Twelve people infected so far with new strain against which vaccines may be ineffective
An outbreak among farmed mink of a mutant form of Covid-19 with the potential to be resistant to future vaccines has led to the Danish government bringing in tougher lockdown measures in parts of the country.
The measures were announced following the discovery of a new strain of the disease in animals bred for fur in the country’s northern regions.
Continue reading...Navy joins forces with rescuers and volunteers in effort to push pilot whales back into ocean
Rescuers and volunteers were racing to save about 100 pilot whales stranded on Sri Lanka’s western coast in the country’s biggest mass beaching.
The short-finned pilot whales began beaching at Panadura, 15 miles (25km) south of Colombo, shortly before dusk. Within an hour their numbers swelled to about 100, a local police chief, Sanjaya Irasinghe, said.
Continue reading...What started 15 years ago as a modest promotion to draw attention to native birds, many of which are endangered, has become a phenomenon
Normally on a post test-match Monday in New Zealand, the talk is all about the national rugby team’s latest performance. But this week, while the All Blacks’ destruction of the Wallabies was on everyones’ lips, there was another topic of conversation: birds.
Voting began on Monday in the hotly contested and brutal election of New Zealand’s Bird Of The Year.
Continue reading...Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he’s preparing for the next step
The eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.
The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as “murder hornets”, was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection.
Continue reading...Scientists find several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during expedition
Scientists have found an elusive chameleon species that was last spotted in Madagascar 100 years ago.
Researchers from Madagascar and Germany said on Friday they had discovered several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during an expedition to the north-west of the African island nation.
Continue reading...Hilsa fishermen must borrow to buy equipment but have to sell their catch at a low price to moneylenders – creating a generational debt trap
Kalam Sheikh’s life revolves around the few months when he goes in search of Bangladesh’s prized hilsa fish. When he gets a good catch, he can make enough money to live on for the rest of the year. He can pay off some of his debts and even improve his home.
But this fragile annual cycle has been broken this year, with bad catches bookended by months off the water by the coronavirus pandemic and government restrictions to stop overfishing.
Continue reading...To keep animals safe from rubbish discarded by tourists, a bag has been devised made from milk cartons and rice bran
The famed deer that roam the city of Nara, in Japan, no longer face discomfort – or far worse – after local companies developed a safe alternative to the plastic packaging discarded by tourists that often ended up in the animals’ stomachs.
Last year several of the 1,300 deer that wander around the ancient capital’s central park were found dead after swallowing plastic bags and food wrappers, prompting calls for tourists not to leave their rubbish behind. One of the dead animals had swallowed more than 4kg of rubbish.
Continue reading...Ricardo Pimentel’s menagerie also included cats, rabbits, chicks, sheep and a hedgehog evacuated from his animal shelter
As Hurricane Delta closed in on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, Ricardo Pimentel opened his home – to about 300 dogs.
Related: Tens of thousands flee as Hurricane Delta lashes Mexico's Yucatán peninsula
Continue reading...Voluntary action of companies including Tesco and Princes aims to put pressure on regulatory body to tackle overfishing
British supermarkets and brands, including Tesco, the Co-op and Princes, are stepping up action to cut yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean, amid warnings the stock is in a “critical” state.
The effort, by companies reliant on healthy fish stocks, represents a counterintuitive effort to force regulators to act, rather than the other way around.
Continue reading...The government is being urged to dispel myths and ensure drugs are available – and take responsibility for the millions of stray dogs
By the time the patient, a young man, reached Dr Ramesh Masthi at a Bengaluru hospital, it was too late to save him. After being bitten by a pack of stray dogs as he went out to buy some milk, his family had applied a paste of green chillis, then lime juice and finally, when the wound looked gruesome, turmeric.
“He came about a week after he was bitten. The wound was serious, and we couldn’t save him. There is so much ignorance about dog bites and myths. A rabies shot in time would have saved him,” Masthi says.
Continue reading...Scientists identify a species that appears to absorb potentially lethal UV radiation and emit blue light
The might be tiny creatures with a comical appearance, but tardigrades are one of life’s great survivors. Now scientists say they have found a new species boasting an unexpected piece of armour: a protective fluorescent shield.
Related: Tardigrades: Earth’s unlikely beacon of life that can survive a cosmic cataclysm
Continue reading...Sergey Gorshkov left a hidden camera in a Russian forest for 11 months to capture the big cat
An image of a clearly ecstatic tigress hugging an ancient Manchurian fir tree in a remote Siberian forest has won one of the world’s most prestigious photography prizes.
It took Russian photographer Sergey Gorshkov 11 months to capture the moment using hidden cameras. His patience led to him being named 2020 wildlife photographer of the year by the Duchess of Cambridge at a ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum.
Continue reading...Bar-tailed godwit flies more than 12,000km from Alaska to New Zealand in 11 days
A bird said to have the aerodynamic build of a “jet fighter” has been tracked flying more than 12,000km (7,500 miles) from Alaska to New Zealand, setting a new world record for avian non-stop flight.
The bar-tailed godwit set off from south-west Alaska on 16 September and arrived in a bay near Auckland 11 days later, having flown at speeds of up to 55mph.
Continue reading...We all know someone who looks like their dog, but what about our feline friends? Photographer Gerrard Gethings set out to match moggies with their lookalikes – with uncanny results. By Kathryn Bromwich
If you’ve spent much time on the internet over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen some cats on there. Cats chasing their own tails. Cats attempting ill-judged jumps from one piece of furniture to another. Or, in the case of Gerrard Gethings, a cat who looked exactly like the actor David Schwimmer. “There’s something about the shape of Schwimmer’s face that’s quite interesting,” says the London-based photographer, “and the cat had exactly the same face. That pushed me over the edge, into thinking there was something in it.”
Continue reading...Reports of rare bat species in ancient woodland being cleared for high-speed rail line
Lawyers have warned HS2 it might be felling trees illegally, after an ecology report found evidence of one of the UK’s rarest bat species in an area of ancient woodland being cleared for the high-speed rail line.
Legal firm Leigh Day has written to HS2 Ltd urging the company to halt activity at Jones’ Hill wood, near Wendover in Buckinghamshire, as it does not have a licence to carry out work that could disturb rare barbastelle bat roosts. They say to continue doing so could be a criminal offence.
Continue reading...747, one of more than 2,200 brown bears roaming Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, won after a week of online voting
In Alaska’s annual battle of furry heavyweights, a salmon-chomping bruin nicknamed 747 – like the jumbo jet - has emerged as the people’s choice as the most fabulously fat.
The bear, one of more than 2,200 brown bears roaming Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, was victorious late Tuesday after a week of frenzied online voting (by humans) in what has become an international sensation: Fat Bear Week.
Continue reading...It's not often you see an elephant seal shuffling down a neighbourhood street, but residents of the Chilean town of Puerto Cisnes saw just that this week. A group of neighbours managed to herd the confused animal back to the ocean using large black tarps
Continue reading...Study of brain activity shows no difference when dogs see back or front of a head
Dog owners might love their pet’s endearing puppy dog eyes and cute furry features, but it turns out the doggy brain is just as excited by the back of our heads as the front.
For despite having evolved facial expressions that tug on the heartstrings of owners, researchers have found that unlike humans, dogs do not have brain regions that respond specifically to faces.
Continue reading...Quarter of fakes were stolen with some eggs tracked from thief to trafficker to consumer
Decoy eggs made by a 3D-printer and fitted with satellite tags have been placed in sea turtle nests on beaches in Costa Rica to track the illegal trade of their eggs.
A quarter of the fake eggs put among 101 turtle nests on four beaches in Costa Rica were stolen, with some eggs successfully tracked as they moved from thief to trafficker to consumer.
Continue reading...Research shows Zambian species with surgically removed eyes change nest-building habits but other behaviours remain intact
Near-blind, underground-burrowing, African Ansell’s mole-rats can sense magnetic fields with their eyes, a study has found.
Native to Zambia, the animals have eyes that span just 1.5mm in diameter, live in elaborate underground tunnel systems of up to 1.7 miles (2.8km) long and feed on plant tubers and roots.
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