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'Extinct' Galapagos tortoise may still exist


BBC.co.uk
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:32 UTC
Image
© Yale
The Isabela tortoises have been breeding with a close relative from elsewhere in the Galapagos
A giant Galapagos tortoise believed extinct for 150 years probably still exists, say scientists.

Chelonoidis elephantopus lived on the island of Floreana, and was heavily hunted, especially by whalers who visited the Galapagos to re-stock.

A Yale University team found hybrid tortoises on another island, Isabela, that appear to have C. elephantopus as one of their parents.

Some hybrids are only 15 years old, so their parents are likely to be alive.

The different shapes of the giant tortoises on the various Galapagos islands was one of the findings that led Charles Darwin to develop the theory of evolution through natural selection.

The animals are thought to have colonised the archipelago through floating from the shores of South America.

Colonies on each island remained relatively isolated from each other, and so evolved in subtly different directions.
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X

Mass herring death a mystery in Norway


IceNews
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:48 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Scientists have yet to agree on why thousands of dead herring have washed up on a Norwegian beach in the last week.

Officials say piles of dead herring, weighing in excess of 20 tonnes, have covered a beach near the northern Norwegian city of Kvaenes, Nordreisa. This event has prompted various scientific explanations as well as speculation from 2012 doomsday enthusiasts.

44 year-old Jan-Petter Jorgensen, who discovered the stinky deposit while walking his dog, Molly, still wonders what caused the mass death among the fish. He said to the Daily Mail, "People say that something similar happened in the 1980s. Maybe the fish have been caught in a deprived oxygen environment and then died of fresh water?".
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Ladybug

US: Northern Plains hit hard by deer-killing disease

Matthew Brown
Associated Press
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:00 UTC
Billings, Montana- White-tailed deer populations in parts of eastern Montana and elsewhere in the Northern Plains could take years to recover from a devastating disease that killed thousands of the animals in recent months, wildlife officials and hunting outfitters said.

In northeast Montana, officials said 90 percent or more of whitetail have been killed along a 100-mile stretch of the Milk River from Malta to east of Glasgow. Whitetail deaths also have been reported along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana and scattered sites in Wyoming, South Dakota and eastern Kansas.
Image
© Scott Charlesworth/Purdue University
Biting midge life cycle.
The deaths are being attributed to an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD. Transmitted by biting midges, EHD causes internal bleeding that can kill infected animals within just a few days.

"I've been here 21 years and it was worse than any of us here have seen," said Pat Gunderson, the Glasgow-based regional supervisor for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "Right now it's going to take a few years to get things back to even a moderate population."
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Question

US, Kentucky: Over 30 Birds Mysteriously Die on Montgomery County Road

Adam Winer
Lex 18 News
Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:54 UTC
There's a bizarre scene in Montgomery County where dozens of birds are dead.

More than 30 birds are lying dead on Indian Mound Drive at the intersection of Grassy Lick Road in Mt. Sterling.


All the birds appear to be the same species, and seem to have died and landed at this spot all at once.

No word yet about what caused their death.
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X

Queensland, Australia: Harbour deaths still unexplained

Skye Davidson
Brisbane Times
Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:15 UTC
Image
© Clive Last
Vets still don't know what killed dugongs, and other animals, in Gladstone Harbour earlier this year.
Autopsy reports have revealed veterinary scientists failed to find a definitive cause of death for at least 10 dolphins, turtles and dugongs found dead in central Queensland.

In response to a Right to Information request, the Department of Environment and Resource Management has provided reports for 13 of the dugongs, turtles and dolphins found dead in Gladstone this year.

The documents reveal veterinary scientists from Gladstone Veterinary Clinic and the University of Queensland's Diagnostic Services reported the cause of death was unclear or unknown for 10 of the marine animals.

In the remaining cases, net entrapments and entanglements in fishing line were cited as possible causes of death but no definitive conclusions were drawn.
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Bizarro Earth

Thailand's flood waters threaten marine life

Florence Looi
Al Jazeera
Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:37 UTC
Marine life is suffering in the Gulf of Thailand, where the Chao Phraya River, which runs through the capital Bangkok, meets the sea.

Following the worst flooding in the country in decades, millions of cubic metres of extra water has been draining into the gulf causing shellfish and other fish to die or swim away.


At least 10,000 shellfish farmers have been affected and conservationists say it will be months before they can resume their trade.

