Animals
S


Fish

Massive Fish Die Off In The Whangamarino Wetlands of New Zealand


Voxy.co.nz
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:05 UTC
Image
© UnknownWhangamarino wetland
The deaths of thousands of fish over the past week in the Whangamarino wetland have been caused by very low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, The Department of Conservation [DOC] says.

Department spokesperson Kevin Hutchinson said numerous reports had come in from concerned residents and wetland users about the deaths, numbering possibly in the hundreds of thousands. While most are pests such as koi carp and catfish, native species mullet, bullies and eels have also been found dead.

"The drought at the end of 2010 exposed large areas of the wetland and rapid plant growth occurred in areas usually under water. High rainfall in January compounded by the baked dry ground in the catchment meant water rapidly ran off into the wetland and water levels remained consistently high for about three consecutive weeks."

Kevin Hutchinson says the decomposing plant matter started a bacterial process which depletes oxygen in the water. The warm humid weather experienced over summer has kept water temperatures and thus enhancing bacterial growth. Tests conducted with an oxygen meter by DOC rangers yesterday confirmed the very low levels of oxygen present in the water.
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Bizarro Earth

UK: Farmer Devastated as Prize Flock Dies in Freak Weather


The Leader
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
A farmer says he is "devastated" after seeing more than 200 of his elite sheep drowned in a flash flood.

It is the second time in just over a year that Eryl Morris has been hit by the River Dee bursting its banks.

The flood, early on Sunday, has cost him many thousands of pounds and the pride of his flock.

Mr Morris was away in Buckinghamshire helping a sheep farming friend when millions of gallons of water poured on to the rich Bangor-on-Dee grazing land he has farmed for more than a decade.

Almost too upset to speak from the south of England yesterday, he said: "I am totally devastated by this - I have lost a hell of a lot sheep."

His wife Glenys said: "It was 12 hours of flash flooding that did the damage and it started about 1am.

"When I heard on the radio that Bala was flooded I knew we were in trouble too.

"The same thing happened to us in November, 2009, but although we lost some sheep then - about 40-50 - it wasn't anything like this.

"Altogether 230 of our sheep have died and another 70 were saved by the fire service and other people who were going out there in canoes I think.
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Question

UK: Government vets investigate five swans' deaths


BBC
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:13 UTC
swan
© Unknown
Government veterinary officers are working to establish how five swans died in the County Down area.

It is understood two more birds are ill. The dead birds' remains were found on private land in the Killyleagh area.

A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Dard) said the swans had been removed so that post-mortem exams could be carried out.

"This is the second case that has been brought to our attention," he said.
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Wolf

'Super pack' of 400 wolves terrorise remote Russian town after killing 30 horses in just four days


The Daily Mail
Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:58 UTC
Image
© Caters News AgencyAttacks: A hunter holds up the body of a dead wolf after a massive pack of 400 of the animals has terrorised the town of Verkhoyansk in Russia
A 'super pack' of wolves has been terrifying a town after leaving more than 30 horses dead in just four days.

Four hundred bloodthirsty wolves have been spotted prowling around the edges of Verkhoyansk, in Russia, attacking livestock at will.

Twenty four teams of hunters have been put together to get rid of the wolves, with a bounty of £210 for every wolf skin brought to officials.

Stepan Rozhin, an administration official for the Verkhoyansk district in Russia, said: 'To protect the town we are creating 24 teams of armed hunters, who will patrol the neighbourhood on snowmobiles and set wolf traps.

'But we need more people. Once the daylight increases, the hunters will start shooting predators from helicopters.'

A pack of wolves this size is unheard of, with the animals usually preferring to hunt in smaller groups of just six or seven.

The massive group is believed to be made from hundreds of packs and has left animal experts baffled.

Dr Valerius Geist, a wildlife behaviour expert, said the harsh Siberian winter - where temperatures plummet to minus 49C - had killed off the animal's usual prey.

He said: 'It is unusual for wolves to gather in such numbers or hunt large animal like horses.

'However, the population of their usual prey, rabbits, has decreased this year due to lack of food, so wolves have had to change their habits.

'Wolves are very careful to choose the most nutritious food source easiest obtained without danger - which in this case happens to be horses.
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Camera

US: Poisonous New Pseudoscorpion Found in Colorado Cave

Christine Dell'Amore
National Geographic News
Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Dave SteinmannThe new pseudoscorpion is top of the food chain in Glenwood Caverns.
Nearly blind animal has venom-tipped pincers.

Unless you've been living in a cave, you probably haven't run across this new species of poisonous, nearly blind pseudoscorpion.

The 0.5-inch-long (1.3-centimeter-long) species, Cryptogreagris steinmanni, was discovered recently in high-altitude caverns near Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Pseudoscorpions are essentially scorpions that lack a stinging tail. However, the new species does have long, venom-tipped pincers that likely help it nab agile prey, such as springtails, in the gloom.

Most likely, the new pseudoscorpion lives only in Glenwood Caverns and Historic Fairy Caves, the study authors say.

