Animals

[CaaC (John)+]

1st Mexican grey wolf litter born at Phoenix Zoo in 20 years

© The Associated Press This May 2019 photo provided by the Phoenix Zoo shows a pup from the first litter of endangered Mexican gray wolf pups born at the Phoenix Zoo in two decades. Female wolf Tazanna gave birth to the litter of six pups in early May. Born at endangered wolf centers in other states, Tazanna and the pups' father Tulio are now both 3 and arrived at the Phoenix zoo on the same day in November 2017. Zoo employees say the parents are doing a great job of caring for the pups without staff interference and are leaving them alone for now. (The Phoenix Zoo via AP)

PHOENIX — Phoenix Zoo officials say the first litter of endangered Mexican gray wolf pups has been born there in 20 years.

Zoo spokeswoman Linda Hardwick says a wolf named Tazanna delivered a litter of six pups in early May. Tazanna and the pups' father Tulio are both 3 years old and arrived at the zoo the same day in 2017.

Zoo carnivore collection manager Angela Comedy says the wolves are caring well for the pups and veterinarians are leaving them alone for now.

A cooperative breeding program operated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service aims to restore the wolves to their native U.S. Southwest territory.

The wolves are endangered. Officials in April said there are at least 131 in Arizona and New Mexico.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/1st-mexican-gray-wolf-litter-born-at-phoenix-zoo-in-20-years/ar-AACqz7z

[CaaC (John)+]

They should tie her to a tree and let the animals eat her, people like this make me sick. 

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

New Pinocchio frog species has a strange, pointy nose

National Geographic

In the mountainous forests of New Guinea, scientists have described a new kind of tree frog whose males sport a single, fleshy spike on their nose.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the northern Pinocchio frog.

Paul Oliver, a herpetologist at the Queensland Museum and Griffith University in Australia, actually discovered these curious-looking amphibians on a field expedition back in 2008, while he and his crew were hiding from the rain in Indonesia’s Foja Mountains.

He happened to look over and spot the mottled green, brown, and yellow frog sitting atop a bag of rice. 

“You could say it found us, rather than we found it,” says Oliver, who officially described the new species, Litoria Pinocchio, in the latest issue of Zootaxa.

The Pinocchio frog is just one of a handful of New Guinea treefrogs in the same genus that sport these spiky noses, or rostrums. Oliver and his team described two other new species in another recent paper, also in Zootaxa.

Now, Oliver and his colleagues are hard at work trying to figure out what that adorable little schnozzes are for.

“What is particularly striking is that it is erectile,” Oliver says in an email. “At times it sticks out quite straight, while at other times it droops downward. So, they are pretty elaborate structures that must have some purpose.” (Read about an “extinct” Pinocchio lizard rediscovered in Ecuador.)

Nosing around

One theory is that the nose attracts females—but that is problematic, he says.

“When other biologists have looked at breeding choruses of spike-nose frogs, they have found that there is no pattern in the lengths of spikes on the males the females mate with,” he says. 

Oliver also suspects the spikes could help the frogs identify one species from another in the species-rich forests. With more than 450 species of frogs already described, and many more out there yet to be discovered, New Guinea—the world’s second-largest island—has more frog species than any other island in the world.

“I tend to favour the second theory,” says Oliver. “But the truth is, like so much in biology, we don’t really know.”

“Island of opportunity”

Though we don’t tend to think of the southern Pacific island—divided between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea—as a frog paradise, New Guinea has a similar number of frogs per area as the Amazon rainforest, notes Debbie Bower, a conservation biologist at the University of New England in Australia.

“Continued discoveries of unique species that have remained unknown to science demonstrate how little we know about biodiversity in remote places like New Guinea,” says Bower.

“The Pinocchio frog is one such example and highlights how important it is to enact conservation strategies that prevent and prepare for key threats like the amphibian chytrid fungus.” 

