Lions Had A Taste For Human Flesh

Hungry for Humans. In 1898, two man-eating lions terrorized railway workers, claiming 35 lives. The remains of the two lions are now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Getty Images

From Discovery News:

The nightly attacks by two man-eating lions terrified railway workers and brought construction to a halt in one of east Africa's most notorious onslaughts more than a hundred years ago. But the death toll, scientists now say, wasn't as high as previously thought.

Over nine months the two voracious hunters claimed 35 lives -- no small figure, but much less than some accounts of as many as 135 victims.

It was 1898, when laborers from India and local natives building the Uganda Railroad across Kenya became the prey for the pair, a case that has been the subject of numerous accounts and at least three movies.

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Warning Over 'Monster' 20ft Great White Shark Which Bit Another Great White In Half

We're going to need a bigger boat: The remains of a 14ft great white shark that was bitten nearly in half by what authorities - judging from the size of the bite marks - estimated was a 20ft monster

From The Daily Mail:

A 'monster' great white shark measuring up to 20 ft long is on the prowl off a popular Queensland beach, according to officials.

Swimmers were warned to stay out of the water off Stradbroke Island after the shark mauled another smaller great white which had been hooked on a baited drum line.

The 10-foot great white was almost bitten in half.

The fictional shark at the centre of the Steven Spielberg blockbuster Jaws was estimated to be just five feet longer.

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Epic Humpback Whale Battle Filmed

From The BBC:

It is the greatest animal battle on the planet, and it has finally been caught on camera.

A BBC natural history crew has filmed the "humpback whale heat run", where 15m long, 40 tonne male whales fight it out to mate with even larger females.

During the first complete sequence of this behaviour ever captured, the male humpbacks swim at high speed behind the female, violently jostling for access.

The collisions between the males can be violent enough to kill.

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Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2009 Prize Goes To Leaping Wolf

An Iberian wolf jumps a fence intent on his dinner in this stunning
photo by Jose Luis Rodriguez

From The Daily Mail:

An Iberian wolf strides over a fence, its eyes intent on a tasty meal in the next field.

This stunning image won the Veolia Environement Wildlife Photographer of the Year, organised by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

This year was a bumper year with 43,135 entries from 94 countries – up 33 per cent on 2008. The best 100 images in the competition will go on show from October 23 at the Natural History Museum in London.

The competition manager, Gemma Webster, said: 'While the UK and the US remain our major source of entrants, the greatest growth in entries is happening in China and Russia.'

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Chimps Are Happy To Help Each Other - But Only If They Are Asked

Lending a hand: One chimp passes a tool to another so they can reach a juice box

From The Daily Mail:

While chimpanzees are willing to help each other, they need to be prompted before they will offer assistance.

A study published in PLoS One showed chimps would share tools with each other, but usually only if requested. They were far less ready to spontaneously lend a hand like humans.

Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan were studying the evolution of altruism. Initially many scientist thought it developed from an ultimate perspective - 'I will help you now because I expect there to be some long-term benefit to me'.

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Atlantic Salmon Shortage's Ripple Effect

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From CBS News:

(CBS) In Chile's northern Patagonia, in channels sheltered by the Andes Mountains, the salmon are dying, CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports.

At fish farms, divers check for signs of a waterborne virus called ISA: Infectious Salmon Anemia.

Harmless to humans and deadly to Atlantic salmon, it's the mostly popular fresh fish to eat for American consumers.

ISA has killed millions of salmon in Chile.

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Alien Giant Snakes Threaten To Invade Up To 1/3 of U.S.

Researchers place a radio transmitter inside a 16-foot (5-meter) Burmese python in Florida's Everglades National Park in an undated photo. Native to Asia, the species is already established in the wild in Florida and is taking a toll on Floridian animals. A similar fate could await ecosystems in a wide swath of the U.S. if other non-native giant snake species are allowed to flourish in the country, an October 2009 study says. Photograph courtesy Lori Oberhofer, National Park Service

From National Geographic:

Nine species of giant snakes—none of them native to North America and all popular pets among reptile lovers—could wreak havoc on U.S. ecosystems if the snakes become established in the wild, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) .

Two of the giant snakes are already at home in Florida. One of them, the Burmese python, has the potential to infiltrate the entire lower third of the U.S., the study says.

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Dolphins, Sharks And Birds Team Up For One Of Nature's Most Spectacular Annual Feeding Frenzies

Feeding frenzy: Up to 1,000 common dolphins arrive from the open ocean to drive sardines shoals towards the surface during the sardine run

From The Daily Mail:

It’s been billed as the greatest natural predatory show on earth and from these stunning images it is easy to why.

An underwater photographer was there to capture the action as dolphins, sharks, whales and birds teamed up for one of nature's most spectacular annual feeding frenzies – the sardine run.

New York born Jason Heller took the amazing pictures when he travelled to the wild coast of South Africa this July.

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Extra-Powerful Military Sonar 'Is Killing Britain's Last Wild Dolphins'

Naval exercises will threaten bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth (pictured), according to wildlife campaigners who say the animals will deafened by the sonar

From The Daily Mail:

Conservationists fear a major naval exercise due to start today will put Britain’s wild dolphins in danger.

They say the latest generation of military sonar being used in the Nato exercise threatens the North Sea’s last remaining bottlenose dolphins.

