Animals news

• Going on a bear hunt: the animal activists signing up to 'shoot' grizzlies

  18-07-2018 19:05 via Animals | The Guardian
  Activist group Shoot’em with a Camera seeks to infiltrate a bear hunt by acquiring licenses they don’t intend to use
  Jane Goodall, the renowned conservationist, and a group of wildlife activists are some of the unexpected entrants in a lottery to hunt up to 22 grizzly bears near Yellowstone national park. Related: Alarmed conservationists call for urgent action to fix 'America's wildlife crisis'Related: Wildcats, butterflies, tortoises: all are endangered by Trump's border wallContin
  
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• Dog Photographer of the Year 2018 – in pictures

  18-07-2018 15:43 via Animals | The Guardian
  The Kennel Club has announced the winners of its Dog Photographer of the Year competition. Monica van der Maden was the overall winner with an image of Noa the Great Dane seemingly alone in a forest Continue reading...
  
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• Ten species of shark coming to the UK as waters warm – in pictures

  18-07-2018 14:08 via Animals | The Guardian
  New research has identified the species of shark currently found in hotter parts of the world that could migrate to UK waters by 2050 as the oceans warmContinue reading...
  
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• How many hippos are too many? Proposed cull raises questions

  18-07-2018 07:00 via Animals | The Guardian
  By resurrecting a proposal to allow trophy hunters to shoot 250 hippos annually, Zambia stirs controversy. The hippo — really? That’s the common response when tour guides in Africa tantalize travelers with this question: “What’s the most dangerous animal on the continent?” Lion? Rhino? Elephant? No, no, no. Eventually, the tour guide delivers the answer with a twinkle in their eye: the hippo, yes, that water-loving, one-tonne mammalian oddity. Despite their hefty an
  
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• A different sort of car for Trump’s motorcade | Brief letters

  17-07-2018 18:42 via Animals | The Guardian
  Morris Travellers | Birthdays column | Children’s books | ‘Gordon Bennett’ | BadgersNext time: the presidential motorcade to be Morris Minor Travellers (Letters, passim).
  Jonathan Stanley
  Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire• After the terrible visit of the misogynistic President Trump it was pleasant to see the Guardian celebrating the birthdays of 20 women out of a total of 33 people (14 July).
  Ann Lynch
  Skipton, North Yorkshire Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: metamorphosis in a museum tower

  17-07-2018 10:59 via Animals | The Guardian
  Oxford University Museum: For 70 years, researchers have been watching ‘particularly hideous’ young swifts turn into long-winged angels This glorious structure is a place rich in history. As we walked through the galleries our guide paused to show us the great oak door behind which Bishop Wilberforce confronted “Darwin’s bulldog”, Thomas Huxley, in their famous debate on evolution. We, however, were intent on a more modest fraction of the building’s past. For
  
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• Swan upping on the Thames: counting the Queen's birds – in pictures

  17-07-2018 08:00 via Animals | The Guardian
  This week marks the annual stocktake of the crown’s swans on the River Thames, known as swan upping. The process of counting the swans on the river and identifying them as belonging to the Queen or one of the two City livery companies that also have rights to them – has been carried out since the 12th century, when the birds were so prized for their meat that all wild swans in England were appropriated as property of the crown. The pomp, finery and techniques of swan upping would be
  
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• Common cranes 'here to stay' after recolonising eastern England

  17-07-2018 07:01 via Animals | The Guardian
  Model predicts population of UK’s tallest bird could double within 50 years after its return to the east of England following a 400-year absenceCommon cranes which recolonised eastern England less than 40 years ago after a 400-year absence are now here to stay, research has found. There could be as many as 275 breeding pairs of the UK’s tallest bird within 50 years, scientists at the University of Exeter, the RSPB and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) predict.Continue reading...
  
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• Endangered bandicoot 'should never have been brought to South Australia'

  17-07-2018 02:43 via Animals | The Guardian
  Researchers say the western barred bandicoot was actually five species and those ‘reintroduced’ would never have lived in SAAn endangered Australian bandicoot that was reintroduced to the Australian mainland is now believed to be one of five distinct species, and researchers say it may have been a mistake to introduce it to South Australia.Scientists working for the Western Australian Museum have published research that concludes that what has been known as the western barred bandico
  
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• Two tarantulas may be on loose after babies found in Derbyshire car park

  16-07-2018 10:40 via Animals | The Guardian
  Baby spiders were abandoned in pots and RSPCA says witness saw parents scuttling awayTwo tarantulas may be on the loose in a village after three of their babies were found abandoned in a car park.The RSPCA said it had rescued the baby Brazilian bird-eating spiders after they were found discarded in pots in Derbyshire. Related: Jaguar kills eight other animals after escaping from zoo enclosureRelated: Research sheds light on mystery of how spiders 'take flight'Continue reading...
  
