Retirement of Najin, 32, leaves her daughter Fatu as the only egg donor in embryo implantation scheme
One of the world’s last two northern white rhinos is being retired from a breeding programme aimed at saving the species from extinction.
Najin, 32, is the mother of Fatu, who is now the only donor left in the programme, which aims to implant artificially developed embryos into another more abundant species of rhino in Kenya.
Continue reading...Authorities have belatedly reported that one of the group of African mammals that bolted from a farm died last month
One of a group of escaped zebras that have spent almost two months running wild through the east Maryland suburbs has died, authorities said, in a blow to thousands who have followed the animals’ bid for freedom.
The fate of the zebras, who bolted from a farm near Upper Marlboro in late August, has captured the attention of people locally and beyond, with a number of Marylanders sharing videos and photos of the animals roaming and grazing on residents’ lawns.
Continue reading...Scientists say the animals are vital to ecosystem and true number affected is probably far higher
More than 14,000 species of invertebrate lost habitat during Australia’s 2019-20 bushfires, according to a post-fire analysis that has recommended a doubling of the number of species listed as threatened.
The research, prepared for the federal government by scientists with the national environmental science program (NESP), found the number of insects, spiders, worms and other invertebrates affected by the disaster was much greater than the tally of vertebrates impacted.
Continue reading...A gigantic sunfish found tangled in tuna fishing nets in the Mediterranean could weigh up to 2000kg, according to experts. The fish was measured at 3.2 metres long and 2.9 metres wide, a record find for Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. When the sunfish was weighed it almost broke a 100kg scale. Enrique Ostalé, a marine biologist, said he had heard of sunfish this size only in books
Continue reading...Sir David Amess, who has died aged 69 after being stabbed while holding a constituents’ surgery at a church in Leigh-on-Sea, was the Conservative MP for Southend West in Essex. Though he spent more than half his life in the Commons without ever attaining ministerial office, the likelihood is that he would not have wanted it any other way.
He devoted his career to the promotion of his constituencies – first Basildon, then from 1997 Southend West – and to dealing with their voters’ concerns. He had a high local profile and was always willing to meet constituents, advertising his regular weekly surgeries in advance.
Continue reading...The 80-strong bloat, originally part of the Colombian drug lord’s estate, present an environmental concern as an invasive species
A group of rampant hippopotamuses, introduced by the late Colombia drug lord Pablo Escobar to his private zoo, are being sterilized by the country’s wildlife services, after mounting concern that the 80-strong herd presented a potential environmental disaster as an invasive species.
The so-called “cocaine hippos”, whose number has more than doubled since 2012, were sterilized after worries have mounted over their environmental impact, including a threat to human safety.
Continue reading...Rescuers used 24in snake pole to remove snakes preparing to hibernate from mountainside home in Santa Rosa
Al Wolf is used to clearing one or two snakes from under houses but recently was called by a woman who said she had seen rattlesnakes scurry under her northern California house and was surprised to find more than 90 rattlesnakes getting ready to hibernate.
Wolf, director of Sonoma County Reptile Rescue, said he crawled under the mountainside home in Santa Rosa and found a rattlesnake right away, then another and another. He got out from under the house, grabbed two buckets, put on long, safety gloves, and went back in.
Continue reading...Residents of an old people’s home in the town of Rudolstadt enjoy a visit from some furry friends
Continue reading...Ndakasi died in arms of her ‘lifelong friend, Andre Bauma’ says Virunga national park in DRC
Ndakasi, a mountain gorilla that famously posed in the background of a selfie taken by rangers at Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has died at 14 after a long illness, the park said.
“It is with heartfelt sadness that Virunga announces the death of beloved orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndakasi, who had been under the care of the park’s Senkwekwe Center for more than a decade,” a statement from the park said.
Continue reading...Six canines, all border collies, have proved some possess a remarkable grasp of human language
Your dog might follow commands such as “sit”, or become uncontrollably excited at the mention of the word “walkies”, but when it comes to remembering the names of toys and other everyday items, most seem pretty absent-minded.
Now a study of six “genius dogs” has advanced our understanding of dogs’ memories, suggesting some of them possess a remarkable grasp of the human language.
Continue reading...The manager of the Ontario store noticed the carroty crustacean was being ‘picked on’ and took it to the Toronto aquarium
An extremely rare orange lobster was rescued from certain death – and the humiliation of spending its final days in a grocery store tank – after the manager noticed it was being “picked on” by the other lobsters.
“Obviously it stood out. It’s not every day you see a lobster that looks like it’s pre-cooked walking around,” said Niki Lundquist, whose husband manages the grocery store in Ontario’s Durham region.
Continue reading...Experts hope he is resting and building up blubber reserves before returning to Arctic to look for mate
When Wally the walrus disappeared after more than five months of appearances around the UK and Ireland, interspersed with visits to France and Spain, observers feared the worst.
But after about three weeks at sea he re-emerged in Iceland, looking skinnier but much closer to his Arctic home.
Continue reading...Singer held up her dirty and torn bag as evidence on Instagram: ‘They’ve destroyed everything’
Shakira said two wild boars attacked her in a Barcelona park and destroyed her bag.
In an Instagram story post, the singer held up her dirty and torn bag as evidence, which she said boars tried to carry off into the woods.
Continue reading...‘Shark calling’, an ancient custom of hunters singing to sharks then catching them by hand, is under threat and locals blame deep-sea disturbances
More in this series
• Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea
• ‘False choice’ – is deep sea mining required for an electric vehicle revolution?
• Covid tests and superbug killers: how the deep sea is key to fighting pandemics
To catch a shark in the waters off Papua New Guinea, first the men sing.
They sing the names of their ancestors and their respects to the shark. They shake a coconut rattle into the sea, luring the animals from the deep, and then catch them by hand.
Continue reading...The 25m-year-old fossil reveals ancient eagle had features unlike any seen among modern hawks and eagles
A 25m-year-old eagle fossil discovered on a remote outback cattle station in South Australia has been identified as one of the oldest raptor species in the world.
Palaeontologists discovered the eagle fossil on the shore of a dry lake known as Lake Pinpa in 2016, and have since identified it as a new species, Archaehierax sylvestris, in a study published in the journal Historical Biology.
Continue reading...Australia’s only two giant pandas are getting ready to rumble. Once a year, a tiny mating window opens. The notoriously sex-shy animals will have about 36 hours to try for a cub. Thanks to the pandemic, which kept a Chinese reproduction expert out of the country, and a better understanding of the panda (research shows it’s best to just 'let them be pandas'), Adelaide zoo now sees natural breeding as the best option for Wang Wang and Fu Ni. Giant pandas are no longer endangered, but with just over 1,800 in the wild, they’re still vulnerable. Around the world, panda keepers have met the goal of having 600 in breeding programs.
Continue reading...A family of wild boar were filmed walking on the Via Trionfale in the northern suburbs of Rome. In recent years wild boar have been wreaking havoc in Rome, even causing fatal car crashes. The animal is believed to be responsible for an average of 10,000 road accidents a year in the country.
Nick Brandt visited five animal sanctuaries in Africa to portray the people displaced by droughts and the creatures whose very existence is under threat
Continue reading...A team at the University of Oregon has begun a three-year study looking at the effects of poor air quality on cattle
Juliana Ranches drove to work in eastern Oregon in early September through wildfire smoke so thick that, for a moment, she thought it was just a grey, foggy day and it would soon start to rain.
Ranches is a livestock researcher relatively new to living in the area, and the conditions were unlike anything she had experienced before, leading her to ask questions about the animals that spend their summers in the smoke. Eastern Oregon has this year experienced regular wildfires since early July.
“We know there is a negative effect,” Ranches said, referring to the cows grazing outside in some of the most polluted air in the US. The area registered 160 on the air quality index (AQI) in early September after reports of a large number of wildfires, a level that can put human health at risk.
“There is a little bit of work out of California with [dairy and beef] producers and indirect impacts, reporting lower conception rates and birthrates, but we cannot say for sure because there are no studies in a controlled environment looking into that.”
Research into the impact on livestock bred for human consumption is limited, although it is known that particulate matter from the smoke is a significant health threat, especially when exposure is long-term.
According to new preliminary research from the University of Idaho, a sample of dairy cattle exposed to poor air quality and heat stress produced less milk – about 1.3 litres less than normal (just over two UK pints) – a day than average. Some cows had not fully recovered two weeks after the air quality improved. But because this observation was based on just one herd, the data does not yet translate into solid recommendations for ranchers and farmers. The work must be scaled up to explore larger patterns.
It is why Ranches, along with her colleague Jenifer Cruickshank, who specialises in dairy management, has begun a three-year study to collect more data on cows and the effects of wildfire and smoke, as part of which they have put nearly 30 cows out to pasture.
“I call them my smoke cows,” said Cruickshank. During a wildfire event that results in an AQI measure over 50, she takes daily milk samples and blood tests, which will be analysed as stress markers. The cows’ respiratory rate and body temperatures are also documented.
“We’re getting a finer-grained picture of what these cows are experiencing, through poor air quality associated with wildfires – a better understanding of the physiological effects on them, like is it mild? Is it severe? Is there diversity among the response in the cows? With that information, we can start to look at the negative effects and minimise the damage,” she said.
There are about 10,000 tigers in the US, and with few requirements for ownership, virtually anyone can own, breed or sell them
The first red flag was the shiny Chevy Camaro with no license plate.
“Anything to declare?” asked the US Customs and Border Protection officer.
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