Spiders, centipedes and scorpion-like critters are among the 27 new animal species that biologists have discovered in the dark, damp caves of two Central California national parks — via digg
A 5m northern bottle-nosed whale that became stranded in the River Thames has died after a massive rescue attempt to save its life
A huge beached whale has been dumped outside the Japanese embassy in Berlin in a Greenpeace anti-whaling protest. The environmental activists hauled the fin whale to Berlin from the Baltic coast after finding it beached on a sandbank. The dead whale measured 17m long and weighed 20 tonnes. Activists are trying to demonstrate that there is no need to kill the mammals for research — as Japan does — because cadavers can be found — via Darren Barefoot
A Swedish farmer sentenced to gaol for shooting a wolf preying on his sheep petitioned the government on Thursday for a pardon as a dispute grew between the wildlife lobby and farmers alarmed at growing wolf numbers. Depleted by centuries of hunting, Sweden’s wolf population has benefited from preservation programmes and legislation to now number about 150. Wolves have even been seen near Stockholm. Animal rights groups say the population is still critically low, making it vulnerable to inbreeding and disease, but the farming and hunting lobby says wildlife laws introduced in 2001 leave their livestock and dogs unprotected from attack
Idaho Department of Fish and Game intends to kill up to 75% of the wolves in the Lolo elk zone to bolster struggling elk herds there, pending approval from the Idaho Fish and Game commission and the US Fish and Wildlife Service — via TidePool
The 8000-tonne japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru broke away from a supply ship it had loaded with whale meat and steered a deliberate collision course towards the 949-tonne Arctic Sunrise, the smaller of two Greenpeace ships chasing the whaling fleet. The Japanese are claiming they were rammed, but this wouldn’t be the first time they’ve lied about ramming Greenpeace vessels
Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, discovered the meaning of karma when he threw a mouse he had found in his home onto a pile of burning leaves — only to see it run away and burn his house down — via Feòrag
A cow that escaped a slaughterhouse dodged vehicles, ran in front of a train, braved the icy Missouri River and took three tranquiliser darts before being recaptured six hours later. News of the heifer’s adventures prompted a number of people to offer to buy the animal — via Boing Boing
Greenpeace has laughed off claims by a Japanese whaling organisation that the US Navy is spying on its protest ships in the Southern Ocean. The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research, the group conducting the whaling and the real pirates, claims the information is being gathered for the US Civil Marine Analysis Department’s worldwide report on piracy
As the Fish and Wildlife Service ponders a delisting plan that would turn over management of the wolves to the states, federal officials are baulking at plans they fear would allow hunters to exterminate whole packs
A mugger on the run at the Bloemfontein Zoo in South Africa took refuge from security guards in the Bengal tiger’s cage. The tiger took exception to his new companion and killed the silly bastard — via Feòrag
eBay’s plan to allow pets to be sold on its auction site has been howled down by thousands of users, forcing the company to quickly abandon the idea. People feared changing eBay policy to allow sales of creatures other than fish and snails would invite abusive animal breeders such as puppy farms
. eBay then proposed limiting online pet postings to animal shelters, but users argued that it would be too difficult to cull the illegal breeders from legitimate shelters
In a world first, German scientists, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, say they have reconstructed a key sequence in the genome of the woolly mammoth that shows the extinct beast’s closest modern relative is the Asian elephant
A recent study has determined that Narwhal tusks are not for fighting or breaking through ice, but are highly sensitive sensory organs. The close-ups showed that 10 million nerve endings tunnel from the tusk’s core toward its outer surface, and can detect subtle changes of temperature, pressure, particle gradients and probably much else
William Morris Fox Tapestry originally uploaded by Red Wolf
The second phase of the William Morris fox tapestry for my mother’s antique chair is completed.
Now I have to start the third and final phase, which means doing another one of these
Researchers at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington state say the long, loud pant is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs. When they played the sound of a dog panting over the loudspeaker, the gaggle of dogs at the shelter kept right on barking. But when they played the dog version of laughing, all 15 barking dogs went quiet within about a minute — via Boing Boing
A company called PetsMobility has come out with PetCell, the first mobile phone for dogs. The phone will allow users to call their dogs in case the dog gets away and also includes a GPS tracking device if the dog doesn’t respond to the call. In addition, the PetCell will feature GeoFence, which will alert owners whenever their dogs wander outside a prescribed area
In the dense central forests of Borneo, a conservation group has found what appears to be a new species of mammal. WWF caught two images of the animal, which is bigger than a domestic cat, dark red, and has a long muscular tail — via digg
For the first time, a genetically modified plant has been shown to cause inflammation in animals — the 10-year project to develop pest-resistant peas is dropped
A new species of wooly lemur has been named in honour of John Cleese in recognition of his work to protect lemurs in general. The avahi cleesei, which weights less than two pounds and eats leaves, was discovered in Western Madagascar in 1990 by a team led by anthropologist Urs Thalmann and his colleague Thomas Geissman of Zurich University
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