Researchers say they have found how anemonefish identify unwelcome guests of their own kind, by counting white markings
Unlike the star of Disney’s Finding Nemo, real-life common clownfish are not keen on sharing their home with members of their own species.
Researchers say they have discovered how they kick unwelcome guests out, by counting the stranger’s vertical white markings.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Pet owners risk contaminating their hands with neurotoxins for at least 28 days after application, scientists find
Vets should limit the use of flea treatments containing pesticides on dogs and cats, scientists have said, after a study revealed the vast amount of toxic substances in them that end up in rivers.
Pet owners using these flea treatments risk contaminating their hands with fipronil and imidacloprid, two insecticides, for at least 28 days after the treatment has been applied, according to research by the University of Sussex and Imperial College London.
Continue reading...California scientist and film-maker spot apparent pup – never before seen in the wild – in drone pictures
Researchers in California may have gotten the first ever look at a newborn great white shark, which they captured in drone images taken last summer.
The newborn animal has never before been spotted in the wild. But in July, the wildlife film-maker Carlos Gauna and Phillip Sternes, a biology doctoral student at the University of California, Riverside, glimpsed something unexpected in the waters near Santa Barbara on California’s central coast.
Continue reading...Open letter calls for Soil Association certification to be removed from industry, amid concerns of negative environmental impact
The British body that certifies food in the UK as organic has been accused of misleading consumers over its labelling of Scottish farmed salmon.
Thirty charities, conservation and community organisations, including WildFish, the Pesticide Action Network and Blue Marine Foundation, say the negative environmental impacts of the industry in Scotland “run completely counter” to the principles of the Soil Association’s promotion of healthy, humane and sustainable food.
Continue reading...A truck and trailer en route to Fort Wayne for a Shriner’s event caught fire, prompting a rescue by local law enforcement
A truck hauling zebras and camels for a series of weekend circus performances caught fire early on Saturday on a north-eastern Indiana highway, prompting a police rescue of the animals, which roamed along the freeway, some munching on grass.
The tractor-trailer caught fire at about 2am along Interstate 69 in Grant county, and a state trooper, a Grant county sheriff’s deputy and a third person rescued the five zebras, four camels and a miniature horse by leading them off the smoked-filled trailer, said Sgt Steven Glass with the Indiana state police.
Continue reading...Four-year-old dog named Efruz ‘loves the sea’, according to his owner, and often perches on a surfboard to ride waves
Clad in a yellow vest, little Efruz balances himself on the front of the surfboard as waves foam around him and his companion as they skim over the Pacific waters off Peru.
Efruz is a four-year-old Jack Russell terrier and he is a common sight these hot days of the southern hemisphere summer.
Continue reading...Sawangjit Kosoognern charged with illegal possession after video showing animal being driven around Pattaya gains 2.6m views
A Thai woman has been charged with illegal possession of a lion cub, police said on Friday, after a video of the animal cruising in a Bentley went viral online.
The police ordered an investigation after a video showing a lion cub riding around the raucous Thai resort town of Pattaya in a Bentley gained more than 2.6m views online.
Continue reading...People encouraged to record sightings of mohican-sporting birds in RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend
The scale of this waxwing winter will be revealed this weekend when people are encouraged to spend an hour recording the birds they see in their gardens, balconies, parks and school grounds.
The spectacular migratory, mohican-sporting birds have been spotted across Britain during the colder weather and will be recorded alongside more familiar sparrows, blackbirds and robins in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch.
Continue reading...Hunting by Kenyan lions impeded in ‘ecological chain reaction’ as big-headed ants fail to stop elephants stripping acacia trees – the cats’ ambush cover
When a lion decides to chase down a zebra it seems as though nothing can stop it. But now researchers have discovered these enormous predators are being thwarted by a tiny foe: ants.
Scientists have found the spread of big-headed ants in east Africa sets off a situation leading to lions making fewer zebra kills.
Continue reading...The first successful embryo transfer in a southern white rhino paves the way for the technique to save their rarer northern cousins
The critically endangered northern white rhino could be saved from the brink of extinction after scientists performed the first successful embryo transfer in white rhinos.
After the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018, the disappearance of the species looked imminent. Just two infertile female northern white rhinos – Fatu and Najin – remain, and are under 24-hour armed protection at a conservation reservation in Kenya. But a new scientific advancement means the mother and daughter may not be the last of their kind.
