Animals

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Tiger eats tiger in NE China zoo

Xinhua
Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:09 UTC

A Siberian tiger in a zoo in northeast China was killed and eaten by four tigers it had lived with for five years over the weekend.

The desperate tigers, which are supposed to be under the highest level of state protection in China, turned on the 12-year-old, 330-pound tiger and tore off its left leg on Saturday afternoon at the privately-owned Shenyang Glacier Zoo in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

©China News

A Siberian tiger is killed on Nov. 18 by three fellow tigers in the Glacier Zoo in Shenyang, Liaoning Province due to severe lack of food this winter.

Salmon farms braced for jellyfish invasion

John Ross
The Scotsman
Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:12 UTC

SCOTLAND'S salmon producers have been put on alert due to an invasion of stinging jellyfish which have already wiped out a fish farm in the Irish Sea.