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• Brazilian bird-eating tarantulas found in Derbyshire car park

  16-07-2018 10:40 via Animals | The Guardian
  Baby spiders were abandoned in pots and RSPCA says witness saw parents scuttling awayTwo tarantulas may be on the loose in a countryside village after three of their babies were found abandoned in a car park.The RSPCA said it had rescued the baby Brazilian bird-eating spiders after they were found discarded in pots in Derbyshire. Related: Jaguar kills eight other animals after escaping from zoo enclosureRelated: Research sheds light on mystery of how spiders 'take flight'Continue reading...
  
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• Nearly 300 crocodiles slain in Indonesia after reptile kills man

  16-07-2018 09:37 via Animals | The Guardian
  West Papua official says locals slaughtered 292 crocodiles using hammers and clubsPeople armed with knives, hammers and clubs have slaughtered 292 crocodiles after a man was killed by one of the reptiles at a breeding farm in West Papua, Indonesia. Photographs released by the Antara news agency showed a large pile of bloodied carcasses in the Sorong district. Continue reading...
  
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• Nearly 300 crocodiles killed in Indonesia after man's death

  16-07-2018 09:37 via Animals | The Guardian
  West Papua official says locals slaughtered 292 crocodiles using hammers and clubsPeople armed with knives, hammers and clubs have slaughtered 292 crocodiles after a man was killed by one of the reptiles at a breeding farm in West Papua, Indonesia. Photographs released by the Antara news agency showed a large pile of bloodied carcasses in the Sorong district. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: I looked into the eyes of Britain's most savage killer

  16-07-2018 06:30 via Animals | The Guardian
  Aigas, Highlands: The weasel may be tiny, but this fierce predator can dispatch and drag off a full-grown rabbit 25 times its size – and has a stare that even humans can find unnervingIf I asked you to name Britain’s most savage wildlife killer, you might say fox or peregrine or goshawk, or perhaps even the golden eagle or the Scottish wildcat if you knew about such exciting rarities. But I think you would be wrong. Savage and killers they all are, no question, but in my book none co
  
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• Jaguar kills eight other animals after escaping from zoo enclosure

  16-07-2018 02:32 via Animals | The Guardian
  Big cat kills five alpacas, two foxes and an emu at Audubon zoo in New OrleansEight animals have died after a jaguar escaped from its habitat at the Audubon zoo in New Orleans and mauled them.An alpaca and fox died on Sunday, the day after the male jaguar killed four alpacas, one emu and one fox, Nola.com reported. The jaguar was captured and returned to its night house after being sedated by a vet team. Related: Olympic jaguar shot dead after escaping handlers following torch ceremonyContinue r
  
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• Scorpion deaths on rise in Brazil as arachnid adapts to urban life

  15-07-2018 10:00 via Animals | The Guardian
  Deaths have more than doubled as specialists warn of increasing danger for city-dwellers
  Specialists in Brazil have warned of the rising danger of deadly scorpions amid a spiraling number of reported deaths and bites by the hardy arachnids which are proliferating in the country’s urban centres.
  The number of deaths from scorpion bites reported to the country’s public health system has more than doubled in the past four years, from 70 in 2013 to 184 in 2017, while cases of scorpion bi
  
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• Intelligent birds

  15-07-2018 08:00 via Animals | The Guardian
  Certain species of bird have surprised researchers recently with their ability to fashion tools and solve complex problemsA discovery by Dr Sarah Jelbert of Jesus College, Cambridge, has led to the refinement of our understanding of crow intelligence. On the south-west Pacific island of New Caledonia, a crow called Emma has stunned researchers by operating a vending machine they constructed for it, remembering the size of a token needed to release a treat. The ongoing investigation into the inte
  
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• What makes a dachshund the perfect muse? The long history of sausage dogs in art

  15-07-2018 03:30 via Animals | The Guardian
  From Picasso to Warhol, dachshunds have been the constant companion of creative types. Sausage dog enthusiast David Capra explains whyMy muse is a seven-year-old chocolate and tan sausage dog. I was captivated by Teena when she was a pup: ears that moved like a tiny elephant’s, a seal-jolting head and platypus feet pitter-pattering along, trying to get hold of my laces. Before we met I made sculptures called Prayers for Sausage Dog; one such work was a three-headed dachshund contraption th
  
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• Country diary: no sanctuary for hunted partridge at Melangell’s church

