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Fri, 24 Sep 2021
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Animals

Binoculars

New Giant Rat, Pygmy Possum Discovered Among Other Beauties



©National Geographic

Mammal expert Martua Sinaga holds a 3-pound (1.4-kilogram) rat that may be a species new to science. The rat was found in the remote Foja Mountains of western New Guinea, Indonesia, on a June 2007 expedition, experts announced yesterday.

Stop

UK: Trafalgar pigeons 'starve to death'

Pigeons in Trafalgar Square are dying from hunger, say government scientists who have conducted post mortems.

Campaigners blame Mayor Ken Livingstone and Westminster council for banning feeding of the birds - a popular tourist pastime that used to provide a supply of food. Since September, feeding has been outlawed in the whole square.

Five pigeon corpses were sent by the Pigeon Action Group to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Suffolk in October.

©Unknown
Going hungry: pigeons found dead in Trafalgar Square had empty stomachs

Agency scientists, who also work for the Department of the Environment, found all five had empty stomachs and protruding bones.

Better Earth

Researchers Find New Deep Water Coral

HONOLULU - Researchers have discovered what they believe is a new deep water coral and sponge beds found several thousands of feet below the ocean surface, officials said Monday.

©AP Photo/Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument
This photo released by Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument shows what is believed to be a lemon-yellow bamboo coral tree.

Black Cat

California: Neighbor saves cat from teeth of coyote

Watching a coyote run toward a field with a big cat in its mouth was more than Jennifer Foster could take just two weeks after her husband died as a result of a freak accident.

Foster and her four adult children were driving home from a restaurant at about 8:30 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 15, when the car's headlights illuminated a coyote running toward a field on Rayshire Street in Thousand Oaks.

Until they noticed the cat in its mouth, they thought it was wonderful to see a wild animal on their street.

©Bob Gerace
Jackie York holds her 10-year-old cat Cosmo after the kitty's life was saved by a quick acting neighbor who jumped out of a moving car and ran after a coyote as it held the cat in its teeth. Cosmo had three puncture wounds in her neck. Now she is making a full recovery at home.

Question

Mysterious mammal caught on film



©Unknown
Long-eared Jerboa

(Click here to see video)

An "extraordinary" desert creature has been caught on camera for what scientists believe is the first time.

Eye 2

Record-size spitting cobra found in Kenya



©REUTERS/WildlifeDirect/Handout
Naja Ashei, a newly discovered giant spitting cobra measuring nearly nine feet and carrying enough venom to kill at least 15 people, is seen in this picture released by WildlifeDirect December 7, 2007.

A giant spitting cobra, measuring nearly nine feet and carrying enough venom to kill at least 15 people, has been discovered in Kenya, a conservation group said on Friday.

Bizarro Earth

Global Warming Wreaks Havoc With Nature

BALI, Indonesia - More than 3,000 flying foxes dropped dead, falling from trees in Australia. Giant squid migrated north to commercial fishing grounds off California, gobbling anchovy and hake. Butterflies have gone extinct in the Alps.

©AP Photo/Rob Griffith
The gray headed flying fox flies over the Sydney Botanical gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007. More than 3,000 flying foxes dropped dead, falling from trees in Australia. Giant squid have migrated north to commercial fishing grounds off California, gobbling anchovy and hake. Butterflies have gone extinct in the Alps.

Butterfly

Rare Sumatran rhino sighting in Malaysia



©Unknown

A Sumatran rhinoceros has been photographed in peninsular Malaysia in the first sighting for more than a decade, raising hopes the animal can avoid extinction, a report said Sunday.

The New Straits Times said the image, captured by a camera trap, snapped just a small part of the rhino but experts declared the wrinkly and folded thigh was unmistakable.

Bizarro Earth

Red Tide Blamed for Calif. Bird Deaths

SAN FRANCISCO - Hundreds of dead or injured seabirds have washed up on the shores of Monterey Bay in recent weeks, and scientists believe a red tide of marine algae is to blame.

Attention

Sunken Antarctic Cruise Ship Leaves Oil Spill, Threatening 2,500 Penguins

About 2,500 penguins en route to their Antarctic mating grounds could be sickened by a diesel fuel spill from a cruise boat that struck an iceberg and sank last week, Chilean scientists said Friday.

Areas surrounding the mile-long spill site include breeding grounds for Antarctic and Adelia penguins, and the largest mating colony for Papua penguins, said Maria Jose Rosello, a Chilean marine biologist.