Killer Whales Trapped In Arctic Ice Have Been Freed

Killer Whales Trapped In Ice Have Been Freed (VIDEO) -- Global Post 

The 11 killer whales that were trapped in ice in Quebec's Hudson Bay have been freed after a passage of water to the sea was created.

MONTREAL — The 11 killer whales that were trapped in ice in Quebec's Hudson Bay have been freed, the mayor of a nearby village said Thursday.

NBC News reported that two scouts from the nearby Inuit village of Inukjuak, on the eastern shore of the Hudson Bay, went to check on the killer whales at around 8 a.m. Thursday.

They found that a path of water had been created to the open sea (nearly 25 miles away) and that the whales were gone from their small ice hole.

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My Comment: Awesome video.

White Killer Whale Spotted InTthe Wild

"Iceberg" is believed to be the first mature white orca observed

White Killer Whale Adult Spotted For First Time In Wild -- BBC

Scientists have made what they believe to be the first sighting of an adult white orca, or killer whale.

The adult male, which they have nicknamed Iceberg, was spotted off the coast of Kamchatka in eastern Russia.

It appears to be healthy and leading a normal life in its pod.

White whales of various species are occasionally seen; but the only known white orcas have been young, including one with a rare genetic condition that died in a Canadian aquarium in 1972.

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My Comment: This is a surprising find.

The Only Man In The World Who Can Swim With A Polar Bear

My Comment: I wonder what the neighbors are thinking. For more info, go here.

Hundreds Of Elephants Slaughtered At African Wildlife Park

Hundreds Of Elephants Slaughtered At African Wildlife Park As Horseback-Riding Poachers Kill HALF The Population -- Daily Mail

* At least 200 elephants in Bouba N'Djida reserve killed since January
* 20 fresh carcasses found last week
* Demand from China driving ivory black market

These heartbreaking photos show the extent of an elephant slaughter in the troubled nation of Cameroon.

At least half the elephant population in Bouba N'Djida reserve have been slaughtered because the west African nation sent too few security forces to tackle poachers, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Thursday.

In what was described as one of the worst poaching massacres in decades, and at least 200 elephants have been killed for their tusks since January by poachers on horseback from Chad and Sudan.

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My Comment: Disgusting.

Five Southern African Nations Have Agreed To Create The World’s Largest Conservation Area

Africa Treaty Creates World’s Largest Conservation Area -- Scotsman

FIVE Southern African nations have agreed to form the world’s largest international conservation area in an effort to protect nearly half of the continent’s elephants and a vast range of animals, birds and plants, many endangered by poaching and human encroachment.

At a ceremony in Namibia yesterday, government ministers from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe put their seals on a cross-border treaty set to combine 36 nature preserves and surrounding areas.

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My Comment: It's about time.

Moment A Seal Dodges Great White Shark

Incredible: Tourists in False Bay, South Africa, were left amazed when they saw this 12ft shark emerge from the water to catch a seal. But despite being one of the world's most feared predators, it badly misjudged its attack

Perched On The Jaws Of Death: Moment A Seal Dodges Great White Shark... -- Daily Mail

They are known for being one of the world's most feared predators.

But as this picture shows, great white sharks do not always get things right when moving in for the kill.

A shocked group of tourists in False Bay, South Africa, were left amazed when they saw this 12ft shark emerge from the water to catch a seal.

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CSN Editor: Click on the above image to enlarge it.

We All Operate On A 24-Hour Cycle

Scientists have identified the mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life. Reuters/Tyrone Siu

Scientists Find the Tiny 24-Hour Clock in Every Living Thing -- FOX News

Scientists have identified the mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life -- from us to algae.

Researchers from Britain's Cambridge and Edinburgh universities, whose work was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, said their findings provide important insight into health-related problems linked to people such as nurses, pilots and other shift workers, whose body clocks are disrupted.

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My Comment: Truth be told .... sometimes I feel that i have been on a 36 hour schedule.

Startling Images Which Show How Chimpanzees Mourn Their Dead

A Mother's Grief: The Startling Images Which Show How Chimpanzees Mourn Their Dead Just Like Humans -- The Daily Mail

Chimpanzees appear to mourn their dead infants just like humans, scientists have discovered.

Chimpanzee mothers establish close physical relationships with their young, carrying them for up to two years and nursing them until they are six.

But now scientists have filmed how one chimpanzee mother, whose 16-month-old infant died, apparently begins the grieving process.

It’s the latest evidence highlighting just how similar chimps and other great apes are to humans.

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My Comment: A fascinating video. It appears that we are not too different after all.

Why Are There No Hyenas In Europe?

Profile of an alert spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). (Credit: iStockphoto)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2010) — A team from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) has analysed the impact of climate change on spotted hyena survival in Europe over 10,000 years ago. These changes played an important role, but the scientists say studies are still needed to look at the influence of human expansion and changes in herbivorous fauna on the definitive extinction of this species across the continent.

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Spectacular View Of Thousands Of Devil Rays As They Mass Off The Californian Coast Scoops Top Photography Prize

Winner of the Underwater group and overall winner of the competition: 'Flight of the Rays' by Florian Schulz from Germany, which shows an unprecedented congregation of Munkiana Devil Rays in Baja California Sur, Mexico

From The Daily Mail:

Packed fin to gill as they swim in tight formation, this incredible picture of rays swimming through the ocean in a colossal school has scooped a top photography prize,

The thousands-strong group of Munkiana Devil Rays were spotted in Baja California Sur, Mexico, by German conservation photographer Florian Schulz.

The remarkable photo won the Environmental Photographer of the Year 2010 awards.

