Animal Journeys

[EnolaGaia]

DOG THAT DISAPPEARED IN FLORIDA IN 2016 IS FOUND IN NEW YORK
A dog that disappeared in Florida in February 2016 has been found in New York.

A woman who said she found the German shepherd-Jack Russell Terrier mix brought it last week to a Long Island and New York City rescue group called Bobbi and The Strays, which traced its microchip and tracked down its astonished family in West Palm Beach, Florida.

"I had said many times, 'They're going to find that dog. They may not find that dog alive, but somehow, some way, they're going to find the chip on that dog and they're going to be calling us,'" Rick Moneck told The Associated Press in a phone call on Saturday. Nonetheless, the news came as quite the shock.

"I never, ever expected - you know, we kind of gave up on it," said Moneck. "After this much time had gone by, you just move on with your life."

Moneck told Newsday, which first reported the story, that his family adopted the "beautiful" and "well-behaved" dog, named Relay, as a puppy in 2014.

One day, Relay set off to explore.

"I think she's a wanderer," Moneck told the AP. "And I think she was just an opportunist dog and happened to see that she could fit underneath the gate."

The family scoured the area and put up fliers. ...

However the dog got to New York, it's about to experience some more mileage.

Bobbi and The Strays has been looking for a volunteer to drive Relay to Florida.

Moneck told Newsday it's "unbelievable" that his family will be reunited with the "dog that we loved so much."

SOURCE: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-16-20-00-17

 

[GNC]

Here's one we missed from 2015, as mentioned in the cat journeys article in the current FT:
http://armaghi.com/news/mystery-surrounds-moggies-12000-mile-journey-to-county-armagh/27348

Microchipped in Australia, turns up years later without an owner in London, then a while later in County Armagh! And it's supposed to have been born in 1989! Anyone know what happened to the mystery moggy? Is this a post for the Teleporting Cats thread?

 

[Mythopoeika]

That is an old cat!

 

[David Plankton]

Here's one we missed from 2015, as mentioned in the cat journeys article in the current FT:
http://armaghi.com/news/mystery-surrounds-moggies-12000-mile-journey-to-county-armagh/27348

Microchipped in Australia, turns up years later without an owner in London, then a while later in County Armagh! And it's supposed to have been born in 1989! Anyone know what happened to the mystery moggy? Is this a post for the Teleporting Cats thread?

I'm guessing that a microchip just carries a number which can be cross referenced on a database to find the owners details. So could the Australian authorities be using a similar set of numbers to the UK ones?

In other words, the cat has never been to Australia but it's microchip number is the same as an Oz cat.

 

[GNC]

I don't know enough about the microchip tags, but I would assume a reference to the city of origin would be more specific than some code number. Anyone here have experience and know for sure?

 

[ramonmercado]

Purrfect news.

A cat which went missing from its home in Cornwall has been found nearly 300 miles away in Hertfordshire.

Fudge was found in St Albans after apparently jumping into a holidaymaker's van in Newquay in October.

Owner Parisa Jenkins tracked her pet down through its microchip and social media. Fudge will be given a lift home by charity workers.

"I'm over the moon. He's 17-years-old but living life to the max," she said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-42033893

 

[ramonmercado]

Luckily the parcel wasn't marked not to be opened until xmas.

A curious cat named Baloo was mistakenly shipped more than 700 miles away from his home in Nova Scotia, Canada after crawling into a parcel destined for Alberta.

The tabby’s owner, Jacqueline Lake, told CTV News that the mischievous, 1-year-old cat had secretly sneaked into the bottom of a package containing tire rims. The day after the parcel had been sent, Lake began searching for the missing family pet. “We knocked door-to-door, we searched the woods, we searched under decks, in garages, under steps ... he was gone,” she said.

Baloo was later discovered by a delivery driver in Montreal, 17-hours into his cross-country road trip.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cat-mistakenly-shipped-cross-canada_us_5c171b07e4b05d7e5d835472?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__121718&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__121718+CID_de882491ec9270da136d00131505830d&utm_source=Email marketing software&utm_term=crawling into a parcel&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__121718

 

[ramonmercado]

Odd that more birds don't do this at migration time.

A feathery passenger was discovered 12 hours into a 14-hour flight between Singapore and London.

