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Silent Spring: Songbirds are disappearing across the planet reveals new documentary film


cbc.ca
Sun, 11 May 2014 06:55 UTC
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Purple Martin
We depend on songbirds to keep the Earth's plant life flourishing. Like the bees, it is the birds who pollinate the flowers and disperse the seeds. They keep insects under control, protecting leaves and seeds and human crops.

But according to the world's leading bird scientists, songbirds are disappearing.

"By some estimates, we may have lost almost half the songbirds that filled the skies almost forty years ago" says respected ornithologist Bridget Stutchbury. Scientists around the globe are in a race against time to discover why this is happening, and what it means.

One species they're studying is the purple martin, whose numbers have dropped by an alarming 78% since 1970, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey which has been keeping population records for more than fifty years.

The purple martin is a migratory bird that follows the food supply from temperate North America south down to the Amazonian Basin. To learn more about their dramatic downhill slide, Stutchbury and her team band the birds with tiny light-level logging geolocators.

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Bizarre 'octogoat' with eight legs born in Croatia

Lee Moran
New York Daily News
Thu, 08 May 2014 08:54 UTC
According to vets, the animal - born in Kutjevo and owned by Zoran Paparic - likely fused with an underdeveloped twin, resulting in the eight legs, as well as both male and female sex organs. But they aren't sure the kid will live longer than three years, though Paparic hopes to keep it as a pet.


An "octogoat' with eight legs has been born on a Croatian ranch.

The spider-like kid, welcomed into the world earlier this week, also has both male and female sex organs.

Zoran Paparic said he was stunned to see the freak creature after delivering it from mom Sarka on his Kutjevo farm.
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Fish

19 Basking sharks arrive off the coast of Cornwall, UK

Paul Gallagher
The Independent, UK
Fri, 09 May 2014 13:52 UTC
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So many basking sharks have already been spotted in British waters that experts are declaring this the best start to shark season in living memory.

A wildlife tour group reported sighting 19 basking sharks up to 25 feet in length last weekend as the eight-tonne travellers begin to arrive off the south west coast.

The animals, which travel to temperate waters and can stay in British regions until October, have been growing in numbers year on year according to The Shark Trust. A total of 266 Basking Shark sightings were reported to the Trust last year as it hopes for an even higher number in 2014.

"To see so many this early has been an absolute honour and it is exciting to consider what the rest of the season may hold for us," said Captain Keith Leeves, a veteran skipper with AK Wildlife Cruises, told the Western Morning News.
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Eye 2

Snakes invade Regent's Canal district in London

Jack Simpson
The Independent, UK
Sat, 10 May 2014 08:04 UTC
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There has been an increase in sightings of the Aesculupian around the canal in the last couple of months

A band of foreign snakes that are said to be capable of crushing small children to death are on the loose in North London.

Over the last few weeks, 30 Aesculupian snakes, which can grow up to two metres in length, have been spotted up trees, rooftops and climbing up the drains of houses around the Regent's Canal area.

The snakes that are thought to originate from Yugoslavia have been known to attack small dogs and their numbers now seem to be growing in the capital.

Tales of snakes being spotted around the Regent's Canal area began in the 90s, but it was not until the head keeper of reptiles at London Zoo spotted one that they were confirmed as the Aesculupian.

Since then there have been a number of sightings across and these have increased in frequency over the last couple of months.
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Evil Rays

Birds are losing all sense of direction

Heather Callaghan
Activist Post
Wed, 07 May 2014 08:25 UTC
bird
© 2.bp.blogspot.com
What's happening? They are losing their inner-compass...

The migratory pattern of birds - even if it is a dry subject and the aim of comedic cracks - for some odd reason, has always held the high fascination of biologists.

Never more so than now...

That's because the classic experiments were so predictable. Such as a cage with some kind of monitors to catch which direction the bird wanted to travel at night.

That is, until it started going tragically wrong in the mid-2000s.

German researchers discovered in 2004 that the regular experiment became an erratic mystery while observing the European Robin.