The warning from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society comes after an unusually high number of deep sea whales have been stranded or spotted in shallow waters around the coast.

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How 'Superswarms' Of Krill Gather

From The BBC:

When krill come together, they form some of the largest gatherings of life on the plant.

Now scientists have discovered just how these small marine crustaceans do it.

Huge 'superswarms' containing trillions of krill are formed by juveniles not adults, and these swarms are even denser than experts supposed.

That suggests that all krill in the Southern Ocean are more vulnerable to overfishing then previously thought, the scientists warn.

Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans that gather in huge numbers.

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Albatross-cam Reveals Amazing Relationship Between Birds And A Killer Whale

A rookery of albatrosseses glide behind a killer whale, which churned up food scraps from the deep

From The Daily Mail:

Albatrosses have been captured feeding alongside killer whales for the first time, thanks to tiny cameras fitted on the seabirds' backs.

The amazing pictures reveal albatrosses foraging in groups while at sea collecting food for their chicks.

They followed hunting killer whales who drove food to the ocean surface and tucked into the scraps left behind.

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Flying Feline, Hidden Kitten: The Fur Flies In Amazing 'Ninja' Cat Fight

Take that: This frame catches the two pals getting to grips mid-air

From The Daily Mail:

Leaping through the air, claws outstretched these cats appear locked in mortal combat.

But rather than a deathly duel over a mouse or territory, this acrobatic pair are simply play-fighting.

Dubbed the 'ninja cats' after the Japanese feudal warriors, the sparring pair are in fact Muffi and his friend Tiger.

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Polar Bear Cub Hitches A Ride

From The BBC:

Arctic waters are at best chilly and at worst close to freezing.

Which may explain why a polar bear cub has recently been seen riding on the back of its mother as the bears swim across parts of the Arctic Ocean.

The cub then briefly rode her back as she clambered out of the icy water, a unique event photographed by a tourist.

Experts have rarely seen the behaviour, and they say the latest find suggests it may be a more common practice than previously thought.

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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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Number Of Earth's Species Known To Scientists Rises To 1.9 Million

A twisted nudibranch, (Chromodoris Elizabethina), on the reef face off Heron Island, discovered by researchers last year. Photograph: Gary Cranitch/Queensland Museum

From The Guardian:

The world's most comprehensive catalogue of plants and animals has been boosted by 114,000 new species in the past three years.

The number of species on the planet that have been documented by scientists has risen to 1.9 million, according to the world's most comprehensive catalogue of plants and animals.

The new figure has been boosted by 114,000 new species discovered since the catalogue was last compiled by Australian researchers three years ago – a 6.3% increase.

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The Tiny Kingbird That Took A Piggyback On A Predatory Hawk And Lived To Tell The Tale

Time you were going: The red-tailed hawk shrieks in pain as the brave kingbird sinks its talons in

From The Daily Mail:

How far would you go to get rid of an unwelcome visitor?

This is the moment a tiny kingbird decided it was time to see off a potential predator circling his home.

In a bold move, the aggressive little bird launched itself at the fearsome red-tailed hawk and sank its talons into the larger bird's back.

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Giant Fish 'Verges On Extinction'

From The BBC:

One of the world's largest freshwater fish is on the verge of going extinct.

A three-year quest to find the giant Chinese paddlefish in the Yangtze river failed to sight or catch a single individual.

That means that the fish, which can grow up to 7m long, has not been seen alive for at least six years.

There remains a chance that some escaped the survey and survive, say experts, but without action, the future of the species is bleak.

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Scientists Announce Trove of Fragile New Species In Mekong

The Cat Ba leopard gecko, discovered in 2008, found in the Cat Ba Island National Park in northern Vietnam. Thomas Ziegler / WWF / Epa

From Time Magazine:

Right now, bird-eating frogs with fangs wait for their prey in the streams of eastern Thailand. Technicolor geckos scurry up trees on the Thai-Malaysian border, and ruby-red fish — previously only found in the Ukrainian ornamental fish trade — are swimming in the rivers of Burma. These are three of the 163 species discovered by various researchers in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia last year, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced on Sept. 25.

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I'm Smarter Than I Look: How A Colony Of Chimps Deep In The African Jungle Have Taught Themselves To UseTools

Human-like touch: Chimps in the rainforest on the outskirts of Bossou, Republic of Guinea, have learnt to crack nuts using stones

From The Daily Mail:

The BBC'S new landmark natural history series, Life, has been three long years in the making.

It is a tribute to the dedication and professionalism of a team of filmmakers prepared to go to the ends of the earth to record the most extraordinary animal behaviour.

Journalist Tom Rawstorne was invited to accompany a film crew to Africa as they filmed a community of chimpanzees who use of every day objects as tools.

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Sea Stars Grow Faster As Water Warms

Purple ocher sea stars prey on mussels. Credit: Dave Cowles

From Live Science:

Climate change will deal clams, mussels, and other marine bivalves a double whammy. Biologists already expect them to have trouble making their shells because elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels will acidify seawater. Now it seems they’ll also have to contend with brawnier predatory starfish.

Bivalves are the preferred prey of the purple ocher sea star (Pisaster ochraceus), a familiar denizen of the intertidal zone along the Canadian and American west coast.

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