The stowaway, a mynah bird, appeared in the business class section of a Singapore Airlines flight last Monday. An airline spokesman confirmed the incident a week later, and said the bird was eventually caught. In a Facebook video, it can be seen making itself comfortable on top of a headrest before an flight attendant makes a failed attempted to grab it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46861136

 

[ramonmercado]

Just hopped into the suitcase.

South African frog travels 8,000 miles in suitcase

A surprise stowaway has been found in a Nottinghamshire suitcase after travelling 8,000 miles from South Africa. The frog, about the size of a £2 coin, was discovered in the luggage when the owner was unpacking at home in Darlton, near Newark.
Paula Jones from the RSPCA said: “She managed to quickly confine the amphibian under an upturned box and contacted us for help.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-leicestershire-46927001/page/2

 

[Ascalon]

Scientists 'speechless' at Arctic fox's epic trek

A young Arctic fox has walked across the ice from Norway's Svalbard islands to northern Canada in an epic journey, covering 3,506 km (2,176 miles) in 76 days, reports BBC News.

That's a good stroll, that.

 

[Yithian]

What amazed the researchers was not so much the length of the journey as the speed with which the fox had covered it - averaging just over 46 km (28.5 miles) a day and sometimes reaching 155 km.​

For seventy-six days! Epic little thing!

 

[Mungoman]

Foxes are territorial - extremely so when tallied up with another'n.

I'm quite astounded that this vixen would feel the need to relocate this far...and as for the distance - that is further by 300K's from Sydney, to PERTH!!??

It would've been across ice, with no gradients, but still!

What could possibly motivate a territorial animal to trot that distance for that length of time...

A random thought...(If I had real estate on the Svalbard Islands...I think that I'd sell).

 

[ramonmercado]

He really has a tiger in his tank.

A tiger has undertaken the longest walk ever recorded in India, travelling some 1,300km (807 miles) in five months.

Experts believe the two-and-a-half-year-old male is possibly in search of prey, territory or a mate. The tiger, which is fitted with a radio collar, left its home in a wildlife sanctuary in the western state of Maharashtra in June. It was then tracked travelling back and forth over farms, water and highways, and into a neighbouring state.

So far, the tiger has come into conflict with humans only once, when it "accidentally injured" one person who was part of a group that entered a thicket under which it was resting.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50626744

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here's an interesting angle on mass animal migrations ... The largest movement of animal biomass on the planet happens daily, and it goes unseen because it occurs underwater.

The Largest Mass Migration on The Planet Happens Every Single Day, And We Never See It

At night, they rise. As the Sun disappears over the horizon, a vast movement takes place in the world's oceans, as countless sea creatures begin the long trek upwards towards the surface waters above.

They do not stay long. When the Sun rises, bringing light and the threat of watchful surface predators, they will retreat once more, down into the lower depths of the sea, sheltering in whatever protection the enveloping darkness can afford them.

This endless back-and-forth – called diel vertical migration (DVM) – is thought to be the largest mass migration on the planet in terms of the enormous amount of biomass involved, and it's something that happens every single day and night, even though humans, for the most part, hardly even notice.

Some do, however. Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California have been watching closely, analysing thousands of hours of footage of this phenomenon, and publishing their findings in a new study.

In short, the migration is no picnic. For vertical migrators who are preyed upon, there really is no such thing as a truly safe harbour, as predators hunt them basically every step of the way on their up-down journey, which usually spans hundreds of metres each way. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/the-la...et-happens-every-day-and-we-never-even-see-it

 

[ramonmercado]

THIS cat might have travelled around 125 miles to Lincolnshire from Oxford on his own.

The 12-year-old tabby was found on Saturday by workers from Witham View Veterinary Surgery in Lincolnshire who are now appealing for his owners to get in touch. They discovered that the short-haired domestic rescue has a microchip registered in Oxford but the details are out of date.

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18412872.lost-cat-travels-oxfordshire-lincolnshire/

 

[ramonmercado]

Storks shun migration for junk food
By Helen Briggs BBC News
22 January 2016

Storks feeding on rubbish dumps instead of migrating are more likely to survive the winter, research shows.
The bird is among a growing number of migratory species that have changed their behaviour due to human influences, says an international team.

Until recently, all white storks in Europe migrated south for the winter, but now more are flying shorter distances to snack on food on dumps.
The white stork breeds from Europe to north-west Africa and western Asia.
White storks in Europe have traditionally flown south to spend the winter in Africa but in recent decades an increasing number have stayed closer to home, drawn to the food discarded at landfill sites.

