When Brisbane software developer Chris Baine went to the toilet on Monday night he encountered something he never expected to.

A 1.5m carpet python was curled up in the toilet bowl, but that was not the end of the story.

Despite his wife Carly's advice to leave it alone, Mr Baine tried to grab the serpent with a towel before it disappeared down the bowl.

"It was about 11.30pm when Chris went to the bathroom, we had both used it an hour before and there was nothing there so it was a complete shock," Mrs Baines said.

"When he lifted the lid he screamed out "holy s**t, come and look at this" and I said no way, not until you tell me what it is.''

Mrs Baines, who works at a veterinary hospital, called her boss to make sure they had identified it correctly.

"He told us to try to use a hook shaped implement to take it out, but Chris decided to go with a towel and a pair of garden gloves,'' she said.

But the saga did not end there. The python reappeared early the following morning when Mrs Baines went to the bathroom.

Endangered tigers, red pandas and lions in the country are succumbing to infection caused by canine distemper virus (CDV), a disease common in domestic dogs.

The scientists at Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly found the presence of CDV in the blood samples of dead animals.

"Since last one year we have found many blood samples of dead tigers, red pandas and lions, who were positive for CDV. The disease has been found in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, Patna Zoo and many areas of West Bengal and Darjeeling," said AK Sharma, principal scientist and in charge of Centre for Wildlife, IVRI.

CDV affects different systems of the body including nervous and respiratory system in these animals. It breaks down the immunity system and causes various secondary bacterial infections which leads to their death.

"As this disease damage the brain, it badly affect their decision making power. Due to this, the animals go beyond their natural habitat and enter human settlements. It leaves them an easy prey for poachers," Sharma said.

The source of CDV among tigers, lions and red pandas is the direct contact like licking. Even these animals are eating dogs infected with the virus. The disease is also spreading through infected material such as drinking water from same source. Sharma said, "If all the dogs are vaccinated in the buffer zone of forest, it could stop the spread of disease."

Researchers believe that many more species could have been exposed to this virus in the country. "We can say about the status of disease only after we collect blood samples of different species of animals from various areas of India," said Gaya Prasad, assistant director general, animal health, Indian Council of Agriculture Research and acting director, IVRI.

Investigation to take a few days

AltaLink is investigating reports about dozens of dead ducks near one of its transmission lines in southwest Alberta.

McIntyre estimates the deaths may be in the hundreds based on a 10-minute walk along the line he took on Dec. 31.

Judging from the damage to ducks, he thinks they may be hitting the line in bad weather when they can't see it.

The company is sending workers to an area near Pincher Creek and may install "flappers" to help make the lines more visible.

Director Scott Schreiner says it appears it happened near an existing line and not near one of the new transmission lines under construction.

"We've sent a team of environmental experts from AltaLink and external providers down to investigate.

Mysterious mass starfish deaths along the Pacific coastline have marine biologists scratching their heads and scrambling to find a cause.

They're also worried about how seastar wasting syndrome will affect ecosystems spanning Alaska to California, including those in the Greater Victoria area.

"We've seen it all along the Saanich Inlet, we've seen it around the Gulf Islands, it started in Howe Sound," said marine biologist Paula Romagosa, curator of Sidney's Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre.

"It's quite serious. Nothing like this has been seen before, not to this extent."

Just what it is that's wiping out about 30 per cent of the coast's observable starfish is still unknown.

"I'm quite scared, to be honest. We can't figure out what it is, so there's no way to control it - or know if it'll affect our food sources like fish."

Affected populations including sunflower, sun, basket, leather, pink, common purple, vermillion, and blood stars are dying.

Biologists still do not know what caused the deaths of either of two True's beaked whales that washed up over Sunday and Monday.

Biologists at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation have come across two rare cases of True's beaked whales turning up dead on Long Island beaches.

Just before 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, the Riverhead Foundation was contacted about a large dolphin thrashing in the surf near Flying Point Beach in Southampton. Using photographs sent from the scene, biologists identified the creature as a rare True's beaked whale. A passerby attempted to push the whale back into the water, but it beached itself a second time near Gin Lane and was found dead when the Riverhead Foundation arrived.

The female whale was about 15 and a half feet long, and weighed an estimated 2,000 pounds. The Highway Supervisor for the Village of Southampton, John Brostowski, helped the members of the Riverhead Foundation transport the deceased whale back to the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center, where a necropsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Before biologists could even determine what killed the True's beaked whale - a whale that many biologists on Long Island never see - a call came in about a second whale of the same species that washed up on a beach in Bridgehampton. The second whale, a male, was approximately 9 feet long and weighed an estimated 400 pounds.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), True's beaked whales prefer the deep warm temperate waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, making it odd that they would appear in the colder waters around Long Island. True's beaked whales are difficult to observe and identify at sea due to a low profile at the surface, and few of these whales have ever been spotted alive in the water.

Officials at the Riverhead Foundation will be performing necropsies on both of the whales.

Source: Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, NOAA

Foot and mouth disease has claimed lives of over 4,700 cattle in Kerala after its outbreak a few months ago, State Agriculture Minister KP Mohanan told the state Assembly on Monday.

Replying to a submission in this regard, he said that the disease is now under control due to the effective remedial steps taken by the government.

A sum of Rs1.9 crore has been distributed to farmers who lost cattle as compensation. Rs 20 lakh has been allotted to districts to initiate measures to check spread of disease, he added.

Free treatment and vaccination is being carried out as part of the measures, he added.

A pair of conjoined gray whales has been found off the shore of Mexico, in what could be the first documented case of Siamese twin grey whales.

Scientists in Mexico's Laguna Ojo de Liebre, or Scammon's Lagoon, discovered the dead calves, believed to have been miscarried as a result of their disability.

Conjoined twins have occurred in other species, notably fin, sei and minke whales, however, research has not found any published cases of conjoined gray whale twins.

Scientists in Mexico's Laguna Ojo de Liebre, or Scammon's Lagoon, on Sunday discovered conjoined gray whale calves, and it could be the first documented case of Siamese twin gray whales.

Conjoined twins have occurred in other species, notably fin, sei and minke whales. However, an online search and a search of the database at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County did not reveal published instances of conjoined gray whale twins.

• Plague of poison-resistant rats bringing new misery to homeowners

• Super rats are invading houses to seek shelter from their flooded lairs

• Pests are immune to traditional poisons and carry life-threatening diseases

Flood ravaged homes across England have a new threat to contend with: a plague of mutant 'super' rats.

The disease-carrying rodents have been emerging from their traditional lairs in sewers and burrows, fleeing the rising flood waters.

Hordes of the brown rats have escaped flooded drains across the south of England after storms unleashed torrential downpours on vast swathes of the country.

Record heatwaves and wildfires, widespread and severe flooding, massive sinkholes swallowing buildings and people, mass animal deaths, an asteroid exploding over Russia, thousands more fireballs lighting up the sky throughout the year, record-breaking blizzards snowfall, the coldest northern spring in 100 years, massive landslides, 'rare' tornadoes occurring in places they shouldn't, the widest tornado ever observed, more volcanic eruptions, more major earthquakes forming new islands, the strongest tropical storm in recorded history, successive hurricanes in Europe, the coldest temperature ever recorded, snow in Cairo... these are signs of climate change, aka Earth Changes.

Welcome to the new normal.