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Scientists Investigate Massive Walrus Haul-Out In Alaska ‎

Walrus high on the barrier beaches near Pointt Lay, Alaska, 2010. Photograph: USGS

From The Guardian:

Scientists fear declining Arctic sea ice may have caused an unprecedented mass migration to dry land.

Scientists in the Arctic are reporting a rare mass migration of thousands of walrus from the ice floes to dry land along Alaska's coast.

Researchers from the US Geological Survey (USGS), who have been tracking walrus movements using satellite radio tags, say 10,000 to 20,000 of the animals, mainly mothers and calves, are now congregating in tightly packed herds on the Alaskan side of the Chukchi Sea, in the first such exodus of its kind.

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Pricetag Set For Tiger Conservation

The Bengal tiger is one of the better protected varieties - but even that is in trouble

From The BBC:

The cost of keeping tigers alive in the wild is about $80m (£50m) per year, say conservationists - but only about $50m (£30m) per year is being pledged.

The figures come from a new assessment that suggests targeting efforts in 42 selected breeding sites.

Building tiger populations in these sites would enable other areas to be re-populated later, the researchers report in the journal PLoS Biology.

About 3,500 tigers remain in the wild, and only about 1,000 breeding females.

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The Woman Photographer Who Braves Temperatures Of MINUS 20 To Take Stunning Pictures Of Northern Lights

Linda Drake uses a variety of different camera exposure times to photograph the spectacular lights

From The Daily Mail:

A photographer has captured some of the most stunning examples of the Northern Lights ever seen.

Travelling each year to Northern Manitoba in Canada to capture the Aurora Borealis, Linda Drake braves temperatures of minus 20 degrees in search of that elusive perfect shot.

Making the pilgrimage to just south of the Arctic Circle, in March each year, the 40-year-old has developed a passion for the heavenly phenomenon.

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One Mystery of Sandstorm Lightning Explained

From Live Science:

Sandstorms can generate spectacular lightning displays, but how they do so is a mystery.

By unlocking the secrets of how sparks come to fly in these storms as researchers are now doing, scientists could help grapple with all kinds of problems, from charged particle clouds that can cause devastating explosions in the food, drug and coal industries to charged dust that could obscure vital solar panels on missions to the moon or Mars.

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Giant Redwoods May Dry Out; Warming To Blame?

Fog shrouds redwoods in California's Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
Photograph by Michael Nichols, National Geographic Stock

From The National Geographic:

Declining fog cover on California's coast could leave the state's famous redwoods high and dry, a new study says.

Among the tallest and longest-lived trees on Earth, redwoods depend on summertime's moisture-rich fog to replenish their water reserves.

But climate change may be reducing this crucial fog cover. Though still poorly understood, climate change may be contributing to a decline in a high-pressure climatic system that usually "pinches itself" against the coast, creating fog, said study co-author James Johnstone, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

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The Most Awe-Inspiring Natural Wonders In America

From Live Science:

If Earth is giant natural art gallery, the United States is among its most impressive geologic installations. From sea to shining sea, fascinating geologic oddities abound. But enough words. With apologies to dozens of geologic wonders that could be on this list, here are 10 of the most awe inspiring, both for their raw beauty and for the forces that went into their creation ...

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Pollination In The Pre-Flower-Power Era

The long, tubular proboscis (arrow, left image) sported by some species of scorpionflies suggests that the insects were pollinating ancient plants including conifers (right) millions of years before flowers evolved. Credit: Photo: Wenying Wu; Illustration: Mary Parrish/National Museum of Natural History

From Science News:

Scorpionflies may have aided plant reproduction long before blossoms evolved.

An obscure group of scorpionflies with specialized mouthparts may have pollinated ancient plants millions of years before flowers evolved, a new study suggests.

Fossils indicate that before flowers evolved about 130 million years ago, most plants with seeds were wind-pollinated. Yet the pollen grains of some plants that lived in the prefloral era were too big to be wind-dispersed, say Conrad Labandeira, a paleoentomologist at Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Also, he notes, pollen receptors were hidden deep within some of those plants and wouldn’t have been readily exposed to windborne pollen.

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Loss Of Top Predators Causing Ecosystems To Collapse

From Live Science:

The catastrophic decline around the world of "apex" predators such as wolves, cougars, lions or sharks has led to a huge increase in smaller "mesopredators" that are causing major economic and ecological disruptions, a new study concludes.

The findings, published today in the journal Bioscience, found that in North America all of the largest terrestrial predators have been in decline during the past 200 years while the ranges of 60 percent of mesopredators have expanded. The problem is global, growing and severe, scientists say, with few solutions in sight.

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World's Last Great Forest Under Threat: New Study

Canadian evergreen forest. (Credit: iStockphoto/Stacey Newman)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2009) — The world's last remaining "pristine" forest -- the boreal forest across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries -- is under increasing threat, a team of international researchers has found.

The researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia, Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and the National University of Singapore have called for the urgent preservation of existing boreal forests in order to secure biodiversity and prevent the loss of this major global carbon sink.

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Kenya Losing 100 Lions Every Year: Conservation Group

An African Lion yawns next to a lioness in the Maasai Mara, approximately 400 kilometres southwest of Nairobi, in 2006. Kenya's lion population has been dropping by an average 100 lions each year since 2002, the Kenya Wildlife Service announced Monday, warning that the big cats could be extinct in the next two decades. (AFP/File/Tony Karumba)

From Yahoo News/AFP:

NAIROBI (AFP) – Kenya's lion population has been dropping by an average 100 lions each year since 2002, the Kenya Wildlife Service announced Monday, warning that the big cats could be extinct in the next two decades.

Cattle herders who kill the lions in retaliation for attacks on their stock have been blamed for much of the decline, the organisation's spokesman Paul Udoto told AFP.

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