A team lead by Dr Andrea Flack of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany used GPS devices to study the migratory habits of 70 young storks from eight different countries during their first migration.
The research, published in Science Advances, tracked birds hatched in Armenia, Greece, Poland, Russia, Spain, Germany, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
The study found that storks from Russia, Poland and Greece followed the traditional migratory route of flying south as far as South Africa.

However, birds from Spain, Tunisia and Germany lingered north of the Sahara; birds from Armenia flew only a short distance; and, surprisingly, birds from Uzbekistan stayed in their home country.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35373746

White storks are back.

White stork chicks have hatched in the wild in the UK for the first time in centuries.

Eggs in one of three nests at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex have hatched, the White Stork Project announced. Observers watched as the parents incubated the nest of five eggs located in an oak tree. They were seen removing eggshells from the nest and later regurgitating food for the chicks.

It comes after the same pair of white storks unsuccessfully tried to breed at Knepp last year.

Lucy Groves, project officer for the White Stork Project, said it was the first time in hundreds of years that wild white stork chicks have hatched in the UK.

https://www.thecanary.co/discovery/...orks-hatch-in-uk-for-first-time-in-centuries/

 

[IbisNibs]

Baby storks! Nice to have some good news. Thanks for the post, RamonMercado!

 

[ramonmercado]

A bat in the boot.

A bat has been found hiding in a car boot after a 500-mile journey from France to a north-east England car showroom.

The stowaway pipistrelle was discovered when the red Vauxhall Grandland X was opened by sales staff in Hartlepool. It was collected by RSPCA officer Shane Lynn, who used to work at the showroom. Once the 4in (10cm) bat is strong enough, it will be released into the wild as pipistrelles are a common breed in the UK.

"Staff had quite the fright," said Mr Lynn. "Luckily, despite his adventure, the bat didn't seem to be too worse for wear."

Mr Lynn took the bat, which appeared lethargic, to a local vet for a check-up and reported the find to the Bat Conservation Trust.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tees-53390966

 

[EnolaGaia]

This dog apparently misses the family's former house ...

Missing dog made 60-mile journey to family's former home

A dog that went missing from her family's Kansas home turned up about a week later at the front door of her family's former home -- 60 miles away in Missouri.

Colton Michael said family members returned to their home in Lawson, Mo., recently and were surprised to find a dog on their porch.

Michael, who moved into the home two years ago, said he was even more surprised when he had the canine's microchip checked and discovered Cleo, the 4-year-old golden retriever, belonged to the house's former residents.

Michael discovered Cleo's owner, Drew Feeback, had posted on Facebook about a week earlier that the canine was missing from the family's home in Olathe, Kan. -- about 60 miles away.

Both families said they are at a loss to explain Cleo's long journey, as she would have had to cross a river to make it back to her former home.

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...journey-to-familys-former-home/9161595013873/

 

[Mythopoeika]

It's not clear to me how animals can do this. Maybe they're a LOT smarter than we think they are.

 

[Mungoman]

It's not clear to me how animals can do this. Maybe they're a LOT smarter than we think they are.

I thought that the only reason we called them dumb was because they didn't speak to us...I'd call that showing intelligence.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Wading bird travels 7,000 miles nonstop to break flying record
... A bar-tailed godwit has been crowned the endurance champion of the animal kingdom after completing an epic 7,200 mile nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand.

Update ... A new record for the longest (known) nonstop bird flight has been set by another bar-tailed godwit whose journey from Alaska to New Zealand was lengthened by dealing with winds.

Bird flies 7,500 miles nonstop, breaking world record

A bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) just flew for 11 days straight from Alaska to New Zealand, traversing a distance of 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometers) without stopping, breaking the longest nonstop flight among birds known to scientists, The Guardian reported.

Bar-tailed godwits are "big, noisy and cinnamon-colored," according to the National Audubon Society. And they are known to undertake impressive migrations between Alaska and New Zealand, flying thousands of miles without stopping. But one particular bird, driven by easterly winds that prolonged his journey, flew longer than any of his kind known to date. ...

The scientists tracked this particular male godwit — known as "4BBRW" for the colored identification rings on its legs, stacked blue, blue, red and then white — through its onboard satellite tag. In 2019, they caught and tagged 4BBRW along with 19 other bar-tailed godwits in the Firth of Thames, southeast of Auckland.

