Animals news

• Eagle v octopus: Canadians rescue bird locked in battle with giant mollusc

  12-12-2019 17:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Employees at a fish farm in Vancouver intervened when an eagle tried to eat a large octopus, resulting in a battleA bald eagle on Canada’s west coast has learned that its eyes may be bigger than its stomach after it was nearly drowned by an octopus it tried to eat.After hearing shrieks coming from the water on the north-western tip of Vancouver Island, employees at a fish farm investigating the nosies happened upon a bird and cephalopod locked in battle. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: A ghostly old canal enlivened by primroses and stitchwort | Anita Roy

  18-04-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Langford Budville, Somerset: The endless rain here has felt portentous, but it is bringing colour and sound to the banksides and hillsSigns and wonders. Portents and omens. A walk along an old canalway can stretch the imagination just as effectively as it can the hamstrings. I find myself reading the land like you might read a palm or tea leaves, looking for signs of what’s to come.It’s been more than 150 years since this section of the West Deane Way was part of the Grand Western Ca
  
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• Fossils found in Somerset by girl, 11, ‘may be of largest-ever marine reptile’

  17-04-2024 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts believe remains belong to a type of ichthyosaur that roamed the seas about 202m years agoFossils discovered by an 11-year-old girl on a beach in Somerset may have come from the largest marine reptile ever to have lived, according to experts.The fossils are thought to be from a type of ichthyosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile that lived in the time of dinosaurs. The newly discovered species is believed to have roamed the seas towards the end of the Triassic, about 202m years ago. Continu
  
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• Tasmanian devil facial tumour research challenged: disease may not be declining after all

  17-04-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Cambridge scientists critique study that concluded the cancer was no longer a threat to species’ survivalFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastCambridge researchers have challenged a previous study which had concluded that a facial cancer that devastated the Tasmanian devil population was on the decline.Devil facial tumour disease, a fatal cancer spread through biting and sharing of food, emerged in th
  
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• Tasmanian devil analysis challenges study suggesting facial tumour disease decline

  17-04-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Cambridge scientists critique research that concluded the disease is no longer a threat to the species’ survivalGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastCambridge researchers have challenged a previous study finding that a facial cancer that devastated the Tasmanian devil population was on the decline.Devil facial tumour disease, a fatal cancer spread through biting and sharing of food, first emerged in the 1980s. The spread of DFTD led to the species being
  
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• Europeans care more about elephants than people, says Botswana president

  17-04-2024 16:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Westerners see elephants as pets, said Mokgweetsi Masisi, whose government threatened to send 30,000 elephants to Germany and the UK to demonstrate their dangersMany Europeans value the lives of elephants more than those of the people who live around them, the president of Botswana has said, amid tensions over potential trophy hunting import bans.Botswana recently threatened to send 30,000 elephants to the UK and Germany after both countries proposed stricter controls on hunting trophies. The co
  
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• America’s animal shelters are overwhelmed. Pets – and staff – are at breaking point

  17-04-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The shelter where I work took in 694 animals last year. Every day, we face animal cruelty – and communicating the crisis can feel impossibleThis piece was commissioned with the support of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. It contains descriptions of animal abuseMonday mornings at the Mendocino Coast Humane Society, the northern California animal shelter where I work part-time, are chaotic.The frenzied beeping of anesthesia monitoring equipment echoes as I dodge Coco, one of the resi
  
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• Butterfly Tale review – kids insect story wants to take long trip south to Mexico

  17-04-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Anodyne children’s picture provides some gentle entertainment once you forgive the cloying anthropomorphism‘Is that a butterfly fairy?” asks a confused seven-year-old who watches with me, pointing to the screen at the start of this Canadian animated tale. Nope. The purple creature with a humanish face and body, dressed in a hoodie, wings poking out of its back, is in fact the film’s rendering of a monarch butterfly. The film-makers behind this have really outdone themselv
  
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• Butterfly Tale review – harmless mutilation of a natural wonder

  17-04-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Anodyne children’s picture provides some gentle entertainment once you forgive the cloying anthropomorphism‘Is that a butterfly fairy?” asks a confused seven-year-old who watches with me, pointing to the screen at the start of this Canadian animated tale. Nope. The purple creature with a humanish face and body, dressed in a hoodie, wings poking out of its back, is in fact the film’s rendering of a monarch butterfly. The film-makers behind this have really outdone themselv
  
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• Country diary: An old haunt that’s now full of life | Derek Niemann

  17-04-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Bedford: I knew this park nearly 40 years ago when there was little here but optimism. That vision been repaid handsomelyRight here, on top of a rubbish tip, I started my first paid job after college. A slab of clay slapped over a landfill site constituted much of the land that was rebirthed as Priory Country Park. There was no longer a priory, it was hardly in the country, and for those first arrivals in the newly grassed ground planted with a scatter of whips, it wasn’t much of a pa
  
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• Bumblebee species able to survive underwater for up to a week

  17-04-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Common eastern bumblebee queens’ ability while hibernating could help it endure flooding, scientists sayBumblebees might be at home in town and country but now researchers have found at least one species that is even more adaptable: it can survive underwater.Scientists have revealed queens of the common eastern bumblebee, a species widespread in eastern North America, can withstand submersion for up to a week when hibernating. Continue reading...
  