Continue reading...Conditions at Ciudad Juárez zoo on US-Mexico border not suitable so container takes Benito to conservation park 1,000 miles away
A giraffe named Benito has started a 50-hour road trip to leave behind the cold and loneliness of Mexico’s northern border city of Ciudad Juárez to find warmth – and maybe a mate – in his new home 2,000km (1,200 miles) to the south.
A campaign by animal rights activists won the four-year-old giraffe a transfer to an animal park in Puebla state in central Mexico, where he will join a group of resident giraffes and enjoy a more suitable climate.
Continue reading...State-owned railway company RZhD apologises as conductor faces calls to be sacked and potentially prosecuted
A cat has died in Russia after being thrown off a train in freezing temperatures by a conductor who has faced calls to be sacked and potentially prosecuted.
The state-owned railway company RZhD has apologised to the owners of Twix, the ginger-and-white cat who was dumped into the snow in Kirov on 11 January.
Continue reading...Quick-thinking state police officer enlists pet canine to carry rescue equipment to man who fell through ice
A man who fell through the ice on a frozen Michigan lake was rescued after a quick-thinking state police officer used the stranded man’s dog to get rescue equipment to him and pull the man to safety.
Bystanders called 911 on Thursday after the 65-year-old Traverse City man fell through ice-covered Arbutus Lake, state police said.
Continue reading...Scientists call for urgent intervention, as bearded pig populations are devastated by the deadly virus on islands such as Borneo
Populations of wild pigs are crashing due to the spread of African swine fever (ASF), threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on them for food, researchers warn.
With a fatality rate of almost 100%, ASF has swept across Asia, Europe and Africa, devastating domestic and wild pig populations over the past 10 to 20 years. The impacts are especially significant in Borneo, in south-east Asia, where bearded pig numbers have declined by between 90% and 100% since it arrived on the island in 2021, researchers said.
Continue reading...Kobe the husky becomes internet hero for video of him digging hole in concrete – leading his owner to detect presence of gas
Some dogs earn the affectionate title of “good boy” for obeying their owners’ commands to sit or fetch. Others earn it by saving their neighborhoods from grappling with a potentially explosive gas leak days before Christmas.
Philadelphia’s Kobe the husky belongs in the latter category, according to a viral Instagram video published by his owner that has vaulted him to the status of internet hero.
Continue reading...Drought in Hwange national park was the cause of most of the deaths, and wildlife experts fear the climate crisis could make such events look normal
At least 160 elephants have died as drought conditions hit Zimbabwe, and with hot, dry weather likely to continue, conservationists fear there could be more deaths to come.
The elephants died between August and December last year in the 14,651 sq km Hwange national park, which is home to endangered elephants, buffalo, lions, cheetahs, giraffes and other species. At least six other elephants have recently been discovered dead outside the park in suspected poaching incidents.
Continue reading...Police appeal for witnesses after tortoises’ bodies discovered last week in Devon
The bodies of seven giant tortoises have been discovered in a forest in Devon, triggering a police investigation.
The Aldabra giant tortoises, one of the largest tortoise species in the world, were found dead the National Trust’s Ashclyst Forest, and Devon and Cornwall police are appealing for witnesses.
Continue reading...More than 200 animals abandoned by farmers after the eruption have not been fed or watered for days
A daring operation is being launched to rescue more than 200 sheep left to their fate by farmers after a volcanic eruption near the evacuated Icelandic town of Grindavik.
With molten lava setting homes ablaze and the ground surface cracking, rescue teams are seeking to bring out an estimated 270 animals from their fields and indoor pens.
Continue reading...SNP leader to replicate new restrictions in England and Wales that have resulted in apparent influx to Scotland of breed
Unlicensed XL bully dogs will be banned in Scotland, Humza Yousaf has said, as the Scottish government moves to replicate the new restrictions in England and Wales that have resulted in an apparent influx to the country of the breed.
Speaking at first minister’s questions on Thursday, the SNP leader told MSPs: “What has become clear, I’m afraid, in the last few weeks is we have seen a flow of XL bully dogs coming to Scotland.”
Continue reading...Giant primate ate bark and twigs after climate change turned sub-tropical environment into savannah
It was the largest primate ever to have roamed the Earth, but just why – and when – our distant cousin “giganto” ended up extinct has been something of a mystery.
Now researchers say the enormous ape was victim of an unfortunate choice of food when its preferred snacks became scarce.
Continue reading...