Animals
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UK: Trafalgar pigeons 'starve to death'

Elizabeth Hopkirk
Evening Standard
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:49 UTC
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.
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Better Earth

Researchers Find New Deep Water Coral


Associated Press
Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:08 UTC
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.
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Black Cat

California: Neighbor saves cat from teeth of coyote

Nancy Needham
Thousand Oaks Acorn
Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:28 UTC
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.
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Question

Mysterious mammal caught on film

Rebecca Morelle
BBC
Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:28 UTC


©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.
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Eye 2

Record-size spitting cobra found in Kenya


Reuters
Sun, 09 Dec 2007 01:24 UTC


©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.
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Bizarro Earth

Global Warming Wreaks Havoc With Nature

Michael Casey
Associated Press
Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:14 UTC
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.
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Butterfly

Rare Sumatran rhino sighting in Malaysia


Agence France-Presse
Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:19 UTC


©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.
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Bizarro Earth

Red Tide Blamed for Calif. Bird Deaths

Terence Chea
Associated Press
Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:18 UTC
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.
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Attention

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

Eva Vergara
ABC News/Associated Press
Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:54 UTC
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.
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Alarm Clock

Flying foxes fall prey to Earth's rising temperature

Lewis Smith
Times online
Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:29 UTC
Flying foxes have been dropping off trees and dying in droves because of the effects of climate change, researchers say.

More than 30,000 of the fruit bats are estimated to have died since 1994 in heat waves associated with global warming.

Mass deaths from heat stress have occurred at least 19 times since 1994, as opposed to only three anecdotal reports of similar flying fox deaths before then.

Comment: Reader comments from the original article:
That's 107.6 degree Farenheit! Enough to denature the proteins of most mammals after an extended period of exposure.

I'm extremely dubious that these temperatures have any cause comnected with so called "Global Warming." Sounds more like some scientists plugged in some local heat lamps to cook their data (and the bats).

Is it possible that scientists were not paying any attention prior to 1994 and that there may have been many episodes which were overlooked and never recorded? The phrase "anecdotal evidence" suggest that no rigorous studies had been conducted before that time. So, it's possible (probable?) that this is a case of skewed data, i.e. finding only the data to support the conclusion you wish to reach. Is this supposed to be peer-reviewed science?!

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

The bats in Lewis Smith's belfry would die too if he was exposed to temperatures of 42 degrees for a relatively short time.

This typical global warming alarmist report gives no indication of where the "mass deaths" took place In Australia.

For example, here in Adelaide temperatures of 42 are not uncommon and I must say that watching bats falling out of trees is as much a rarity as seeing kangaroos hopping down the main street.

Gordon Hastings, Adelaide, South Australia


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