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U.S. Government Joins Probe of Mysterious Seal Deaths

Jason McLure
Reuters
Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:07 UTC
Seal
© Andreas Trepte / Wikimedia Commons

Federal officials have joined an investigation into the mysterious deaths of young harbor seals on beaches across three New England states as the number of dead seals rose to 49.

Seals began washing up on the beaches of northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire and southern Maine last week, said Maggie Mooney-Seus, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's office in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

"Some of them have been decomposed," she told Reuters on Wednesday. "We're hoping we're not going to see a lot more. We don't know at this point what's caused it."

The densest cluster of seal deaths has been along New Hampshire's 18-mile (30-km) coast, where 17 seal carcasses have been recovered since Friday, said Tony Lacasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium in Boston.

The aquarium has conducted autopsies on three of the least-decomposed seals and found that they all had an adequate layer of blubber to survive.
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Heart

Dead Dolphins Again Found on Coast of Java

Arfi Bambani Amri
Viva News
Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:10 UTC
dead dolphins, java
© Taman Nasional Ujungkulon

Following the discovery of 17 dead dolphins in Ujung Kulon, residents of Parangtritis and Depok Beach, Yogyakarta witness the same phenomenon. A number of dolphins were found dead and stranded.

"The officers discovered dead fish on the shore not far from the search and rescue (SAR) command post of Parangtritis," said Taufik M Faqi, Secretary of the SAR Parangtritis team, Bantul, Yogyakarta.

Taufik stated that as the dolphins were in terrible condition, the SAR officers buried them. "Last Sunday, around 9 a.m. we buried the dead dolphins," he said.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Millions of Bees Mysteriously Die in Florida


CBS Tampa
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:43 UTC
Honey bees
© Getty Images
Honey bees.

Micco - Florida officials are abuzz as to how millions of honey bees were killed in Brevard County.

Several beekeepers in the county have reported lost colonies this week. Charles Smith of Smith Family Honey Company told Stuart News Thursday he lost 400 beehives. He says the bees appeared to have been poisoned.

"I'll never get completely compensated for this unless someone handed me 400 beehives," Smith told Stuart News. "I lost the bees, the ability to make honey and the ability to sell the bees."

Smith told Florida Today that he lost $150,000 from the incident. State officials are testing the bees to determine what type of chemicals contributed to their deaths.

Experts say pesticides might be behind the lost beehives.
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Stop

Mercury Mess: Wild Bird Sex Stifled

Roxanne Karimi
Environmental Health News
Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
Methylmercury alters hormone levels in shore birds, increasing male homosexuality and decreasing reproductive success.

Levels of methylmercury commonly measured in the environment disrupt hormone levels in both sexes of white ibis, a bird species that lives in US southeast coastal marshes. Altered courtship and chick rearing behaviors tied to the hormone changes reduced reproduction. This result could impact wild populations.

The experimental study is among the first to show that methylmercury can act as an endocrine disruptor and reduce reproductive success in wildlife. Importantly, effects were seen at low and chronic exposures that would be typical in the wild.

The findings, reported by scientists from the University of Florida, also align with results from previous studies that examined mercury's effects on reproduction in ibis, other wild bird species and fish.

Hormone changes in males were more erratic with some males nesting with other males. The changes in hormone levels were more pronounced in males bonded with other males compared to those bonded with females.

Mercury is a metal naturally found in soil and rocks. It is a common global pollutant that persists in the environment and the body. Coal burning at power plants is one of the primary ways that mercury is released into the atmosphere. From there, mercury enters water bodies and is taken up by aquatic animals, including fish.

Most wildlife and people are exposed through diet to mercury in its organic form - known as methylmercury. Predators and other animals high in the food chain are particularly at risk of exposure, because methylmercury concentrations increase at higher levels of the food chain.

Comment: Mercury is an environmental toxin dangerous to all living things:

Despite decline, mercury contamination remains environmental hazard in US

Exposure To Low Doses Of Mercury Changes The Way The Arteries Work

How to Rid Your Body of Mercury and Other Heavy Metals

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Bug

US: Hairy, Crazy Ants Invade from Texas to Mississippi

Janet McConnaughey
The Associated Press
Sat, 01 Oct 2011 10:12 UTC
Image
© Mississippi State Entomological Museum/Blake Layton
Nylanderia pubens (ants) and their larvae are seen in Starkville, Miss.
It sounds like a horror movie: Biting ants invade by the millions. A camper's metal walls bulge from the pressure of ants nesting behind them. A circle of poison stops them for only a day, and then a fresh horde shows up, bringing babies. Stand in the yard, and in seconds ants cover your shoes.

It's an extreme example of what can happen when the ants - which also can disable huge industrial plants - go unchecked. Controlling them can cost thousands of dollars. But the story is real, told by someone who's been studying ants for a decade.

