Animals
S


Bizarro Earth

Workers try again to save whales trapped in Everglades, Florida

Suzette Laboy and Christine Armario
Associated Press
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 13:47 UTC
Stranded Whales
© AP Photo/National Park ServiceIn this Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, photo provided by the National Park Service, pilot whales are stranded on a beach in a remote area of the western portion of Everglades National Park, Fla. Federal officials said some whales have died. The marine mammals are known to normally inhabit deep water.
Everglades National Park - Wildlife workers are returning to Everglades National Park in Florida on Thursday to try leading 41 pilot whales out of dangerously shallow waters and back to the ocean where they belong.

"We're going to be cautiously optimistic on our way out," said Liz Stratton, assistant stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "We don't know what we're going to find."

For now, the death count stands at 10. Six whales were found dead in the remote area on the park's western edge, and four had to be euthanized. The whales were first spotted on Tuesday about 20 miles east of where they normally live. It takes more than an hour to reach the spot from the nearest boat ramp and there is no cellphone service, complicating rescue efforts.

Stratton said NOAA has reached out to stranding experts about herding whales to deeper waters, an effort that failed on Wednesday.
Read More...
Info

Indian teams hunt for tiger after 3 Bandipur deaths


bbc.co.uk
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 10:05 UTC
Image
There are about 1,700 tigers in the wild in India
Forest officials in the southern Indian state of Karnataka are searching for a tiger which they say has killed three villagers in the past week.

Teams have gone deep into Bandipur tiger reserve with orders to shoot the "man-eater" with tranquilisers.

A fourth fatality in recent days is being blamed on another tiger.

Meanwhile, angry locals demanding compensation for the families of those killed have set fire to two jeeps belonging to forest officials.

The villagers also want a permanent solution to the man-animal conflict in the region.

The first fatal attack took place on 27 November, when a man called Basavaraju was killed. Two days later, a second victim, Cheluva, fell prey to the same tiger, officials believe. They say the animal was last spotted on 30 November.

Its latest presumed victim, 60-year-old farmer Shivamallappa Basappa, was found by his son on Tuesday night close to the forest in Mysore district. Only parts of his leg and skull remained.

"The body of the third farmer who was killed has been found. We have seen the pug marks of the tiger. It is moving around somewhere close by," HC Kantharaju, conservator of forests in Bandipur tiger reserve, told BBC
Read More...
Attention

About 40 whales trapped in Florida's Everglades National Park


The Christian Science Monitor
Wed, 04 Dec 2013 09:32 UTC
Four of about 40 pilot whales stranded in the Everglades National Park in southwest Florida have died, news media reported on Wednesday morning.


Wildlife officials are working to rescue 20 to 30 pilot whales stranded in a remote area of Everglades National Park in Monroe County.

About 30 whales are trapped in the shallow water near Everglades National Park, and about 10 whales are beached on the park's shore, Reuters reported. Four of the beached whales have died, the news agency said.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Study highlights catastrophic collapse of Saharan wildlife

April Flowers
RedOrbit
Wed, 04 Dec 2013 12:00 UTC
Wild Addax
© Thomas Rabeil and Sahara Conservation Fund This shows some of the world's 200 remaining wild addax in Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve in Niger.
The world's largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic collapse of its wildlife populations, according to a new study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

The research team consisted of 40 scientists from 28 international organizations. They assessed 14 desert species, finding that half of those are regionally extinct or confined to one percent or less of their historical range.

It is difficult to be certain of the causes of these declines because of a chronic lack of studies across the region due to political instability. The team suggests, however, that over-hunting is likely to have played a major role.

The Bubal hartebeest is completely extinct; the scimitar horned oryx is only found in captivity; and the African wild dog and African lion have disappeared from the Sahara. The study, published in Diversity and Distributions, reveals that other species have fared only marginally better. The dama gazelle and addax are gone from 99 percent of their range; the leopard has lost 97 percent of its range; and the Saharan cheetah has disappeared from 90 percent.

The only species that still inhabits most of its historical range is the Nubian ibex, but even this species is classified as vulnerable due to numerous threats including widespread hunting.
Read More...
Question

6 Pilot whales stranded in Everglades National Park


The Sacramento Bee
Wed, 04 Dec 2013 11:20 UTC
Federal officials say six pilot whales have died after stranding in shallow water in a remote area of Everglades National Park.

Blair Mase of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 46 whales are swimming in about 3 feet of water. Volunteers were keeping an eye on the whales Wednesday.
Image
© WPTV West Palm, Fla/via News Distribution Network Pilot whales stranded in Everglades National Park

Mase says the whales are short fin pilot whales that are known to inhabit deep water, "so they are very out of their home range."

On Tuesday, officials found the whales beached or stranded in a remote area of the park near Highland Beach in northern Monroe County.

Mase says pilot whales usually swim in large groups and are one of the most common mass strandings "because they are a cohesive species."