In fact, Bower describes New Guinea—which is so far free of chytrid—as an “island of opportunity,” because it could become a safe haven for the world’s amphibians. She published a recent paper in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment calling on New Guinea to plan now for the fungus’ arrival and slow its spread if it arrives.

“If we do not focus research and conservation in refuges like New Guinea,” she says, “we risk losing species that we did not know existed.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/new-pinocchio-frog-species-has-a-strange-pointy-nose/ar-AACA6Cw#image=AACxWwv|2

 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[Carnivore Chris]

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

They say he was lucky to be alive, oh dear, the Bull was more than likely killed after just for the fun of it.

"According to a medical report, Collado suffered a huge 12-inch gash to his thigh and also damaged veins, arteries and muscles as a result of the shocking incident"

 

 

https://www.ladbible.com/news/news-horrific-moment-a-bullfighter-is-gored-during-performance-in-madrid-20190610?source=twitter#

[CaaC (John)+]

It's gotta be a photo shot added surely but saying that I would not mind being the rat where it was going     

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

The daughters' pet rats are going well, she is thinking about getting another 2.

 

 

[MUFC]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

@Harry @Toinho was this in your 'neck of the woods'...NO, SORRY, your 'neck of the bush'  

 

2 mating kookaburra birds are at fault for a power outage in Australia

Two lovemaking kookaburra birds caused a power outage in Australia

Joshua Bote  USA TODAY

Published 11:33 AM EDT Jun 16, 2019

It's an old-fashioned Romeo and Juliet tale of star-crossed lovers – or perhaps a love story where sparks flew a little too intensely.

Two kookaburras in a suburb of Australia were caught mating on a power line Wednesday afternoon until their untimely demise, which resulted in a power outage for around 1,000 homes.

An eyewitness saw a pair of the birds on the top of a pole until sparks literally flew, resulting in two large flashes and loud bangs.

When electricians for Australian power company Western Power got on the scene, they saw the two kookaburras dead on the ground below the power lines. It was caused by the female partner extending her wings in the midst of their mating, resulting in the wings touching separated power lines.

"This action caused sparks to fly between the two birds as they acted as conductors for electricity between the separated lines," said Western Power spokesman Paul Entwistle. It triggered an automatic emergency shutdown of the network, resulting in the outage.

Power was restored about an hour later. Unfortunately, the birds did not survive their "amorous avian adventure" and died on impact.

"The two feathered fornicators were laid to rest in a private ceremony attended by Western Power staff later that evening," Entwistle said.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/06/16/two-lovemaking-kookaburra-birds-cause-power-outage-perth-australia/1471135001/

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/2-mating-kookaburra-birds-are-at-fault-for-a-power-outage-in-australia/ar-AAD3nhS

[Toinho]

9 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

@Harry @Toinho was this in your 'neck of the woods'...NO, SORRY, your 'neck of the bush'  

 

2 mating kookaburra birds are at fault for a power outage in Australia

Two lovemaking kookaburra birds caused a power outage in Australia

Joshua Bote  USA TODAY

Published 11:33 AM EDT Jun 16, 2019

It's an old-fashioned Romeo and Juliet tale of star-crossed lovers – or perhaps a love story where sparks flew a little too intensely.

Two kookaburras in a suburb of Australia were caught mating on a power line Wednesday afternoon until their untimely demise, which resulted in a power outage for around 1,000 homes.

An eyewitness saw a pair of the birds on the top of a pole until sparks literally flew, resulting in two large flashes and loud bangs.

When electricians for Australian power company Western Power got on the scene, they saw the two kookaburras dead on the ground below the power lines. It was caused by the female partner extending her wings in the midst of their mating, resulting in the wings touching separated power lines.

"This action caused sparks to fly between the two birds as they acted as conductors for electricity between the separated lines," said Western Power spokesman Paul Entwistle. It triggered an automatic emergency shutdown of the network, resulting in the outage.

Power was restored about an hour later. Unfortunately, the birds did not survive their "amorous avian adventure" and died on impact.

