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Amazing Animals

hunck said:
Laudable but at that rate they need another several hundred thousand detector rats..
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As you say, it is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of ordinance believed to remain undetected in the country, along with countries like Laos, i think it will take many lifetimes to clear it all, however if these rats can be trained to sniff out the ordinance in the areas where people most regularly go, then it should at least reduce the thousands of tragic deaths and people being maimed every year by these terrible weapons.
 
Souleater said:
As you say, it is a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of ordinance believed to remain undetected in the country, along with countries like Laos, i think it will take many lifetimes to clear it all, however if these rats can be trained to sniff out the ordinance in the areas where people most regularly go, then it should at least reduce the thousands of tragic deaths and people being maimed every year by these terrible weapons.
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Indeed. It was on the radio just now he cleared 220,000 sq metres of land - less than ½ sq. kilometer. Quite a size for one rat though.
 
A study has discovered how small warm blooded mammals are able to hunt in cold water.

"Biologists have uncovered the genetic secrets of the world's smallest diving mammals - water shrews.

Using DNA samples to construct an evolutionary tree, scientists revealed that diving behaviour evolved five distinct times in this group of insect-eating mammals.

The ability of these tiny, warm-blooded animals to dive and hunt in freezing water seems to defy evolutionary logic.

The findings are published in the online journal eLife."

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57470976
 
Sid said:
Similar make-up to the Portuguese Man-Of-War perhaps?
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Perhaps they don't come from anywhere? Just spend their lives drifting from Ocean to Ocean, then get swept up by storms onto beaches as they appear to be in the photograph.
 
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A mass gathering of spider crabs has appeared in shallow water off of the coast of Falmouth.

"Thousands of spider crabs have been spotted in a mass gathering off the coast of Cornwall.

The aggregation of male crabs was filmed in knee-deep water, a few metres from a Falmouth beach at low tide.
The annual spectacle happens because the crabs rally together to protect themselves while moulting.

Matt Slater, from Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: "Looking down at the mass of crabs scuttling on the seabed was a truly incredible experience."

Mass aggregations happen between late summer and early autumn when the crabs crack open their exoskeletons and grow a new outer shell, the charity said."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-58346707
 
I watched a programme earlier tonight about Wolverines in the Finland/Russia border forested area. Bears & wolves also around. There was a clip of a mother Wolverine taking down a reindeer - an animal 20 times it’s size. Another clip where it fought off a wolf which was trying to get to it’s young. Bears it didn’t mess with but climbed a tree to escape. Pretty fearsome creatures for their size.
 
The news item describing this video is confusing, because it attributes the scene to both Egypt and India. As far as I can tell, the video's scene is Egypt and the online source was an Indian TV channel.

It's the kind of thing one might see in a movie and suspect was created with CGI to avoid any risk to the horse.

Horse runs through narrow gap between two Egyptian trains in viral video

A passenger on a train in India captured video of the moment a horse ran through the narrow gap between a moving train and a stationary train and survived the experience.

The video, filmed aboard a train moving through the Manqabad area in Upper Egypt, shows passengers putting their heads out through windows to watch a horse galloping next to the train. ...

The equine runs in the narrow gap between the moving train and a train parked on the tracks only a few feet away, managing to avoid striking either vehicle.

The passengers cheer for the horse when it emerges from the other side, apparently unscathed. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/0...wo-trains-in-Egypt-viral-video/1161643064662/

 
uair01 said:
A weird marine animal and an invitation for doing amateur science. At the moment no one knows where they come from.
Tweets:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1417174584386723869

Article:
http://oceans.nautil.us/feature/715/hidden-in-plain-sight
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These have been in the news recently:

Thousands of little blue creatures are washing up on California beaches​

April 26, 20236:24 PM ET
Manuela López Restrepo

The Velella velella, a name so nice you gotta say it twice.

Who are they? The tiny disc-like critters are colonial hydrozoans, classified under the phylum of cnidaria, and their eponymous genus of Velella (not a Game of Thrones reference).
  • Formally titled the Velella velella (say that five times fast) you may know them as by-the-wind sailors.
  • The sailors are a couple of inches long, and vary in striking shades of cobalt and baby blue while they're alive.
  • They have a similar build to jellyfish, but have a small sail protruding from their bell, explaining the name and their migratory patterns.
What's the big deal? California beachgoers have reported seeing thousands of the Velella velella along the shoreline recently, though they typically live far offshore.
  • And their sails can explain it! They rely completely on the wind and ocean currents to move around, and when the conditions are just right, like with recent storms, they can get pushed up onto shore.
  • They also lose that beautiful blue hue once they leave the embrace of ocean waters and die onshore, typically becoming grayish or transparent. And with no exoskeleton to keep their shape propped up, they shrivel up to resemble plastic.
  • Their top predators include gloriously hued sea slugs and a special breed of predatory snail.
SmartSelect_20230509_120323_Gallery.jpgAutum Sasala/Getty Images

Article Continues:
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/26/1172...nia-shore-by-the-wind-sailors-valella-valella
 
Shown an Instagram vid post last night of the strange behaviour of a squirrel. It was titled "Insurance scam?". Said squirrel is shown coming round the corner of a parked car, spots a handbrush lying on the drive, drags it to the side of the car, lies down, and then pulls brush onto itself whilst lying on it's back with it's legs outstretched, apparently pretending to be dead. What on earth was it trying on? Perhaps trying to get sympathy/attention/food from the householder?
 
PeteS said:
Shown an Instagram vid post last night of the strange behaviour of a squirrel. It was titled "Insurance scam?". Said squirrel is shown coming round the corner of a parked car, spots a handbrush lying on the drive, drags it to the side of the car, lies down, and then pulls brush onto itself whilst lying on it's back with it's legs outstretched, apparently pretending to be dead. What on earth was it trying on? Perhaps trying to get sympathy/attention/food from the householder?
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May have been a brush with death if that car had started up! :)
 
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