Animals
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - An 18-foot minke whale ran aground on a sandbar in the Amazon jungle some 1,000 miles from the ocean, Brazilian media reported Friday. Globo television broadcast images of dozens of people gathered along the Tapajos River splashing water on the animal, whose back and dorsal fin were exposed to the hot Amazon sun. Sea creatures rarely venture so far into fresh water.
GENEVA - The world's smallest bear species faces extinction because of deforestation and poaching in its Southeast Asian home, a conservation group said Monday.
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| ©AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File |
| A 9-month-old baby Asian sun bear reaches out through his cage at his new home at the Wildlife Division of the Thai Forestry Department in Banglamung. |
BEIJING - Giant pandas are being forced to move from a remote mountainous area in southwestern China due to food shortages as their staple bamboo withers, an animal expert said Monday.
Experts said it will take six months for oil products spilled into the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov at the weekend to dissolve or be washed ashore.
About 2,000 metric tons of oil, and almost 7,000 tons of sulfur in containers, were spilt into the sea amid a powerful storm on Sunday that killed at least six sailors, sank four ships and split open an oil tanker.
"Most of the fuel oil will settle on the bottom and will be thrown ashore gradually," said Vitaly Spiridonov of World Wildlife Fund Russia, adding that the seabed's fauna and flora would suffer the most.
About 2,000 metric tons of oil, and almost 7,000 tons of sulfur in containers, were spilt into the sea amid a powerful storm on Sunday that killed at least six sailors, sank four ships and split open an oil tanker.
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| ©Unknown |
"Most of the fuel oil will settle on the bottom and will be thrown ashore gradually," said Vitaly Spiridonov of World Wildlife Fund Russia, adding that the seabed's fauna and flora would suffer the most.
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| ©Unknown |
A Dutch scientist thinks he has discovered a new species of wild pig nearly twice the size of other pigs in Brazil's Amazon region.
More than one out of every three freshwater fish species in European waters is on the brink of extinction, conservationists announced today.
After seven years of research, scientists with the World Conservation Union (IUCN), based in Switzerland, found that 200 of the 522 (38 percent) species of European freshwater fish are threatened with extinction due to rapid development in Europe over the last 100 years. Twelve species are already extinct.
The survey, detailed in a book, Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes, also found 47 new fish species, but this biodiversity is threatened in many of Europe's lakes and rivers.
"This new study shows that we are far from achieving European governments' targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2010," said Jean-Christophe Vie of the IUCN's Species Program. "The status of fish populations reflects the condition of European lakes and rivers."
After seven years of research, scientists with the World Conservation Union (IUCN), based in Switzerland, found that 200 of the 522 (38 percent) species of European freshwater fish are threatened with extinction due to rapid development in Europe over the last 100 years. Twelve species are already extinct.
The survey, detailed in a book, Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes, also found 47 new fish species, but this biodiversity is threatened in many of Europe's lakes and rivers.
"This new study shows that we are far from achieving European governments' targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2010," said Jean-Christophe Vie of the IUCN's Species Program. "The status of fish populations reflects the condition of European lakes and rivers."
Unexplained honeybee deaths have recently started showing up in Florida, the same state where the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder was first discovered a year ago, the Agriculture Department's top bee scientist said Thursday.
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| ©Anna_Greece foto |
| Everyone has a theory why the honeybees started dying off. Try malnutrition. |
Hundreds of thousands of earthworms appeared in a Taiwan vineyard, prompting the owner to consult an expert out of fear that a strong earthquake might be coming soon, a newspaper said on Monday.
According to the China Times, the worms crawled out of the earth and covered the surface of Wu Ching-chuan's vineyard in Changhwa County, west Taiwan, Sunday morning.
Wu, who bought the vineyard 40 years ago, said he has never seen so many earthworms in his vineyard before and estimated there were 200 to 300 kilograms of them.
According to the China Times, the worms crawled out of the earth and covered the surface of Wu Ching-chuan's vineyard in Changhwa County, west Taiwan, Sunday morning.
Wu, who bought the vineyard 40 years ago, said he has never seen so many earthworms in his vineyard before and estimated there were 200 to 300 kilograms of them.
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| Wild elephants play in the Deeparbil wetland, a wildlife sanctuary, in Deeparbil, India. |
GAUHATI, India - About 100 wild elephants have converged on a river island in northeast India, demolishing homes, feasting on sugarcane and panicking residents, officials said Saturday.
Comment: Something is certainly up with our helpful insect friends. We have discussed this topic here at SOTT several times and recommend you read To Bee or not to Be for plenty of explosive material to ponder on.
Here's a short excerpt: