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Crocodiles Body Surf to Hop Between Islands

Rachel Kaufman
National Geographic News
Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:00 UTC
Image
© Sam Abell/National Geographic
A saltwater crocodile sits on shore during low tide on the Cape York Peninsula in Australia.
"Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin helped design tracking study.

Saltwater crocodiles in the South Pacific travel between islands by body surfing, according to new research designed in part by late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.

The world's largest living reptile, the saltwater crocodile is found in brackish and freshwater habitats extending east-west from East India to Fiji and north-south from southern China to northern Australia.

Despite being found on several islands across this range, different crocodile groups haven't evolved into completely unique species - the way Darwin's finches evolved on the Galápagos Islands.

That suggests the crocodiles are somehow island hopping, keeping the overall gene pool well mixed. But until now, no one was sure just how the crocs were traveling, as they're excellent swimmers for short distances but aren't great at long, endurance swims.
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Magnify

Researchers Uncover Identity of Spider Discovered by Darwin More Than a Century Ago


PhysOrg
Fri, 04 Jun 2010 08:00 UTC
Image
© George Washington University
Leucauge argyrobapta
Researchers at The George Washington University recently uncovered the identity of a spider that was originally found by Charles Darwin in Brazil more than a century and a half ago. Using notes taken by Darwin himself, the researchers uncovered the identity of the species, Leucauge argyrobapta, and many aspects of the identity of the genus Leucauge that will now help taxonomists understand this complicated lineage of orb-weaving spiders to which this species belongs.

"This finding greatly facilitates future work in one of the most diverse spider genera," said Dr. Dimitar Dimitov, a postdoctoral researcher at GW. "At the same time it shows us that looking in our backyard can often present us with surprising and significant findings."

The first specimen was found in the Tijuca forest located in the heart of Rio de Janeiro and collected by Darwin when he visited during the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle in 1832. After making the voyage back to London with Darwin for study, the specimen was somehow lost.
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Frog

New Gecko Species Identified in West African Rain Forests


PhysOrg
Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:00 UTC
Image
© Charles Linkem
The West African forest gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus, is secretive but common in the tropical rain forest patches stretching nearly 3,000 miles from the coast of Sierra Leone to the Congo.
The West African forest gecko, a secretive but widely distributed species in forest patches from Ghana to Congo, is actually four distinct species that appear to have evolved over the past 100,000 years due to the fragmentation of a belt of tropical rain forest , according to a report in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The discovery by former University of California, Berkeley, students Adam D. Leaché and Matthew K. Fujita demonstrates the wealth of biodiversity still surviving in the islands of tropical rain forest in West Africa, and the ability of new DNA analysis techniques to distinguish different species, even when they look alike.

"We tended to find this gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus, throughout our travels in West Africa," said Leaché, a herpetologist with UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. "Despite the fact that it is recognized as one species, using new methods we have established a high probability that it is composed of at least four species."
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Cell Phone

Losing the Buzz?

Anand Holla and Virat A Singh
Pune Mirror
Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:14 UTC
Image
© Pune Mirror
The effects of cellphone radiation being observed in an artificial hive as part of the Punjab University experiment
A recent study reiterates the effects of cellphone tower radiation on honey bees. Mumbai, with its 1,000-plus towers, has cause for serious concern

Humans will not be the lone beneficiaries of a study recently sought by the chief minister on the ill-effects of radiation from cellphones and Mumbai's 1,000-plus cellphone towers.

The initiative may just come to the timely rescue of the city's endangered honeybee population. And if you think that the bee is too small a concern to hit your radar, consider what Einstein said: "If the bee disappears from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years to live."

A recent experiment conducted by the Punjab University at Chandigarh reiterates the finding that honeybees are disappearing from their colonies because of the electro-pollution in the environment.
      Read More...
Attention

Sickening New Images of the Helpless Wildlife Dying in the Muck of the BP Spill


The Daily Mail
Sun, 06 Jun 2010 05:20 UTC
Image
© AP Photo
A brown pelican is seen on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast
The bird struggles out of the sludge, fighting for air, oil dripping from its wings.

It could be an image from a grisly sci-fi movie. But it is not. This bird is a shocking illustration of the catastrophic impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on local wildlife.

The pelican - the official bird of Louisiana - was one of a number that were saved off the coast of the state.

They were barely able to walk or get out of the sea near East Grand Terre island, where officials found around 35 of the birds.

They were treated with detergents to wash off the oil. Many more animals have not been so lucky. More than 400 dead birds have so far been recovered.

Images such as this will only fuel anger towards BP as the spill enters its 46th day and the company struggles to stem the flow of oil from the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well.

