Animals
S


Igloo

Polar bears defy concerns about their extinction: Poster boys of 'man-made global warming' are thriving

Image
Despite concerns about future extinction, polar bear populations appear to have stabilised, and many in fact are growing.
A bitter wind blows off the Arctic Ocean but the mother polar bear and her two cubs standing just 50ft in front of me are in their element.

For more than an hour I watch from a boat just offshore, transfixed and oblivious to the below-freezing temperatures, as the four-month-old twins gambol across the snow.

For years polar bears have been the poster boys of global warming - routinely reported to be threatened with extinction due to melting ice-packs and rising sea temperatures.

Indeed, when they were put on the US Endangered Species list in 2008, they were the first to be registered solely because of the perceived threat of global warming.

One prominent scientist said their numbers would be reduced by 70 per cent by 2050 while global warming proponents - including Al Gore and Sir David Attenborough - used emotive imagery to highlight their 'demise'.

Yet there is one small problem: many polar bear populations worldwide are now stable, if not increasing.

Bizarro Earth

Dead birds in Australia 'not just a freak event'

Dead Muttonbirds
© Jason SouthIncreasing frequency: Hundreds of Tasmanian muttonbirds, also known as short-tailed shearwaters, have been found in dead on Port Phillip bay beaches.
Muttonbirds are dying in their thousands nearly every year and much more frequently than ever before, washing up on the coast from Coffs Harbour to Tasmania.

On South Melbourne and Port Melbourne beaches on Wednesday beach cleaning contractor David Martinez picked up more than 150 short-tailed shearwater birds, a species of muttonbird. One day last week, he picked up a similar number.

At Lord Howe Island this month, 200 shearwater birds washed up for the first time in many years, Monash University seabird biologist Jennifer Lavers said. These deaths en masse, known as "wrecks", have been reported along the coast from Coffs Harbour to Tasmania, she said.

The short-tailed shearwater birds migrate 10,000 kilometres from the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Japan, to Australian shores in late September to nest. Dr Lavers said they have eaten little on their journey and are exhausted by the flight.

Question

What is that thing? Giant 'fish' pulled up from Seattle's Elliott Bay

Giant Fish
© Mark Harrison/Seattle TimesJennifer Klingenstein and her son Quinn, 4, look at the giant fish on a table Wednesday at Sunfish restaurant in West Seattle. The sunfish, weighing several hundred pounds, was caught in Elliott Bay by a tribal fishermen gillnetting for salmon.
This photo of a strange-looking fish was taken by Mark Harrison of The Seattle Times, a day after the creature was pulled up from Seattle's Elliott Bay, off Harbor Island.

According to the Times, a Muckleshoot tribal fisherman, Todd LaClair, had his gill net in the waters off Seattle.

"I was fishing at about 100 feet deep, and as I pulled in the net I could feel that it was big," LaClair told the Times. "When it first came up, it startled me and looked like something that came from Mars."

He said he later discovered it was a giant sunfish - a mola - that he estimated at about 350 pounds. The mystery is why it was in Elliott Bay. Sunfish are native to tropical and temperate waters and feed mostly on jellyfish.

To read the entire Seattle Times article, click here.

Bizarro Earth

Mysterious melting sea stars raise concerns in U.S. and Canada


Seattle - There have been recent reports of starfish that appear to have melted in bodies of water located in Washington state and British Columbia. Biologists are not yet sure about what is causing these creatures to die in such an unusual way.

According to King 5, biologists recently went scuba diving in the waters of Puget Sound to recover several different healthy and diseased starfish. During their expedition, they noticed a disturbingly large number of starfish that appear to have died and melted into a pile of goo on the ocean floor.

Eye 2

Escaped snake found in Walthamstow, London temple

Image
The snake is being looked after at a specialist centre
The hunt is on for the owner of a snake discovered in a temple.

Master Wang, master of the I-Kuan Tao temple in Orford Road, Walthamstow, spotted the brightly-coloured red corn snake slithering down the stairs on Wednesday.

The red corn snake can grow up to six feet in length and swallow prey such as rats and birds whole.

Master Wang, whose wife suffers from a snake phobia, managed to entice the animal into a plastic bottle, which he pierced with air holes and filled with food before calling the RSPCA.

Mrs Wang has a phobia of snakes, forcing her to stay upstairs all day.

The snake was then taken to a specialist reptile centre where it will live until the owner or a new home is found.

Jasmin Ong, 35, was attending a feng shui class at the temple on Wednesday and identified the snake before putting posters up around the area appealing for information.

"It was a bit of a shock. The temple master's wife is terrified of snakes so she had to stay upstairs all day," she said.

I-Kuan Tao is a non-religious temple which shares teaching from Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, as well as running classes on yoga and feng shui.

If you have any information, call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

Heart - Black

At least 12 eagles amongst birds killed by hunters in Malta

Death toll mounts as eagle massacre continues
Image
Short-toed Eagle in Buskett on Malta

The confirmed body count of eagles shot down by hunters in Malta and Gozo reached 12 in the last few days, after two more of these rare and highly protected birds of prey were killed in front of watching BirdLife Malta volunteers.

