Animals

Rare, mutant honeybee is both male and female

Jason Bittel
National Geographic
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 12:00 UTC

© Annie O'Neill
“I’ve been keeping bees since 1976, and this is the first time I’ve seen anything like it,” says master beekeeper Joseph Zgurzynski.

While checking his hives this June, master beekeeper Joseph Zgurzynski discovered something highly unusual. Whereas all the other honeybees in the hive had normal black eyes, one insect sported a pair of creamy yellow peepers that were impossible to miss.

And that wasn't all. When Zgurzynski looked closer, he realized that not only were the bee's eyes off-color, but they were abnormally large. In fact, they looked like the radar-dish eyes typical of male honeybees, or drones, despite the fact that the rest of the bee — the abdomen, stinger, and wings — were clearly female.

"I've been keeping bees since 1976, and this is the first time I've seen anything like it," says Zgurzynski, who manages around six million bees at his Country Barn Farm just north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Comment: So are these mutations increasing or are they just being documented more effectively? And if they are increasing, is it due to increased pesticide use, or is something else at play? Both?

And check out SOTT radio's:

Dead humpback whale washes up on Aptos beach, California

Kevin Painchaud
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Tue, 04 Aug 2020 18:28 UTC

Dead humpback whale on Platforms beach in Aptos.

A dead humpback whale roughly 36 feet long drifted Thursday afternoon onto Platforms Beach in Aptos. Gabriel McKenna, public safety superintendent for California State Parks said they don't have a cause of death.

"State Parks is evaluating expedient ways of removing the dead whale from the beach," he said. "We are working in conjunction with Long Marine Lab and NOAA."

State Parks advised the public to stay away from the whale and view from afar to ensure safety.

On Tuesday, the whale remained at the beach. McKenna confirmed that they are monitoring the weather and tides to determine when they can safely tow the whale back out to sea, likely later this week.

Winnipeg woman injured in 'extremely unusual' Ontario fish attack: 'It pulled me under'

Marney Blunt
Global News
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 19:26 UTC

Driver was left with scrapes and significant puncture wounds on her calf.

A Winnipeg woman is healing at home after being left with significant injuries in a rare musky attack near Minaki, Ont., last weekend.

Kim Driver says she was wading about chest-deep into waters last Saturday when the unthinkable happened.

"All of a sudden I just felt something tap my left leg, like brush it, and then next thing I know it just took a hold of my right leg," said Driver, an avid angler who has been a seasonal camper in Minaki since 2007.

"I looked down and I saw the fish's head, which looked like an alligator, and it just grabbed it and it moved me from side-to-side and then it pulled me under."

Record snowfall in Patagonia bury livestock alive

Robert W. Felix
IceAgeNow
Fri, 31 Jul 2020 20:04 UTC

Historic snowfall could destroy sheep farming in the area for years. Five feet (1½ m) of snow and temperatures around 20 degrees below zero.
Can you imagine even trying to walk through snow up to your chin?

This climate combo, which has been taking place for 20 days in the region, left livestock farming in a critical state and led to the Rio Negro government this week declaring a state of Emergency and / or Agricultural Disaster in 6 departments of the western province.

In the departments of Bariloche, El Cuy, Ñorquinco and Pilcaniyeu were hit by "extraordinary snowfall" that "have caused damage" in rural livestock farms in the area, leading to a crisis for many sheep farmers and other productions in Patagonia and the south of the country.

Decline of bees, other pollinators threatens US crop yields

Science Daily
Fri, 31 Jul 2020 12:29 UTC

Largest study of its kind highlights risk to global food security

Crop yields for apples, cherries and blueberries across the United States are being reduced by a lack of pollinators, according to Rutgers-led research, the most comprehensive study of its kind to date.

Most of the world's crops depend on honeybees and wild bees for pollination, so declines in both managed and wild bee populations raise concerns about food security, notes the study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

"We found that many crops are pollination-limited, meaning crop production would be higher if crop flowers received more pollination. We also found that honey bees and wild bees provided similar amounts of pollination overall," said senior author Rachael Winfree, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. "Managing habitat for native bee species and/or stocking more honey bees would boost pollination levels and could increase crop production."

Bear kills man clearing a trail near Hope, Alaska

Alex DeMarban
Anchorage Daily News
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 11:36 UTC

A man died in a bear attack Wednesday night that occurred off a trail near his property in the Hope area on the Kenai Peninsula, officials said Thursday.