Previously, photographs of wildlife coated in an oily sheen were as bad as it got. But now the animals are drowning in the muck, as thick and sticky as treacle, and much, much harder to clean up.
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Bizarro Earth

Gulf oil spill's threat to wildlife turns real

Holbrook Mohr and John Flesher
Associated Press
Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:18 UTC
P.J. Hahn lifts an oil-covered pelican
© AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. Hahn lifts an oil-covered pelican which was stuck in oil at Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., Saturday, June 5, 2010.

On Barataria Bay, Louisiana - The wildlife apocalypse along the Gulf Coast that everyone has feared for weeks is fast becoming a terrible reality.

Pelicans struggle to free themselves from oil, thick as tar, that gathers in hip-deep pools, while others stretch out useless wings, feathers dripping with crude. Dead birds and dolphins wash ashore, coated in the sludge. Seashells that once glinted pearly white under the hot June sun are stained crimson.

Scenes like this played out along miles of shoreline Saturday, nearly seven weeks after a BP rig exploded and the wellhead a mile below the surface began belching millions of gallon of oil.
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Fish

Contractor: BP Is Trying To Hide Dead Animals, Since The Ocean Will Eventually Wash Away The Evidence

Amanda Terkel
Think Progress
Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:51 UTC
Dead Dolphin

In recent weeks, reporters and photographers for major news organizations around the country have been speaking out about the attempts by BP to prevent them from getting a first-hand look at the Gulf Coast oil spill. A CBS News crew was threatened with arrest when it tried to photograph the spill, and a BP representative in Louisiana told a Mother Jones reporter that she couldn't visit the Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge without a BP escort.

On Monday, journalists from the New York Daily News were also "escorted away from a public beach on Elmer's Island bycops who said they were taking orders from BP." However, they managed to get a covert tour of the Queen Bess barrier island from a BP contractor who is fed up with the oil company's attempt to cover up the disaster:
"There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don't want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It's important to me that people know the truth about what's going on here," the contractor said.

"The things I've seen: They just aren't right. All the life out here is just full of oil. I'm going to show you what BP never showed the President." [...]

The grasses by the shore were littered with tarred marine life, some dead and others struggling under a thick coating of crude.

"When you see some of the things I've seen, it would make you sick," the contractor said. "No living creature should endure that kind of suffering."
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

UK: Cemetery Invaded by Web-Spinning Caterpillars


The Daily Mail
Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:54 UTC
Image
© Peter Lawson/Eastnews Press Agency Ltd
Plague: The bench and ground is covered in a silk-like web cocooning caterpillars at Southend Cemetery
Visitors to graveyard have been spooked by a plague of web-spinning caterpillars.

The scene at Southend Cemetery in Essex is straight out of a horror film with silken threads draped over trees, plants and gravestones.

It has been caused by an invasion of thousands of bird cherry ermine moth caterpillars who have created a vast web-like nest.

Nova Bickmore, 69, could not believe the sight when she visited her father's grave.

She said: 'There were thousand upon thousand of caterpillars and a silk web all over the trees, which had no leaves left.

'Some of the caterpillars were hanging down from the trees and others were all over the floor.

'It was a really ghostly scene.' In their caterpillar stage, the bugs, known as web worms, weave leaves of trees together and eat them from their nests.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Redfish Deaths in Florida Worrying Sportsmen, Scientists

Steve Patterson
The Florida Times-Union
Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:05 UTC
North Florida residents report finding carcasses.

A rash of fish kills centered on the St. Johns River - several involving redfish - is puzzling fishermen, outdoorsmen and state scientists looking for a cause.

Six people told a state agency Tuesday they found dead or dying fish in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties, with death tolls ranging from eight fish to as many as 100.

More accounts continued Wednesday.

Five people said they found dead redfish, a relatively large and hearty fish, although some counted other dead species as well.

"They're just everywhere," said Tom Williams of Orange Park. "We have other fish here on our dock. Little guys, and mullets and some other fish. None of them have died, just the reds."
      Read More...
Binoculars

US: Young Sperm Whale Dies on North Carolina Beach


Daily Press
Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:00 UTC
A young sperm whale has died after it was stranded on a North Carolina beach this week.

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., reports the 15-foot whale was seen struggling in the ocean before it was stranded south of Avon Pier on Hatteras Island.

The animal died Monday afternoon.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission specialist Karen Clark says the whale appeared thinner than normal.

The animals are classified as endangered and commonly are seen swimming off the Outer Banks.

The whale was buried on the beach Tuesday.
      Read More...
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