  14-07-2018 06:30 via Animals | The Guardian
  Llangynog, Powys: This shrine for a patron saint of wild creatures lies at the centre of a shooting estate
  Pennant Melangell lies two miles up the narrow road, hazel-hedged, thronged with coveys of now rare grey partridge (Perdix perdix) that hurry nervously in front of you and dart through fences into fields on either side. Steep, conifer-planted slopes crowd in. There is a sense that this must once have been a secret wilderness place – the kind to which story attaches, becoming thus plac
  
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• Woodchucks join the resistance and eat Paul Ryan's car

  13-07-2018 17:47 via Animals | The Guardian
  The Republic House speaker has revealed that a family of hungry rodents has put his car out of commission Please send your thoughts and Amtrak prayers for Paul Ryan as news emerges that his car has been devoured by a family of hungry woodchucks, a sharp-toothed member of the marmot family also known as a groundhog. The vandalism took place while Ryan was in Washington, and had left his Chevy Suburban parked at his mother’s house in Wisconsin over the winter. A family of woodchucks made a h
  
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• 84 highly endangered amur leopards remain in China and Russia

  13-07-2018 17:19
  Scientists estimate there are only 84 remaining highly endangered Amur leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis) remaining in the wild across its current range along the southernmost border of Primorskii Province in Russia and Jilin Province of China.
  
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• Eight of 14 rhinos die after move to Kenyan national park

  13-07-2018 16:20 via Animals | The Guardian
  Relocation of endangered animals carries risks but loss of half of them is highly unusualEight out of 14 critically endangered black rhinos have died after being moved to a reserve in southern Kenya, wildlife officials have revealed, in what one conservationist described as “a complete disaster”.Preliminary investigations pointed to salt poisoning as the rhinos tried to adapt to saltier water in their new home, the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife said in a statement. It suspe
  
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• Seven of 14 rhinos die after move to Kenyan national park

  13-07-2018 12:52 via Animals | The Guardian
  Relocation of endangered animals carries risks but loss of half of them is highly unusualSeven out of 14 critically endangered black rhinos died after being moved to a new reserve in southern Kenya, wildlife officials have revealed.Kenya Wildlife Service refused to comment on the rhinoceros deaths but, speaking on condition of anonymity, one official said on Friday: “Seven of the rhinos died but it has not been established as to why.” Related: Last male northern white rhino is put do
  
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• Experience: a stray cat saved me from depression

  13-07-2018 11:00 via Animals | The Guardian
  I got home and I collapsed on the floor with grief. Awol came downstairs and flopped beside me, trying to comfort meThe first time I saw Awol was on my doorstep in December 2016. He was super-cute, with black ears, a little white stripe and a fluffy white belly. I would give him a tickle behind the ear and he would rub around my legs to say hello. I had no idea where he came from.I work shifts for a railway line and even if I got back late he would be waiting. As soon as I pulled into my street,
  
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• Record number of crocodiles removed from Queensland waters - report

  13-07-2018 05:07 via Animals | The Guardian
  Three-year government report also reveals authorities investigated eight unlawful crocodile deathsA record number of “problem” crocodiles were removed from north Queensland waters in the past 12 months, a Queensland government report reveals.The Queensland Crocodile Management Update released on Friday showed 84 crocodiles were removed in 2017, mostly in coastal waters between Townsville and Port Douglas. Related: Katter’s party bid to cull crocodiles in Queensland rubbished by
  
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• Rats trail behind shrews, monkeys, and humans in visual problem solving

  12-07-2018 23:22
  Rats take a fundamentally different approach toward solving a simple visual discrimination task than tree shrews, monkeys, and humans, according to a comparative study of the four mammal species. The work could have important implications for the translation of research in animal models to humans.
  
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• Fuzzy yellow bats reveal evolutionary relationships in Kenya

  12-07-2018 23:22
  DNA analysis of fuzzy yellow bats in Kenya revealed at least two new species unknown to science. It's important because Africa's biodiversity is often under-studied and poorly understood, even though bats play a crucial role in agriculture and public health.
  
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• Who got bit? By mailing in 16,000 ticks, citizen scientists help track disease exposures

  12-07-2018 20:17
  A bite from a disease-carrying tick can transmit a serious, potentially fatal infection, such as Lyme disease. But many ticks go unnoticed and unreported. Now, with the help of citizen scientists, ecologists are offering better insight into people's and animals' potential exposure to tick-borne diseases -- not just the disease reporting and prevalence that's only tracked when people get sick.
  
