all of a sudden, I looked up and he was looking right at me,"said Jacquie Boron, 50, who was hiking with her neighbor Ellen Marie Divis, 57, near their homes in Black Hawk, Colo., about 35 miles northwest of Denver.

Boron said the moose grunted and immediately charged toward her, hitting her squarely in the chest and knocking her off her feet.

"I knew that they were aggressive, and I knew that I should be very careful with them," she said. "But I didn't expect them just to charge me."

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Sheeple

Michigan man shoots demented ram during crazy attack


myfoxdetroit.com
Tue, 02 Dec 2014 21:09 UTC
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A relentless attack waged on the Richard family by a Thanksgiving party crasher in Whitmore Lake.

"He kept pounding and pounding and pounding."

It started right after dinner when Mike Richard took his dog Murphy for a walk.

"I took a look off to my right and the ram was over here," Mike said.

A ram broke free from a neighbor's land and wanted very badly to be a part of the Richard's holiday gathering.

"It looked at us and I could see the aggression in its eyes," Mike said. "And started charging after us."

"I slammed the door in its face and that's when all hell broke loose," Paula said.

"He wanted in this house," Mike said.

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Attention

Man dies after vicious hippo attack in South Africa


m.news24.com
Tue, 09 Dec 2014 20:51 UTC
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A Limpopo man has died following an attack by a hippo, the provincial health department said on Tuesday.

"The man was fishing on Friday afternoon when the hippo attacked him," spokesperson Macks Lesufi said.

"When he was rescued, he was badly injured."

Dashi Makhuvele fought tooth and nail with the large animal when it attacked him at Makuleke dam while fishing.

Following his ordeal, the 34-year-old man survived to tell the tale but due to the nature of his injuries he died in hospital on Sunday.
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