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• Mammoth mayhem: elephant escapes circus and roams Montana streets

  16-04-2024 22:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Animal recaptured without harm, local outlet reports, and is safe with handlers after escaping Jordan World CircusAn elephant escaped from the circus and ambled through the streets of Butte, Montana, before being recaptured without harm, local news reported.NBC Montana showed a video of the enormous pachyderm walking across a busy multi-lane street in front of stopped cars and gawping drivers. A later picture showed the elephant standing on a suburban house’s lawn. Continue reading...
  
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• California pilot and his dog survive plane crash after swimming to shore

  16-04-2024 22:33 via theguardian.com
  
  The Piper PA-32, a single engine plane, crashed off the coast across from Trump’s LA golf club in Ranchos Palos VerdesA pilot and his dog survived a plane crash off the California coast, swimming to shore where they were met by authorities responding to the incident.A 911 call came in on Sunday afternoon at 5.22pm about a plane crashing into the ocean off the coast across from the Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles, in Ranchos Palos Verdes, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s departme
  
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• Greece becomes first European country to ban bottom trawling in marine parks

  16-04-2024 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The law will come into force in national parks within two years and in all of the country’s marine protected areas by 2030Greece has become the first country in Europe to announce a ban on bottom trawling in all of its national marine parks and protected areas.The country said will spend €780m (£666m) to protect its “diverse and unique marine ecosystems”. Continue reading...
  
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• World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts

  16-04-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Loss of intensity and diversity of noises in ecosystems reflects an alarming decline in healthy biodiversity, say sound ecologistsRead more: No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silentSounds of the natural world are rapidly falling silent and will become “acoustic fossils” without urgent action to halt environmental destruction, international experts have warned.As technology develops, sound has become an increasingly important way of meas
  
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• The killer whale trainers who still defend captivity: ‘I’m an endangered species myself’

  16-04-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The 2013 documentary Blackfish turned orca trainers into pariahs in the US. Now some are hitting it big in ChinaSome people spend a long time deciding what they want to do in life. Hazel McBride feels lucky that she’s always known. As a child in Scotland, she watched a VHS tape of Free Willy on repeat. That was the first time she felt a connection with killer whales. The second time was at age eight, on a trip to SeaWorld Orlando in 2000. Shamu was the animal world’s greatest celebri
  
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• No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent

  16-04-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As the soundscape of the natural world began to disappear over 30 years, one man was listening and recording it allRead more: World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn expertsThe tale starts 30 years ago, when Bernie Krause made his first audio clip in Sugarloaf Ridge state park, 20 minutes’ drive from his house near San Francisco. He chose a spot near an old bigleaf maple. Many people loved this place: there was a creek and a scattering of picnic ben
  
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• I earned more as a bin worker than a veterinary nurse | Letters

  15-04-2024 18:27 via theguardian.com
  
  One former nurse describes the poor pay and working conditions she experienced at a vet practiceDebates surrounding the veterinary industry rage on while vet support staff and nurses, forever caught in the crossfire of abuse and accusations of heartlessness or money-grubbing, go unrecognised yet again (‘The vet presented it as: if you care, you pay’: who really profits from poorly pets?, 6 April).I believed I’d found my calling when I qualified as a registered veterinary nurse
  
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• Earthworm crowned UK invertebrate of the year by Guardian readers

  15-04-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Lumbricus terrestris claims landslide victory with 38% of vote, while Asian or yellow-legged hornet comes in last with 0.8%It’s a political earthquake! The common earthworm, the soil-maker, food provider and grand recycler, is the landslide winner of the inaugural UK invertebrate of the year competition.Lumbricus terrestris, also known as the lob worm, dew worm and nightcrawler, took a mighty 38% of the popular vote after readers nominated it to be added to the shortlist for the Guardian c
  
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• The pet I’ll never forget: Oscar the cat, who opened my eyes to the power of male friendship