They would not orient themselves in a single direction. They would not hop in a direction. They were shut down. They were completely lost. Changing variables like food, light, cages...lots of things - didn't do a thing according to biologist Henrik Mouritsen. For three years they tried to solve the mystery.
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Bizarro Earth

Rare, deep-water megamouth shark caught off the coast of Japan

Heather Saul
The Independent, UK
Thu, 08 May 2014 16:15 UTC
Megamouth Shark
© The Independent, UK
An extremely rare female deep-water megamouth shark has been caught off the coast of Shizuoka in Japan, in what is believed to be only the 58th known sighting of the animal on record.

The distinctive looking creature was hauled from a depth of 2,600 ft and weighed almost 1,500lbs.

The name 'megamouth' is derived from the disproportionate size of its huge head and the enormous capacity of its mouth, which is kept open as it swims in order to filter water for plankton and jelly fish.

Only 13 sightings of the sharks off the coast of Japan have been recorded. Over 1,500 people gathered to watch the 13ft long animal's necropsy, which scientists are hoping will help them learn more about the unusual species.

The sharks can grow to a maximum length of between 17 and 18 ft and were only recognised as a species almost 30 years ago when the first megamouth was caught in the sea anchor of a US Navy ship off the coast of Hawaii.

Its remains can now be viewed at The Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka, The Japan Daily Press reported.
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Info

Herd of rampaging elephants kill two and injure over a dozen in Jharkhand, India


Times of India
Mon, 05 May 2014 05:22 UTC
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A villager from Bundu district of Jharkhand, said a heard of wild elephants attacked the village after dusk, killing two people
Wild elephants went on rampage in Bundu killing at least two people and leaving over a dozen injured on Monday.

The wild pachyderms also destroyed several houses, leaving several villagers homeless, spreading fear and panic among the locals.

Locals say this was not an isolated incident and they are regularly at the receiving end of elephants' wrath - especially during the paddy season.

Bheem Mehto, a villager from Bundu district of Jharkhand, said a heard of wild elephants attacked the village after dusk, killing two people.
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New details emerging into disturbing dead animals case in Nevada County

Jennifer Kastner
JRN.com
Wed, 07 May 2014 18:13 UTC

New information is emerging into the bizarre case involving dead animals found in a vacant Pahrump home.

Investigators are now saying the dogs were carefully wrapped up and placed in an unplugged refrigerator outside.

Whoever is responsible for the disturbing act is still on the loose.

The behavior really worries animal control. If that suspect is capable of doing that to pets, what could they do to the human population?

Action News finally got some paperwork from animal control on Wednesday, showing they have been called out the home half a dozen times before this all blew up last Friday when the dogs were found in the fridge.
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Fish

Scientists puzzled by odd creature found on South African beach

Anne Sewell
All Voices.com
Sun, 04 May 2014 20:25 UTC
Freaky Fish
© Leandra Vissr, FacebookA freaky fish found by Leandra Visser on De Kelder beach near Cape Town, South Africa.
Leandra Visser posted the above photo on Facebook during her holiday at De Kelder near Cape Town, South Africa. Her caption read, "Can someone please tell me what the hell this is? We picked it up on the beach at De Kelder. It's the real thing!!"

The weird looking creature is fish-like but with huge teeth and its head appears far too big for its tiny body.

According to the Afrikaans daily Die Burger, Visser denies that the image is a joke and the newspaper took it on themselves to send the photo to the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Grahamstown for verification.

The paper quotes Alan Whitfield, chief SAIAB scientist as saying that just because the creature was found on a beach, does not necessarily mean it is a fish. Whitfield drew attention to the fact that the creature in the image has no fins.
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Attention

Dead sperm whale rotting on Cape St. George shoreline, Newfoundland

Melanie Patten
Truro Daily News
Wed, 07 May 2014 13:35 UTC
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People living in Cape St. George, N.L., aren't sure what to do with a dead whale that's settled along their shoreline.

But the mayor of the west coast hamlet says letting the 12-metre sperm whale simply decompose is out of the question.

"We have people with houses reasonably close to it and the smell is the first thing you will encounter," Peter Fenwick said Tuesday. "Rotting marine fat is probably the most lousiest smell you've ever smelled in your life.

"It makes cod liver oil smell like perfume in comparison."

And then there are the clouds of flies it could attract.

"That's just intolerable for people, so it has to go," he said. "There's just no other way around it."
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