Animals
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Bizarro Earth

Record dolphin, sea turtle deaths since Gulf spill

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery news
Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:27 UTC
The oil slick as seen from space
© NASA imageThe oil slick as seen from space by NASA’s Terra satellite on May 24, 2010
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico nearly three years ago, but the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that it released are still killing dolphins, sea turtles and other marine life in record numbers, according to new research.

The report, "Restoring a Degraded Gulf of Mexico: Wildlife and Wetlands Three Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster," found that dolphins were among the hardest hit animals. As of just earlier this year, infant dolphins were dying six times faster than they did before the spill. Scientists aren't even yet sure of the extent of the massive spill, given that it was impossible to fully clean up the chemical-laden, carcinogenic oil.

"Three years after the initial explosion, the impacts of the disaster continue to unfold," Doug Inkley, senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation and lead author of the report, said in a press release. "Dolphins are still dying in high numbers in the areas affected by oil. These ongoing deaths - particularly in an apex predator like the dolphin - are a strong indication that there is something amiss with the Gulf ecosystem."

An infographic summarizes some of the findings.
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Bug

A storm is coming in the form of the 17-year cicada

Michael Harper
RedOrbit
Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:45 UTC
Cicadas
© Photos.com

Every 17 years, the Eastern seaboard plays host to millions and millions of visitors who arrive with only one purpose in mind: to mate.

The Magicicada septendecim Brood II, or periodical cicada has an unusual life cycle and spends most of its days living underground, living on the bounty of tree roots. Then, when they near the end of their life, they emerge to breed and procreate. Very shortly afterwards, they die before returning to the ground, leaving a mess for any humans who live in the area.

The cicadas are expected to return to the surface once more this year, and public radio podcast Radiolab is asking for help to predict when to expect the cicadas.

Radiolab is turning this somewhat dire occasion into an opportunity for community science. The cicadas normally only emerge once the temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The resulting swarm is what Radiolab will be calling #swarmageddon, hashtag and all. When the temperature is just right, the cicadas will begin burrowing out of their holes 8-inches in the ground and start looking for mates.

While the cicadas are around, the males make a loud sound to attract potential partners. Once they complete their carnal tasks, they promptly die, leaving unsightly large piles of dead bodies all around.
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Ice Cube

Welsh hill farmers reel as melting snow reveals carcasses of ewes and lambs

John Vidal
Guardian.co.uk
Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:56 UTC
Image
© Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesA heat lamp keeps a one-day-old lamb warm on a farm in Wales. Others though have not fared as well. The frozen carcasses of thousands of heavily pregnant ewes and new-born lambs have been found as the snow melts.
Hill farmers in Wales face one of their worst crises in 60 years as the melting snow reveals the carcasses of thousands of heavily pregnant ewes and new-born lambs. Many animals remain buried under snow drifts, farmers have been unable to get food to starving survivors and the bitter weather forecast to continue for at least a fortnight.

"It's the worst we've known at this time of year since 1966 when I left school," said Emyr Jones, president of the Farmers Union of Wales, who keeps 1,000 ewes on la nd near Lake Bala on the edge of Snowdonia in north Wales."We won't know exactly how bad the situation is until the snow goes finally, but we know losses will be high. The lambs are being frozen to death before they can even stand. It's impossible for farmers to find some sheep in the mountainous areas," he said.
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Attention

Starving sea lion pups mysteriously washing up on southern California beaches


CBS Los Angeles
Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:59 UTC
Scientists and rescuers in Malibu are working to solve a mystery as dozens of dying sea lion pups are washing up on the beach, and no one knows why. Employees from the California Wildlife Center have worked feverishly to try and save the pups, though many were found already dead.

"I've never seen anything like this," said Jonsie Ross, one of the rescuers from the center. "It just looks like malnutrition to me." Officials say hundreds of sea lion pups continue to wash ashore along the LA coastline starved, sick, or dead. The pups are showing up in record numbers, causing great concern. "Even if I think people have been prepared, we never would have imagined the numbers that are coming up on the beach," said Ross.

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    Attention

    Second mass crustacean stranding on Chilean beach

    Weiru Fang
    Santiago Times
    Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:44 UTC
    Image
    © PDI Press Office
    Fishermen wait for initial conclusions of investigative report, consider legal action as beach turns red again.