"The two feathered fornicators were laid to rest in a private ceremony attended by Western Power staff later that evening," Entwistle said.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/06/16/two-lovemaking-kookaburra-birds-cause-power-outage-perth-australia/1471135001/

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/2-mating-kookaburra-birds-are-at-fault-for-a-power-outage-in-australia/ar-AAD3nhS

Haha yep Perth. Woo 

[CaaC (John)+]

Corsica's 'cat-fox': On the trail of what may be a new species

WATCH ON YOUTUBE

In the forest undergrowth of northern Corsica, two wildlife rangers open a cage to reveal a striped, tawny-coated animal, one of 16 felines known as "cat-foxes" in the area and thought to be a new species.

"We believe that it's a wild natural species which was known but not scientifically identified because it's an extremely inconspicuous animal with nocturnal habits," says Pierre Benedetti, chief environmental technician of the National Hunting and Wildlife Office (ONCFS).

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Edited June 20, 2019 by CaaC (John)
Spelling corrections

[CaaC (John)+]

 I like news like this.

Two 'rhino poachers' die after crashing into goat during a high-speed escape from rangers

Tom Embury-Dennis

Two suspected rhino poachers have died after crashing into a goat while fleeing park rangers in Zimbabwe, according to local reports.

The collision last week occurred at Bubye Valley Conservancy, on the outskirts of the southern town of Beitbridge, near the border with South Africa.

Nehanda Radio, a Zimbabwean broadcaster, reported park rangers tracked the four poachers, leading to a high-speed chase which ended when the men’s car hit a goat and overturned.

Two of the suspected poachers survived – and were charged with hunting a protected animal – but Godfrey Makechemu and Charles Runye died of their injuries, according to the radio station.

Prosecutors said the men’s tracks indicated they were following a rhino, before fleeing in a Toyota Wish vehicle once they saw park rangers in pursuit.

"Acting on a tip-off, a police mobile unit saw the suspected poachers coming out of Bubye Valley Conservancy and heading towards a nearby Jopembe village and pursued them," prosecutor Misheck Guwanda said.

A rifle with telescopic sight was reportedly found at the scene of the collision.

James Mauto, 41, and Celestino Shate, 35, were remanded in custody on suspicion of poaching and are due to appear in court on 28 June.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/two-rhino-poachers-die-after-crashing-into-goat-during-high-speed-escape-from-rangers/ar-AAD9TTk?ocid=chromentp

[CaaC (John)+]

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

Guy farts in dogs face  

 

[MUFC]

I see this and kind of find it gross, once somebody was letting a dog lick their ice cream, I nearly puked up.

[Toinho]

Sometimes the dog sneaks a lick of the face and I’m grossed out tbh. 

[SirBalon]

Like Toinho, my dog sometimes manages to sneak a lick on the face in... It disgusts me, I hate it but understand why he does it. I also try to stop him from licking my son as they play together nearly all day.

[Bluewolf]

[MUFC]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

These monkeys are 3,000 years into their own 'Stone Age'

Michael Greshko

For capuchin monkeys at Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park, tool use is a tradition going back millennia: A new study finds that these primates have used stone tools to process their food for the past 3,000 years, making it the oldest non-human site of its kind outside of Africa.

The site, described today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, contains layers of rounded stone cobbles that capuchins in the area produced over time to crack open seeds and nuts. Other non-human tool sites have been documented in and out of Africa; the oldest one known, a chimpanzee site in Côte d'Ivoire, is more than 4,000 years old. But Serra da Capivara’s tools alone show long-term variation, a milestone for archaeology outside the human lineage. There, the stone tools vary in size over time, suggesting that the area’s capuchins may have been adapting their tool use to eat foods of varying hardnesses.

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[Lucas]

Happy 1st Birthday to our litttl'un today.

Got a nice little Birthday Cake for her later (Yeah, I know...)

[MUFC]

1 minute ago, Lucas said:

Happy 1st Birthday to our litttl'un today.

Got a nice little Birthday Cake for her later (Yeah, I know...)

Face on because he knows he's getting old lol.