Animals
S


Butterfly

Swarms of bees returning to Kansas

Phyllis Jacobs Griekspoor
kansas.com
Mon, 26 May 2008 17:52 UTC
Mites and other diseases had reduced their population, but wild and domestic bees appear to be recovering.

The bees are back.

After several years of heavy losses to the varroa mite in both domestic and wild bees, Kansas is seeing a return of swarms of bees.

The numbers have been sufficient for Kansas State University's Extension Research and Education division to resurrect its "swarm catchers" list from several years ago, offering homeowners or businesses plagued with the swarming insects a resource for getting them removed.

Sharon Dobesh, an entomologist with K-State, said the comeback is good news for beekeepers and for agriculture, which relies on the insects to pollinate almonds, apples, cucumbers, sunflowers, alfalfa and other crops.
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Better Earth

Mexico Navy hunts for sharks after attacks

Noel Randewich
news.yahoo.com
Mon, 26 May 2008 17:02 UTC
MEXICO CITY - The Mexican Navy searched for sharks in the ocean near Pacific surfing beaches on Monday, after two bathers were killed and another maimed in a rare spate of shark attacks.

Three boats and a helicopter patrolled the sea while Navy and rescue officials scanned the horizon with binoculars from popular beaches around the southwestern Mexican resort of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. They warned surfers not to go far out.
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Wolf

To predict quakes, listen to the animals, China survivors say


Agence France-Presse
Sun, 25 May 2008 14:32 UTC
Well before this city was destroyed by an earthquake 32 years ago, the coming disaster was loudly preceded by strange animal behaviour and other bizarre signals that survivors wish they heeded.

"The animals were trying to tell us something. If only we knew that, not so many people would have died," said Fu Wenran, a retired farmer whose wife was among the estimated 240,000 who perished in Tangshan's quake on July 28, 1976.

Several survivors of the disaster in this northern city -- still the deadliest earthquake of modern times -- said the toll in this month's quake in southwestern China could have been minimised if such clues had been validated.

Image
©Unknown
A cat sits outside a shop
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Extinguisher

US: Big Reptiles, Alien Trees Hamper Everglades Fire Fight

Willie Drye
National Geographic News
Thu, 22 May 2008 12:43 UTC
Firefighters in Florida's Everglades National Park are encountering large, dangerous reptiles and poisonous trees as they battle a fire that has consumed about 39,000 acres (16,000 hectares) since last week.

Fighting the Mustang Corners blaze in the remote, trackless Everglades has "posed a lot of challenges," said Mike Dueitt, a firefighter from Florence, Mississippi.
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Magic Wand

Did China's pandas know the quake was coming?

Rowan Hooper
New Scientist
Thu, 22 May 2008 10:04 UTC
As the human death toll from the China earthquake on May 12 tops 50,000, emergency rations are being sent to some of the most endangered survivors - giant pandas.

The China Daily reports that some 4500 kilograms of bamboo leaves and 1050 kg of bamboo shoots, as well as apples, soya beans, eggs and milk powder are being sent to feed giant pandas at the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, Sichuan province, just 30 kilometres from the epicentre. Five of the centre's workers were killed in the quake, and 2 of 53 pandas were injured.
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Ladybug

'Crazy' ants plague Texas, fouling electronics

Tony Barboza
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 19 May 2008 10:00 UTC
Texans are battling a plague of insects that sounds right out of the book of Exodus. So-called "crazy Rasberry ants," named after Tom Rasberry, the exterminator who first identified them, and called "crazy" for their erratic marching pattern, have begun appearing in huge numbers in the Houston area. The ants have been wreaking havoc on homes by destroying electrical wiring, according to the Houston Chronicle, which offers this fear-inducing introduction:
You won't be able to hear them.

Don't even try.

But somewhere out there, maybe as near as your backyard, the crazy Rasberry ants are marching. Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of them are coming in a near-unstoppable zig-zagging insect army intent on making your home, yard and life a living hill.
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X

Canada: Alberta's bees dying at record rates

Jennifer Fong
Calgary Herald
Wed, 21 May 2008 11:50 UTC
For the second year in a row, Alberta beekeepers are hearing less buzzing from their hives.

A pest manager with the provincial government says bee populations in over-wintered colonies are down by 25 per cent -- 10 per cent more than normal.

Honey farmer Ernie Martens, who normally runs 1,000 hives in northern Alberta, estimates he's lost 70 per cent of his insects.

"We're trying to figure out ways to rebuild, but I'm not sure how," he said from his farm in La Crete, which is about 800 kilometres north of Edmonton.
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Ladybug

US: 25-Thousand Bees Invade Jersey County School

Roche Madden
KTVI
Wed, 21 May 2008 11:45 UTC
Spring has sprung and bees are buzzing. Brighton Illinois beekeeper Gene Reilley spends a lot of time hunting for swarms of bees. This week he scooped up 25 thousand bees from the 5th grade classroom at Delhi Elementary school in Jersey County.

Students weren't frightened. One said, "Cool very cool." Another, "There was a lot of bees."

Students were removed from the classroom when the bees moved inside through a crack in the wall which has since been sealed. No children were hurt.

Image
©KTVI
Bee Keeper
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Stop

Germany Suspends Pesticide Approvals After Mass Death Of Bees

Nidhi Sharma
AHN
Thu, 22 May 2008 11:41 UTC
The German Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has reportedly suspended the approval for eight pesticides after the mass death of bees in one state.

The German Research Centre for Cultivated Plants reported that 29 out of 30 dead bees it examined in Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state had been killed by contact with clothianidin, a product found in one of the seed treatment products.

The suspended products are: Antarc (ingredient: imidacloprid; produced by Bayer), Chinook (imidacloprid; Bayer), Cruiser (thiamethoxam; Syngenta), Elado (clothianidin; Bayer), Faibel (imidacloprid; Bayer), Mesurol (methiocarb; Bayer) and Poncho (clothianidin; Bayer).
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Frog

Frog Migration: Omen to China Earthquake Disaster


Weird Asia News
Tue, 13 May 2008 10:43 UTC
On May 5th, many Chinese locals noticed thousands of frogs on the move. They were seen traveling without fear of traffic as they crossed streets in mass floods.

Frogs
©Unknown

Many Chinese sensed the migration as a bad omen of a coming natural disaster, but the Chinese government told them that it was just a natural migration for the purpose of propagation. This calmed the people and no one took the omen very seriously.
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