The endurance flyer set off from southwest Alaska on Sept. 16 after having spent a couple of months feeding in Alaska's mudflats, according to The Guardian. Though the godwits pack on weight during this time, they are known to shrink their internal organs for their migration in order to travel light, according to The Guardian. ...

After leaving Alaska, the godwit flew south over the Aleutian Islands and landed in a bay near Auckland in New Zealand 11 days later. His satellite clocked in at 7,987 miles (12,854 km), according to The Guardian. But rounding errors likely mean that the journey actually extended over about 7,581 miles (12,200 km), according to the scientists. Sometimes, he flew up to 55 mph (89 km/h). Previously, the longest nonstop flight recorded among birds was made by a female bar-tailed godwit that flew around 7,145 miles (11,500 km) in nine days in 2007, according to National Geographic. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/bar-tailed-godwit-record-flight.html

 

[IbisNibs]

Well, if you're a godwit that means you're omniscient, doesn't it? You could never get lost.

Still sounds rather exhausting though!
At least it didn't have to wade the entire distance.

 

[GNC]

Just looked it up, quite a wacky-looking thing, you'd never have thought it would be able to perform an incredible endurance test.

 

[hunck]

Pretty amazing. Does it stay awake for the 11 days or sleep whilst flying I wonder? Maybe micro-naps along the way..

 

[Kondoru]

It must have been in a hurry or else it would have taken breaks

 

[EnolaGaia]

Well, if you're a godwit that means you're omniscient, doesn't it? You could never get lost. ...

Since you asked ...

Good guess, but apparently not ...

The etymology of "godwit" is murky. ...

Etymology
Origin unknown. Completely unattested in Middle English or Old English, but apparently representing Old English *gōdwiht, equivalent to good +‎ wight (“creature”).

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/godwit

GODWIT, a word of unknown origin, the name commonly applied to a marsh-bird in great repute, when fattened, for the table, and formerly abundant in the fens of Norfolk, the Isle of Ely and Lincolnshire. ... Its fame as a delicacy is perpetuated by many later writers, Ben Jonson among them ...

(Emphasis added)
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Godwit

Given the many allusions to the bird's status as a valued delicacy, I wondered whether the name originated later, and with regard to encountering it as part of a sumptuous meal, to mean "good wit' (with)" ...

- "Good with mashed potatoes and gravy"
- "Good with herb stuffing"


(just kidding ... )

 

[GNC]

Pretty amazing. Does it stay awake for the 11 days or sleep whilst flying I wonder? Maybe micro-naps along the way..

I'd imagine you'd just zone out after a while.

 

[Mungoman]

I know very little concerning aeronautics, but looking at it's wings, I would say that it flys low and uses an air cushion effect to conserve energy - maybe also to catch forty winks now, and again?

 

[hunck]

A study on frigatebirds shows some birds do indeed sleep whilst flying

To record brain activity, the team attached a small device to the heads of frigatebirds while they were still on land. The device used electroencephalography (EEG) to identify if and when the birds were asleep while they flew over the ocean. After about 10 days of non-stop flight, the birds returned to land, and the researchers recollected the devices to observe the results.

The team predicted that the flying frigatebirds would exhibit unihemispheric slow wave sleep (USWS), a phenomenon in which animals sleep with only one hemisphere of the brain at a time, allowing them to keep one eye open to watch out for potential threats.

Dolphins have also been observed exhibiting USWS, allowing them to sleep while they are still swimming.As predicted, the frigatebirds were found to use USWS while flying, leaving one eye open as they circled over the ocean. "The frigatebirds may be keeping an eye out for other birds to prevent collisions much like ducks keep an eye out for predators," Rattenborg explained.

The frigatebirds were also found to exhibit bihemispheric sleep, in which both hemispheres of the brain are asleep at the same time. This means that frigatebirds are able to fly with both of their eyes closed. The monitored birds even experienced brief bouts of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, although they lasted only a few seconds. During REM sleep, muscle tone is reduced, causing birds' heads to droop. Despite this muscle tone reduction, REM sleep was not found to affect the birds' flight patterns.

Although the frigatebirds did sleep for brief periods of time in mid-flight, they spent a majority of the flight awake. While flying, however, they spent less than 3% of their time asleep, sleeping about 42 minutes per day on average. Mid-flight sleeping also occurred almost exclusively at night