Despite the presence of six BirdLife Malta teams and as many ALE (Maltese Environment Police) units in the Buskett area this morning at least one Booted eagle was shot down inside Buskett Gardens as it left its roost this morning. Several others, including Short-toed and Booted eagles, were shot at and many more were seen carrying injuries after last night's shooting spree by hunters in Dingli, Buskett, Girgenti, Siġġiewi and Zebbuġ.

This morning's second confirmed victim was a Short-toed eagle shot down in Gozo.


Bizarro Earth

Researchers alarmed by 'puzzling' changes in resident orcas

Orcas
© The Canadian PressResearchers from the Vancouver Aquarium say they are puzzled over observed changes in a pod of resident Orcas in the Salish Sea, such the unusual death of seven matriarchs in the past two years and a lack of vocalizations between whales.
A Vancouver Aquarium whale researcher is sounding the alarm over "puzzling" changes observed in the resident killer whale pods that live off the northern coast of B.C. and Alaska.

Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, a senior marine mammal scientist with the aquarium, says he fears changes in the ocean environment are prompting odd behaviour and an unusually high mortality rate, after spending the summer observing the whales aboard a research vessel.

Barrett-Lennard says one resident pod has lost seven matriarchs over the past two years, an unusually high death rate, and he's also noticed a lack of vocalizations from the normally chatty mammals.

Black Cat

Bobcat attacks hunters near Prescott Valley, Arizona, tests positive for rabies

A bobcat that attacked two quail hunters Thursday afternoon near Prescott Valley has tested positive for rabies, Yavapai County Health officials said Friday afternoon.

Arizona Game and Fish Public Information Officer Zen Mocarski reported that the two hunters suffered multiple injuries when an adult male bobcat attacked them after they stopped to open a gate while hunting near Coyote Springs subdivision.
Image
© Arizona Game and FishA bobcat like this one attacked two hunters near Prescott Valley Thursday afternoon. It later tested positive for rabies.

The men spotted the bobcat under some bushes, and saw it run under their truck. When one of them looked underneath the truck, the bobcat attacked, causing deep lacerations, punctures, and scratches to the man's back, shoulders, arms, and chest, Mocarski said. The man's hunting companion tried to rescue him, and the animal also attacked him, causing less severe injuries. One of the men then shot and killed the bobcat.

The two drove to Yavapai Regional Medical Center with the bobcat. Mocarski said hospital personnel immediately treated both men for exposure to rabies. A Game and Fish wildlife manager picked up the bobcat and took it to the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory for testing. Results released about 4:30 p.m. Friday showed the animal was rabid.

Alarm Clock

Waiting for the big one: giant oarfish start shock waves in LA

'Messenger from the sea god's palace' washed up more than 10 times in year before Japanese tsunami - now two have been found off California

Image
An oarfish washed up on a California beach
Long, slender and snake-like, the giant oarfish is rarely found fewer than 200 metres from the surface of the ocean. Yet in the year leading up to the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, between 10 and 20 of the deep sea creatures washed up dead along the coast of Japan. Ancient Japanese fishermen's lore suggests the oarfish - known as the "messenger from the sea god's palace" - rises to the surface to warn of impending earthquakes.

Which is why people in Southern California are a little nervous at the news that, this month alone, at least two oarfish have been sighted on their beaches without any visible signs of injury or disease, leading to speculation that they were affected by some deep underwater disturbance.

Rachel Grant, a lecturer in animal biology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, said there might be some truth to the Japanese legend, and she has begun a study to test the idea. "It's theoretically possible because when an earthquake occurs there can be a build-up of pressure in the rocks which can lead to electrostatic charges that cause electrically-charged ions to be released into the water," Dr Grant said. "This can lead to the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which is a toxic compound. The charged ions can also oxidise organic matter which could either kill the fish or force them to leave the deep ocean and rise to the surface."

Comment: See also.Second rare oarfish washes up in Southern California

18-foot oarfish caught by Catalina marine science instructor in California

Something amiss deep down? Bizarre-looking oarfish washes ashore on Cabo San Lucas beach

Appearance of "Earthquake fish" spook Japanese

Rare "King of Herrings" Found off Swedish Coast

England: Monster of deep washes up on beach


Bizarro Earth

The disease that killed a million piglets in China has spread to the US, and no one knows why

Dead Pig
© AP Photo/Eugene HoshikoOne of China's floating pigs.
America's pork industry has been gripped by an outbreak of porcine diarrhea since mid-May, the first appearance of the condition in North America. US farmers have reported 768 cases of the disease, known as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), through the first week of October, which implies that many more thousands of animals could be affected.

Although the disease is not transferable to humans, it has been devastating for the US pork industry. It causes severe "watery diarrhea and vomiting in nursing pigs," according to information from the US's National Pork Board. Almost all the piglets who get the disease die because of it, and farmers are reportedly filling "wheelbarrows of dead piglets."

Now researchers at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech say they've traced the virus back to eastern China's Anhui province. Anhui is one of China's major pig-farming areas, home to companies like the fast-growing Anhui Antai Agricultural Industry Group, which slaughtered 500,000 pigs last year.

Pinpointing the origin of the virus isn't going to provide much reassurance to US farmers. Years after it spread in China, it still hasn't been controlled.