  15-04-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  He looked like Brendan Gleeson and carried himself like a mob boss. Naturally he was my dad’s favourite child My dad is not a religious man – he goes to the pub when my mum goes to mass – but I’m sure that meeting Oscar was a spiritual experience for him. When they locked eyes across the scrubbed concrete floor of the shelter that Oscar presided over with mob-boss-like remove, an oath of loyalty was sworn. The other cats mewled in vain.I had walked in hoping for a grey ki
  
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• There’s no such thing as a benign beef farm – so beware the ‘eco-friendly’ new film straight out of a storybook | George Monbiot

  15-04-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A highly misleading new documentary claims soil carbon storage can redeem the livestock industry – it’s all so much ‘moo-woo’We draw our moral lines in arbitrary places. We might believe we’re guided only by universal values and proven facts, but often we’re swayed by deep themes of which we might be unaware. In particular, we tend to associate the imagery and sensations of our earliest childhood with what is good and right. When we see something that chimes w
  
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• Exploring why we photograph animals – in pictures

  15-04-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A new collection of wildlife photography aims to help understand why people have photographed animals at different points in history and what it means in the present. Huw Lewis-Jones explores the animal in photography through the work of more than 100 photographers in Why We Photograph Animals, supporting the images with thematic essays to provide historical contextPhotography on display at the Cheltenham science festival 4-9 June 2024 Continue reading...
  
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• Licence to trill: Molly the magpie returned to Queensland carers after special wildlife permit granted

  15-04-2024 07:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen are allowed to keep the bird, which had become Instagram famous with their staffy, Peggy, but are forbidden from monetising itFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMolly the magpie has been returned to its Gold Coast carers – but they are no longer allowed to make money from its 837,000 Instagram followers.The department of environment, science and innovation approved
  
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• Country diary 1974: adders find their place in the northern sun

  15-04-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  19 April 1974: They seem to put in an appearance as the weather turns warmer and you often see them lying onunpaved forest tracksNORTHUMBERLAND and DURHAM: The viper or adder is a common enough reptile of these two northern counties. They seem to put in an appearance as the weather turns warmer. Adders love to lie coiled on some rock in the rays of the sun. You often see them lying on the unpaved forest tracks which run through heatherland and the vast conifer forests. The southern flanks of the
  
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• Country diary: All of life is in these farmyard geese | Kate Blincoe

  15-04-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: There’s such comedy in their waddling aggression, and such tragic hope in their clutch that just won’t hatchThere’s a hissing noise, then a peal of nervous laughter. The grey gander is on the rampage again, chasing anyone who comes within a few metres of him and his goose. Usually the pair are sedate, waddling around together, orange beaks grazing the grass. They’re just another couple of farmyard characters among an assorted bunch of dogs, hor
  
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• ‘A glittering new world of intrigue’: the rich stories Britain’s insects have to tell

  13-04-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The fascinating, strange and sometimes hilarious insect world awakens in spring outside our doorsCast your vote for the UK invertebrate of the year I never expected a later-life love affair. But a few years ago, I was commissioned to write a book on garden insects and the earth moved. All of a sudden, I realised that my garden wasn’t just full of six-legged aliens, but characters, all with stories to tell, some of which were often bizarre and others hilarious. A few metres from my backdoor
  
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• ‘The anti-pet of bourgeois life’: why the world needs big cat energy

  13-04-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Whether by striking workers, poets or Pussy Riot, our feline friends have long been used as a symbol of resistance – radical by nature, they refuse to be tamedIn the 60 years since Julie Andrews sang about the cheering possibilities of whiskers on kittens, the fetishisation of the feline form has only grown stronger. Earlier this year, Somerset House even opened a Hello Kitty cafe as part of its Cute exhibition. By way of balance there is, of course, a jokey online culture a
  
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• UK invertebrate of the year: vote for your favourite

  13-04-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Over the past two weeks we’ve gone in search of the UK’s invertebrate of the year. Now it’s your chance to chooseMost of life on Earth is not like us at all. Barely 5% of all known living creatures are animals with backbones. The rest – at least 1.3 million species, and many more still to be discovered – are spineless. They are the invertebrates, animals of wondrous diversity, unique niches and innovative and interesting ways of making a living on this planet, which
  
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• Bonobos not the peace-loving primates once thought, study reveals

  12-04-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Male-on-male aggression more frequent among bonobos than chimps, but aggression between males and females less commonBonobos are not quite the peace-loving primates they have long been considered, researchers say, after finding that males show more aggression towards each other than chimpanzees.Bonobos and chimpanzees are humans’ closing living relatives. While chimpanzees are known to show aggression against each other – sometimes to the point of death – bonobos have long been
  
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• The week in wildlife – in pictures: greedy pelican and capricorn rising

  12-04-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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