"Months later, I could close my eyes and see them moving," said Joe MacGown, who curates the ant, mosquito and scarab collections at the Mississippi State Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University.

He's been back to check on the hairy crazy ants. They're still around. The occupant isn't.
      Read More...
Binoculars

Rare White Whale Calf Spotted Off Australia


The Telegraph, UK
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:20 UTC
An extremely rare white humpback whale calf has been spotted near Australia's Great Barrier Reef in an event witnesses described Thursday as a "once in a lifetime experience."

Image
© Wayne Fewings/Getty Images
The white humpback whale calf breaching in Cid Harbour in the Whitsunday Islands
Believed to be just a few weeks old, the baby humpback was seen at Cid Harbour in the famous reef's Whitsunday Islands area by local man Wayne Fewings, who was with his family in a boat when he spotted a whale pod.

"We were just drifting when I noticed the smaller whale in the pod was white. I couldn't believe my eyes, and I just grabbed my camera," Fewings said.

"Then the white calf approached my boat, seeming to want to check us out. I was just so amazed at seeing this animal, it made me think how truly astounding the Great Barrier Reef is," he added of the sighting on Saturday.
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Binoculars

Australian Koalas' Loud Noises "Made by Human-Style Voice Boxes"

Andrew Hough
The Telegraph, UK
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:15 UTC
Male koalas in Australia bellow so loud during mating season because their voice boxes are akin to those found in humans, scientists have discovered.


Despite the tree-dwelling mammal having a cute and furry appearance, a 15 pound koala is as loud as a cow weighing more than a tonne, a study found.

Researchers discovered the marsupial emitted a louder sound as a way of attracting sexual partners during mating season.

The team of Australian and Austrian scientists, writing in The Journal of Experimental Biology, also found their cries were a way of boasting about their body size and intimidate rival lovers.
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Question

Florida, US: Dead bee mystery has state officials buzzing

Margaret Kavanagh
13 News
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:57 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Millions of dead bees mysterious turn up in the southern part of Brevard County.
Millions of dead bees mysterious turn up in the southern part of Brevard County.

Officials with the Department of Agriculture are trying to figure out what caused them to die. They have gathered samples of the dead bees and send them to the state lab to be tested.

Officials with the state told News 13 over the phone that it appears some type of aerial application of a pesticide might have been sprayed on the area. However, they said it is too early in the investigation to know for sure.

Two beekeepers were affected and this mystery is a huge loss for both of them.

Fellsmere beekeeper Charles Smith said the dead bees were supposed to be bound for California to help pollinate almond trees.
      Read More...
Stop

UK: Mystery as beached whale found in field in Yorkshire


The Telegraph
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:00 UTC
Image
© Anna Gowthorpe/PA
The carcass of the young female sei whale lies on the banks of the Humber estuary at Skeffling, east Yorkshire
A young whale which died after it beached in the Humber Estuary is probably of a species rarely found stranded on the British coast, conservationists have said.

Experts examining the 33ft (10m) long animal, which died about 875 yards (800m) from the shoreline, say they are 95% sure it is a female sei whale.

The animal was trapped in shallow water near the East Yorkshire village of Skeffling, on the north bank of the River Humber.

Andy Gibson, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said Sei whale strandings were very rare.

He said there had only been three strandings of this species in UK waters in the last 20 years.

''It is sad. It was in shallow water of about 1.2m (4ft) to 1.6m (5.25ft), making contact with the bottom,'' Mr Gibson said.
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Bizarro Earth

Mystery of Canada's Missing Salmon Continues

Anne Casselman
Nature
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:38 UTC
Sockeye Salmon
© Werner Van Steen / Getty Images
The number of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River has fallen dramatically over the past two decades.

Multi-million dollar judicial inquiry expected to offer few solutions to declining fish stocks.

As the last of this year's sockeye salmon battle up the Fraser River along the southern outskirts of Vancouver, Canada, a rather longer battle about the fishes' fate is drawing to a close in a staid courtroom downtown.

More than 4.5 million salmon have surged along the Fraser this year, returning to spawn before dying. But that is far fewer than the sockeye runs of 20 years ago, when the river was the world's single largest source of Pacific salmon, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars each year to British Columbia's economy.

Back in 2009, when just 1.5 million out of a forecasted 10.6 million fish returned to the river, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called for a judicial inquiry into the missing salmon and appointed Bruce Cohen, Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, to preside over the mammoth task. The last of the inquiry's 128 witnesses are taking to the stand this month. Yet scientists and the public are questioning whether the Cohen Commission, which has cost an estimated CAN$25 million (US$24.4 million), has been a waste of time.
      Read More...
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