Al Jazeera's Florence Looi reports from Samut Sakhon province, Thailand.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

20 Tons of Dead Fish on Norway Beaches

Ralf Lofstad
Dagbladet
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:41 UTC
Dead Fish
© Jan-Petter JØRGENSEN
MYSTERY: How, or why, tens of tons of dead herring suddenly fills the beach on the resin, no one has a definite answer. Here, Jan-Petter Jorgensen dog Molly on inspection New Year's Eve (Google translated).
The inhabitants of Troms could hardly believe their eyes on the morning of New Year's Eve, a very large amount, an estimated 10 to 20 tons of dead herring washed up on the beach, writes Northern Lights. Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population. The city is warmer than most other places located on the same latitude, due to the warming effect of the Gulf Stream which originates at the tip of Florida. Various theories abound for the incident but no one knows for sure what's happened in the popular hiking area in Nordreisa municipality.

However, various theories have been tossed around, explains Jan-Petter Jorgensen (44), who stumbled upon the mass death in sight on the beach with his dog Molly. People say that something similar happened in the 80′s, and there is speculation among others on the river which flows into the ocean behind a promontory on the site, may have had something to do with it. Maybe the fish have been caught in a deprived oxygen environment, and then died of fresh water? Jorgensen estimates each individual fish to be of 100-150 grams, and that the total might be about up to 20 tons. Now he's worried about what might happen if no one comes and removing carcasses.

Source: Dagbladet (translated)
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Bizarro Earth

US: Thousands of Blackbirds Fall to Their Death in Arkansas Town for Second New Year's Eve In a Row

Megan Keneally
Dailymail.co.uk
Sun, 01 Jan 2012 08:43 UTC
Ancient Mayan legend says that 2012 will bring the end of the world.

A small Arkansas town might have shown the first example of that as approximately 5,000 blackbirds dropped dead from the sky last night in the early hours of the new year.

As if the incident was not strange enough, it is the second time in two years that the birds have fallen as the calendar year change

Image
© ABC news
On the streets: Estimates put the dead bird count well into the thousands.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Unusual Amount Of Gray Whales Spotted Off California Coast


redOrbit
Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:31 UTC
Whales
© redOrbit

Whale watchers are saying that migrating gray whales are swimming through Southern California waters in record numbers this winter.

The Los Angeles Times said on Wednesday that whale watchers at Point Vicente in Rancho Palos Verdes have recorded a record 163 sightings in December so far, which is the most that have been logged at this location in 28 years.

At this time last year, observers logged 26 gray whales. The previous record saw 133 of the mammals in 1996.

"I've seen some pretty good years but never anything like this," Joyce Daniels, a volunteer in the whale census, told the LA Times.

"We had whales everywhere. So many I was having trouble figuring out which whale was which," she said. "It's a real adrenaline rush to have so many whales."

Over 20,000 gray whales migrate each year from the arctic to Baja California, where females give birth. The mammals then migrate back north for the spring weather. California's coast is not just accustomed to only gray whales. Last spring, hundreds of blue whales were spotted in the area. Humpback whales have also been seen off the Californian coast.

Researchers say they hope this means things in the whaling world are going good and the populations are becoming more robust.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Giant Shrimp Raises Big Concern as it Invades the Gulf of Mexico

Matthew Tresaugue
Houston Chronicle
Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:22 UTC
A tiger prawn
© Houston Chronicle
A tiger prawn is displayed by shrimp trawler Capt. Tony Perez. The foot-long female was caught about 60 miles south of the Louisiana coast near Morgan City in October.
A truly jumbo shrimp is causing big worries about the future of the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem.

The Asian tiger prawn, a foot-long crustacean with a voracious appetite and a proclivity for disease, has invaded the northern Gulf, threatening prized native species, from crabs and oysters to smaller brown and white shrimp.

Though no one is sure what the ecological impact will be, scientists fear a tiger prawn takeover could knock nature's balance out of whack and turn a healthy, diverse marine habitat into one dominated by a single invasive species.

"It has the potential to be real ugly," said Leslie Hartman, Matagorda Bay ecoystem leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. "But we just do not know."

The tiger prawns from the western Pacific - which can grow up to 13 inches long - have been spreading along the Gulf Coast since 2006, but their numbers took off this year. Shrimpers pulled one from Texas waters for the first time in June.
      Read More...
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