Alaska State Troopers were notified at 10:07 p.m. of the mauling, the agency said in a report early Thursday.

The man had been clearing a trail on Chugach National Forest land about a mile behind his property off Mile 8 of the Hope Highway, troopers said. The property is near the 19th-century mining town of Sunrise City, with a population of 12.

"His wife became concerned when he was overdue, and their dog, which had been with him, returned home alone," troopers said.

The man's wounds were consistent with a bear attack, troopers said.

10 dead whales found on Indonesian beach, one saved by locals

France24
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 12:36 UTC

Locals rushed to push an eleventh member of the stricken pod across the baking sands and back into the ocean Handout Indonesian nature conservation agency

© BKSDA
Locals rushed to push an eleventh member of the stricken pod across the baking sands and back into the ocean Handout Indonesian nature conservation agency

Ten whales were found dead on an Indonesian beach Thursday, officials said, with images showing locals rushing to push a still-living member of the stricken pod back into the sea.

The marine mammals, ranging from 2-6 metres (6.5-20 feet) in length, were found in the remote province of East Nusa Tenggara, the head of the region's water conservation agency Ikram Sangadji told AFP.

Footage showed a group of around 10 men struggling to push an eleventh member of the pod across the baking sands and back into the ocean.

They eventually managed to get the creature -- which was scarred with deep cuts -- into the water, and it appeared to swim off by itself, prompting loud cheers from the group.

Many freshwater fish species have declined by 76 percent in less than 50 years

Stefan Lovgren
National Geographic
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 12:20 UTC

© Cristina Mittermeir
Like many migratory fish, chinook salmon are threatened by overfishing, habitat degradation, and dams that block their migration from the sea to upriver spawning grounds.

Migratory freshwater fish are among the most threatened animals on the planet, a new report by a coalition of environmental organisations shows.

The global assessment, described as the first of its kind, found that populations of migratory freshwater fish have declined by 76 percent between 1970 and 2016—a higher rate of decline than both marine and terrestrial migratory species.

"We think migratory freshwater fish might be in even greater peril" than the dramatic drop the report indicates, says the report's lead author, Stefanie Deinet of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). "Adding currently missing information from tropical regions where threats of habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, and climate change have been increasing, will surely bend the curve of loss downwards."

16-year-old boy killed on land by crocodile in Odisha, India

NDTV
Mon, 27 Jul 2020 11:30 UTC

The crocodile came out of the river and pounced on him, a forest official said (Representational)

A 16-year-old boy was killed by a crocodile in Odisha's Kendrapara district, officials said on Monday.

The incident happened on Sunday when the boy, Rudra Narayan Behera, was taking bath in the Kharasrota river in Parimukundpur village, they said.

The crocodile came out of the river and pounced on him, a forest official said.

The mutilated body was later fished out by fire brigade personnel, he said.

His family will be given Rs 4 lakh compensation as per the state governments scheme related to the death of a person due to attack by protected wild animals, he added.

Great white shark kills woman in Maine - first fatal attack on record for the state

Matthew S. Schwartz
npr.org
Tue, 28 Jul 2020 09:49 UTC

Julie Dimperio Holowach was laughing as she and her daughter paddled into the water Monday off the coast of Maine's Bailey Island.

Suddenly Holowach, who was wearing a black wetsuit, started flailing, witness Tom Whyte told The Boston Globe. Her daughter swam back to shore, dropped to her knees and screamed for help, he said.

Nearby kayakers brought Holowach's badly injured body to shore. By the time paramedics arrived, the 63-year-old seasonal resident from New York City was already dead, killed in the first fatal shark attack in Maine's history.

Some researchers say the waters around Maine have more white sharks than they used to, as the predators go in search of seal meat.

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Animals

Rare, mutant honeybee is both male and female

Dead humpback whale washes up on Aptos beach, California

Winnipeg woman injured in 'extremely unusual' Ontario fish attack: 'It pulled me under'

Record snowfall in Patagonia bury livestock alive

Decline of bees, other pollinators threatens US crop yields

Bear kills man clearing a trail near Hope, Alaska

10 dead whales found on Indonesian beach, one saved by locals

Many freshwater fish species have declined by 76 percent in less than 50 years

16-year-old boy killed on land by crocodile in Odisha, India

Great white shark kills woman in Maine - first fatal attack on record for the state

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