    Thousands of shrimp and other crustaceans once again washed up on shore in Coronel, after a nearly identical incident in southern Chile last week drew worldwide media attention and prompted an investigation by local officials. Coronel spokesperson Cristian Acosta told The Santiago Times that the new wave of dead shrimp washed up Tuesday afternoon, covering up to a mile of the beach and turning it red. The number of shrimp is roughly the same as the first mass stranding last week.
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    Blackbox

    All but 23 of 10,000 bats in Durham, Pennsylvania bat mine have died

    Amanda Cregan
    Bucks County Courier Times US
    Fri, 29 Mar 2013 06:09 UTC
    Image
    © Pennsylvania Game Commission.
    Bucks County's largest bat population has met a grim fate. Scientists have confirmed that nearly all of the 10,000 bats that have hibernated in an abandoned iron ore mine in Upper Bucks for generations have died.

    When Pennsylvania Game Commission Biologist Greg Turner recently visited the Durham mine for the first time in two years, he found total devastation. The Durham bat mine was once the second largest known bat habitat in Pennsylvania, but this winter only 23 were found alive. Of those, half had clear signs of infection.

    Bucks County's bats were wiped out by a disease that has been killing bat colonies across the Northeast at an alarming rate in the last four years.
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    Question

    Mystery malady kills more bees, heightening worry on farms

    Michael Wines
    The New York Times
    Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:12 UTC
    CCD
    © Jim Wilson/The New York TimesA Disastrous Year for Bees: For America’s beekeepers, who have struggled for nearly a decade with a mysterious malady called colony collapse disorder that kills honeybees en masse, the last year was particularly bad.
    Bakersfield, California - A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation's fruits and vegetables.

    A conclusive explanation so far has escaped scientists studying the ailment, colony collapse disorder, since it first surfaced around 2005. But beekeepers and some researchers say there is growing evidence that a powerful new class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, incorporated into the plants themselves, could be an important factor.

    The pesticide industry disputes that. But its representatives also say they are open to further studies to clarify what, if anything, is happening.

    "They looked so healthy last spring," said Bill Dahle, 50, who owns Big Sky Honey in Fairview, Mont. "We were so proud of them. Then, about the first of September, they started to fall on their face, to die like crazy. We've been doing this 30 years, and we've never experienced this kind of loss before."
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    Info

    Rare Chinese porpoises dive toward extinction

    Megan Gannon
    LiveScience
    Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:06 UTC
    Dead Porpoise
    © Xu DianboA Yangtze finless porpoise found in Dongting lake, China on April 15 2012.
    Giant pandas have become China's poster child for endangered species, but now another iconic animal in the country can claim to be ever rarer than the bears.

    There are just 1,000 individual Yangtze finless porpoises left in the wild, according to a new report. That's less than half of what a similar survey of the porpoises found six years ago.

    The rapidly dwindling numbers have conservationists worried that the species could vanish from the wild as early as 2025.

    "The species is moving fast toward its extinction," said Wang Ding, head of the expedition to count the porpoises and a professor at the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

    Yangtze finless porpoises, the only freshwater finless porpoise in the world, live mainly in the Yangtze River and China's Dongting and Poyang lakes. They are threatened by shrinking food resources and manmade disturbances like shipping traffic.
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    Red Flag

    Madagascar hit by locust plague

    Jill Langlois
    Global Post
    Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:42 UTC
    Image
    © SAMUEL ARANDA AFP/Getty ImagesSwarms of locusts in the Canaries.
    A severe plague of locusts has landed in about half of Madagascar, threatening crops and creating concern over food shortages.

    According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the billions of insects could cause hunger for 60 percent of the country's population.

    The FAO called for $41 million to fight the plague, with the first installment of $22 million required by June. Another $19 million will be needed for a three-year strategy.
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    Bizarro Earth

    This grieving dolphin carrying her dead calf has us stunned


    MSN Now
    Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:18 UTC

    Whale watchers on Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari out of Dana Point in California had one of the most heart-breaking dolphin encounters in recent memory. As a pod of dolphins swam by the boat, Captain Dave Anderson spotted an adult dolphin carrying a deceased calf on her back.

    "I believe this calf has been dead for many days, possibly weeks," he notes. "In my nearly twenty years on the water whale-watching I have never seen this behavior. Nor have I ever seen anything quite as moving as this mother who refuses to let go of her poor calf." Oof. Hits us right in the feel-spots.

    Source
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