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• Antioxidant benefits of sleep

  12-07-2018 20:17
  Scientists found that short-sleeping fruit fly mutants shared the common defect of sensitivity to acute oxidative stress, and thus that sleep supports antioxidant processes.
  
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• Tree shrews can tolerate hot peppers: Mutation in pain receptor makes peppery plant palatable

  12-07-2018 20:16
  Almost all mammals avoid eating chili peppers and other 'hot' foods, because of the pain they induce. But not the tree shrew, according to a new study. The researchers found that this close relative of primates is unaffected by the active ingredient in chili peppers due to a subtle mutation in the receptor that detects it.
  
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• Mouse house is a very, very, very fine house | Brief letters

  12-07-2018 18:57 via Animals | The Guardian
  Worst BBC soap operas | Woodlice | Mouse house | Paul Simon | Big Ben | Cricket’s coming homeThere is a rival for the worst BBC soap opera (Costa del LOL, G2, 9 July): Triangle, set aboard a North Sea ferry to Amsterdam, in freezing and gloomy weather, where Kate O’Mara had to sunbathe in sub-zero temperatures. However, I retain a lasting affection for Revelations, Granada’s sex in the bishopric soap, which boasted appalling dialogue and (as far as we could tell) only three loc
  
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• Lancashire council bans non-stunned halal meat from schools

  12-07-2018 18:03 via Animals | The Guardian
  Move is Islamophobic, antisemitic and undemocratic, say Muslim leadersA council has banned meat from animals that haven’t been stunned from coucil-supplied school meals, prompting accusations of Islamophobia and antisemitism.Lancashire county council voted on Thursday to stop providing halal meat to council establishments unless animals are stunned before they are slaughtered. Related: Morrissey denounces halal meat as 'evil', and attacks May, Khan, Abbott and moreContinue reading...
  
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• Lancashire council bans non-stunned halal meat from council-supplied school meals

  12-07-2018 18:03 via Animals | The Guardian
  Move is Islamophobic, antisemitic and undemocratic, say Muslim leadersA council has banned meat from animals that haven’t been stunned from coucil-supplied school meals, prompting accusations of Islamophobia and antisemitism.Lancashire county council voted on Thursday to stop providing halal meat to council establishments unless animals are stunned before they are slaughtered. Related: Morrissey denounces halal meat as 'evil', and attacks May, Khan, Abbott and moreContinue reading...
  
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• Risky business: China's snake farmers cash in on global venom market

  12-07-2018 12:00 via Animals | The Guardian
  In ‘snake village’, entrepreneurs have overcome their fears as poison fetches a high priceCreepy. Crawly. Slithery. Gross. Lots of people are afraid of snakes and would rather not go near the things. But for those willing to put those fears aside, there’s money to be made in the snake business. How much? How about $12m a year?
  That’s the amount of revenue generated by a few entrepreneurial snake farmers in the tiny village of Zisiqiao in China’s Zhejiang province. F
  
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• Country diary: soft sounds of sparrow seduction

  12-07-2018 06:30 via Animals | The Guardian
  Sandy, Bedfordshire: The house sparrows are busy caring for their young, but can still find time to mate dozens of times a dayLolling in the shade under a hazel bush, I had become the inadvertent eavesdropper on a private conversation. Out of the canopy came a whispered “brrr” whirr of wings and then the soft sounds of sparrow seduction, a love song of tenderness that was scarcely imaginable from a bird known for its strident chirps.Gentle, soothing, piteous peeps drifted down, an in
  
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• Deep in the fly brain, a clue to how evolution changes minds

  11-07-2018 21:36
  A new study sheds light on the mystery of how evolution tweaks the brain to shape behavior. It started with a close look at two Drosophila species and their mating maneuvers.
  
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• Rhino sperm from the cold

  11-07-2018 20:13
  A new mixture of cryoprotectives allows for an unprecedented high motility of frozen rhinoceros sperm after thawing, report scientists. These new cryoprotectives can increase the prospects of utilizing assisted reproduction techniques for many endangered wildlife species.
  
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• Eradicate rats to bolster coral reefs

  11-07-2018 19:12
  New research has confirmed that invasive rats decimate seabird populations, with previously unrecognized consequences for the extensive coral reefs that encircle and protect these islands. Invasive predators such as rats -- which feed on bird eggs, chicks, and even adults birds -- are estimated to have decimated seabird populations within 90 percent of the world's temperate and tropical island groups, but until now the extent of their impact on surrounding coral reefs wasn't known.
  