Source: The Associated Press
Read More...
Black Cat

Mountain lion captured on camera in Hollywood


The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 04 Dec 2013 11:09 UTC
National Geographic has released amazing new images of a cougar living near central Los Angeles

The mountain lion, named P22 by scientists, was discovered accidentally by a camera trap, which had been set up to monitor wildlife in Griffith Park in Hollywood.


Biologist Miguel Ordenana found a photo of the creature whilst checking one of the camera sites.

"I was kind of tired and had been in the sun a lot so I was like, ok let me just refreshed my eyesight - and yes it was still a mountain lion in front of my face".

Since the sighting, National Geographic wildlife photographer Steve Winter has spent a year waiting for the perfect shot of the animal. He finally captured the following breathtaking images of the cougar with the Hollywood sign and city of Los Angeles in the background.

Image
© Steve Winter/ National Geographic
His best images are due to be published in the December issue of the National Geographic magazine.

Image
© Steve Winter/ National Geographic
Read More...
Attention

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.


indianadunesbirding.wordpress.com
Sun, 01 Dec 2013 10:17 UTC
A few years ago, Indiana birders enjoyed a decent flight of Snowy Owls. The winter of 2011/2012 saw 46 individuals reported. It beat the previous record Snowy Owl flight when 40 were counted during the winter of 1996/1997. It was a memorable flight that made news across the nation. Snowy Owl's invaded much of the county, but the Great Lakes were especially noteworthy. Owls were seen as far south as Texas, and Hawaii recorded it's first state record of this amazing white ghost.

Image
Snowy Owl reports from eBird.com, 2010-2013.
Birders often wait years or even a decade to see another flight like this. Now, only two winters later, it appears the Indiana Dunes and much of the US is undergoing another invasion. It began light, but by November's end, sightings were literally snowballing in. Already, this invasion is getting more press than the 2007/2008 incursion. Likely due to the fact that the concentrations on the east coast are higher this time around. More people seeing them= more press.

So what have been the early highlights? Early returns? Well, December has just began and we have the following interesting reports:

Comment: See also: Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!

Read More...
Health

Fla. Woman seriously injured in rare bear attack

Steve Osunsami
ABC News Blog
Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:48 UTC
Image
© Unknown.

Florida officials searched a gated community for a black bear that attacked a mother, who was hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery for her injuries.

The Longwood, Fla., woman was attacked at 8:05 p.m. Monday as she was walking her dogs in a subdivision, Seminole County Fire Rescue Lt. Alisa Keyes told ABC News. The unidentified woman was able to break free and run to a nearby residence where a neighbor called 911.

She was alert and oriented but had suffered serious undisclosed injuries, Keyes said. The woman was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center and her condition was not known.

The attack took place within about a mile of the Wekiva River basin, which is known as a bear habitat.
Read More...
Info

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!


estoniannature.blogspot.co.uk
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 14:35 UTC
Image
© Remo SavisaarHawk Owl (Surnia ulula)
This year has seen the biggest invasion of Hawk Owls to take place in Estonia for many years. The first birds started to appear in late August - nearly two months earlier than usual. During this autumn up till the end of November birders have found 32 different Hawk Owls, an astonishing number for such a little country. Some of Estonian Nature Tours autumn bird trips offered brilliant views of this stunning northern owl.

Normally there are no more than 10 individuals encountered during one season. Yet this years movement has been already more spectacular than ever. It is impossible to predict the final numbers we will have by the end of winter, but it is clear that this is the best time ever to twitch hawk owls in Estonia this winter.

Comment: See also. Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Read More...
Question

Monterey Bay sea life anomalies: What is driving it?


Beforeitsnews.com
Fri, 29 Nov 2013 04:20 UTC
fukushima radiation plume
© UnknownFukushimas radiation plume driving sea life towards shore?
The story excerpted below from the Deccan Herald appears to tell a happy tale of countless sea creatures living inhabiting the shores around Monterey Bay in California. Quite strangely scientists tell us, "it's all around" and "it's a very strange year"...but why...why are all the sea creatures now living so close to the shores of the West Coast? Something strange is surely happening in California, but it's not the $64,000 question they call it in the story below... the name is Fukushima, and sea animals bum rushing the shoreline while millions of creatures perish within the same Pacific Ocean is not a good thing.

It began with the anchovies, miles and miles of them, their silvery blue bodies thick in the waters of Monterey Bay. Then the sea lions came, by the thousands, from up and down the California coast, and the pelicans, arriving in one long V-formation after another.

Comment: The answer to what might be driving this anomalous behavior may lie in between:

Fukushimas radiation belt: Fukushima Radiation Found In West Coast Tuna

The great plastic polution of the pacific :
'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' Plastic Has Increased Hundredfold Since the 1970s
and:
The ocean is broken

AND in a more overarching way the magnetic anomalies created by the greater cosmic environment, including the bombardment of our atmosphere of comets and meteors loading the atmosphere with cometary dust, causing changes in earth's electromagnetic field :
Cyclones, Earthquakes, Volcanoes And Other Electrical Phenomena
Celestial Intentions: Comets and the Horns of Moses

Read More...