"A lot of these caves are islands, almost like an isolated environment where invertebrates ... evolve into being adapted to underground life," said biospeleologist David Steinmann, a zoology department associate with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Steinmann collected the new species after it was discovered in 2000 by tour guide Micah Ball.

With its primitive eyes and pale color, the arachnid is perfectly suited to its dark, chilly existence and has probably been scurrying through the passages for millions of years, Steinmann said.
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Bizarro Earth

New Zealand: New Bid to Free Re-Stranded Whales

Paloma Migone
New Zealand Herald
Sat, 05 Feb 2011 14:28 UTC
Stranded Whales
© Serge ZollingerVolunteers help keep the beached whales hydrated at Puponga Point on Friday.

Three pilot whales were found dead near Farewell Spit, at the top of the South Island, after they beached for the third time this morning.

Department of Conservation (DOC) spokeswoman Trish Grant told NZPA the two groups of whales which restranded on Farewell Spit yesterday afternoon moved with the high tide overnight, and have now formed three groups.

She said there were about 19 whales near Puponga, about 25 at the base of Farewell Spit on triangle flat, and about 25 whales 10km down the spit.

The groups were believed to include the 66 whales which refloated themselves on Saturday morning after becoming stranded at Puponga Point, north of Taupata Point, on Friday. Fourteen of the pod died in that stranding.

"Some of the dead are calves," Ms Grant said. "This is the third time they have stranded and to be stranded even once is a quite a stressful ordeal for a whale. They are doing surprisingly well considering what they have been through."
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Question

New Zealand: Mystery as Dead Birds Pile up on City Street

Imogen Crispe
The Daily Post, Rotorua, New Zealand
Sat, 05 Feb 2011 14:19 UTC
Dead Bird
© Andrew Warner 020211aw2 Dead: One of the sparrows found on Amohau St over the long weekend.

What killed hundreds of dead birds found on a Rotorua central city street? Nobody seems to know.

Rotorua mother Glyssa Bosworth was walking down Amohau St this week when her 1-year-old daughter pointed out a bird on the ground.

Then she saw a few more.

"I could smell something absolutely horrific," Miss Bosworth told The Daily Post.

She turned around and saw "hundreds" of them on the ground around the base of a tall tree in the reserve near the entrance to the Central Mall.

She said she had never seen that many dead birds before.

"There was a humongous pile of them. It was gross."
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Bizarro Earth

Dead fish wash up on Florida shore


msnbc.com
Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:46 UTC
dead fish
© CNN
Sebastian - Biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they believe a lack of oxygen is what caused thousands of fish to die at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

WPBF 25 News alerted the FWC after u local user jhazel uploaded photos of the dead fish that had washed ashore Friday morning.

"I saw the fish jumping out there and I thought it was going to be a really good day for fishing, and then I noticed over here in the surf that they're all dead," fisherman Jeff Johnson told WPBF 25 News.

FWC biologists arrived to assess the situation and take water samples as people watched.

"It's a little shocking, yes," Johnson said. "I don't know if there's chemicals in the water or the temperatures that caused this."

Biologists said it's neither.
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Bizarro Earth

Brazil - Thousands of dead fish in the Pantanal


Brazil Weird News
Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:27 UTC
dead fish
© Rhobson T. Lima/O Pantaneiro
Mato Grosso Do Sul, Amazon Region - At Aquidauana, pantanal region of the Mato Grosso do Sul state, shoals of painteds, pacus, golden fishes, cacharas - and even stingrays, are floating dead in Rio Negro, one of the largest in the Amazon River basin.

The estimated Environmental Policy is of that several tons of fishes died, adding that the authorities and experts, they still do not have the scale of the ecological disaster.

Biologist of the State Institute of the Environment, Robert Gill Machado, noted the phenomenon, considered of great proportion, after flying over the region of sub-basin of Rio Negro. At this place fishing is banned. The area is considered one of the nurseries of fish breeding of the Pantanal.

According to the technicians of the Institute the symptoms that occur in this case are the same symptoms of other instances of the genre. The fish are dying putting their heads out of water trying to obtain air, due to lack of oxygen in the water. This deficiency is due to the large volume of ash produced by burned, which is carried by runoff along riverbeds of the wetland.
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Bizarro Earth

Whales Appearing in New York Harbor in Greater Numbers

Akane Otani
The Cornell Daily Sun
Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:03 UTC
Humpback Whale
© Zorankovacevic / Wikipedia Commons
Just minutes outside of the New York Harbor, whales, dolphins and seals have been arriving in increasing numbers.

Prof. Christopher Clark, neurobiology and behavior and zoology, has monitored the animals since 1972 by placing acoustic recorders on Long Island and the mouth of New York Harbor and analyzing the data collected from them.

Although their presence has surprised many people, whales and other aquatic mammals have inhabited the area for many years, Clark said. He explained that scientists had not studied them consistently until recently.

"The whales are quite mobile and might go out from the continental shelf into the Gulf Stream, but there are enough of them moving around that there are always whales in New York," Clark said. "This is part of their home turf."

Clark estimates that as many as 30 to 50 fin whales are now living in the ocean offshore of New York City.
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