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• Liron Gertsman's best photograph: cobalt-winged parakeets in the Amazon

  11-07-2018 17:12 via Animals | The Guardian
  ‘We canoed across a river, hiked up into the rainforest, then waited three days in 30C heat for them to appear’I had to wait three days to get this picture, but, when the moment came, it was breathtaking. I was at Yasuní national park, a protected region of the Amazon in eastern Ecuador, spending two weeks with a group of young photographers on a conservation programme. We documented the wildlife, plants and indigenous communities working to maintain the rainforest. For three
  
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• The first endemic Baltic Sea fish species received its name

  11-07-2018 16:56
  Researchers have discovered and named a new endemic fish species in the Baltic Sea, the 'Baltic flounder,' Platichthys solemdali.
  
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• Primates adjust grooming to their social environment

  11-07-2018 15:32
  Researcher show that wild chimpanzees and sooty mangabeys, two primate species who live in complex social groups, choose their grooming partners based on a variety of criteria, including their social relationship with them and their potential partner's dominance rank. In particular, individuals of both species avoided grooming group mates whose friends were among the bystanders, as grooming might be interrupted.
  
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• Ancient bones reveal 2 whale species lost from the Mediterranean Sea

  11-07-2018 15:32
  Two thousand years ago the Mediterranean Sea was a haven for two species of whale which have since virtually disappeared from the North Atlantic, a new study analyzing ancient bones suggests. The discovery of the whale bones in the ruins of a Roman fish processing factory located at the strait of Gibraltar also hints at the possibility that the Romans may have hunted the whales.
  
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• If you build it, the birds will come -- if it meets their criteria

  11-07-2018 15:31
  A new study presents a case study on how bird surveys can better inform conservation and vegetation restoration efforts. Previous conservation methods have emphasized plants as the key to recreating habitat preferred by a sensitive animal. However, this study shows that there's more to the coastal sagebrush habitat of California gnatcatchers than just having the right plants present.
  
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• Concern about flame-retardant metabolites in bald eagles raised in new study

  11-07-2018 15:31
  A study finds that chemicals used in flame retardants, plasticizers and other commercial products are broken down through the process of metabolism into other compounds. Researchers say not enough is known about the dangers posed by those compounds, known as metabolites.
  
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• Country diary: echoes of hard labour in Hardy Country

  11-07-2018 06:30 via Animals | The Guardian
  Portland, Dorset: The gentle greens and yellows of our last visit are now bleached and tarnished, tall grasses faded to blond, wood spurge dried to rustA stone archway, framing sea and sky. The threshold to another world, a world unsuspected by visitors hurrying over the windswept plateau to the Bill, Portland’s beak-like southern tip.Under the eye of Rufus Castle, we wander down between spindly ivy-sashed trees and warm, lichened walls bright with valerian, to the cove where shuttered bea
  
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• Threatened species: nine mammals and mountain mistfrog could join extinction list

  10-07-2018 20:00 via Animals | The Guardian
  Number of extinct species on EPBC fauna list will rise by almost 20% if species added to listTen species could soon be added to Australia’s list of extinct fauna, including a Queensland frog that was last seen in 1990.The federal government’s scientific advisory body is assessing whether to add nine mammals and the mountain mistfrog to its list of native animal species considered extinct under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Related: Nestlé produc
  
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• Ivory art is elephant in the room for MPs | Letters

  10-07-2018 18:57 via Animals | The Guardian
  MPs debating the ivory bill must distinguish between the illegal market and the legitimate sale of significant works of art, says Martin Levy. Cecilia Grayson draws parallels between the ivory trade and the food industryFiona Harvey reports that, despite restrictions in place since 1989, illegal ivory is being sold across Europe (Report, 10 July). Nothing more clearly demonstrates the significance of the widely welcomed ivory bill currently passing though parliament.  However, the impressio
  
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• What does the koala genome tell us about the taste of eucalyptus?

  10-07-2018 16:16
  Sequencing of the koala genome has revealed some interesting qualities about these marsupials on their sense of taste. They have more bitter taste receptor genes than any other Australian marsupial, and most mammals. This possibly enables the animals to detect toxic metabolites contained in eucalyptus. Koalas even have functional receptors for both sweetness and umami.
  
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• Illegal ivory found on sale in 10 European countries

  10-07-2018 07:30 via Animals | The Guardian
  Europe must increase efforts to investigate and control the ivory trade, say campaignersIllegal ivory has been found on sale in 10 European countries, contravening international efforts to cut down on the trade which campaigners say encourages the poaching of elephants. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: summer breezes across the South Downs

  10-07-2018 06:30 via Animals | The Guardian
  Harting Down, West Sussex: Bees and black-veined marble white butterflies float from flower to flower, as skylarks trill above and a meadow pipit parachutes down into the grass Continue reading...
  
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