Overfishing of small species causes jellyfish curse

Overfishing of small species causes jellyfish curse - Marine biologists say they have proof that excessive trawling of small fish species leads to proliferation of jellyfish, a worsening phenomenon whose causes have been unclear.

The scientists monitored ecosystems in two ocean zones a thousand kilometres (600 miles) apart, traversed by the same current.

One zone was off Namibia, where fishing has been unregulated, and the other was off South Africa, where catches of so-called forage fish -- sardines, anchovies and herrings -- are controlled according to available stocks.

 

AFP/AFP/File - A barrel jellyfish (Rhizostoma pulmo) is displayed in a transparent bucket in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France on July 6, 2012. Marine biologists say they have proof that excessive trawling of small …

"In the 1960s, the waters off Namibia used to yield 10 million tonnes of sardines annually. This has been replaced by 12 million tonnes of jellyfish," Philippe Cury at France's Institute for Development Research (IRD) told AFP on Tuesday.

"There was very poor management of sardines and anchovies, which were overexploited and have now almost disappeared," said Cury, a co-author of a study that appears in the journal the Bulletin of Marine Science.

"In South Africa, there was very careful management of forage fish stocks, and there has been no jellyfish outbreak."

Experts have fiercely debated the explosive growth in jellyfish populations in many ocean regions.

Suspected culprits have been damage to the seabed ecosystem by bottom trawling; the removal of predator fish that keep the jellyfish population under control; and the greenhouse effect, which is warming the sea.

But Cury said the new research points to the impact of removing a small but important strand in the food web.

With little fish removed from the sea, jellyfish have no competitors for plankton, their source of food. As a result, they proliferate uncontrolled.

"This is why it is essential to keep a certain abundance of forage fish" in the marine mix, said Cury. ( AFP )

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Seven rare Komodo dragons hatch in Indonesia

Seven rare Komodo dragons hatch in Indonesia - Seven Komodo dragons have hatched under a breeding programme at an Indonesian zoo, an official said, a success story that raises hope for the endangered lizard.

Twenty-one eggs from two Komodo dragons were placed in incubation at the Surabaya Zoo in eastern Java, the first batch in September and the second in October, with seven hatching on March 10.

 

AFP/AFP - An Indonesian vet holds a baby Komodo dragon at Surabaya Zoo on March 14, 2013. Seven Komodo dragons have hatched under a breeding programme at the zoo, an official said

"Some of the eggs from the first Komodo did not hatch, which is normal. We're hoping for another seven or eight from the second clutch, which are due to hatch around April or May," zoo spokesman Anthan Warsito told AFP on Wednesday.

He said the hatchlings were the result of a breeding programme that begins with incubation and involves protecting the young from predatory cannibalistic adult dragons as well as placing microchips in the babies to monitor their progress.

Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizards, can reach around three metres (10 feet) in length and 70 kilograms (154 pounds) in weight and are endemic to a cluster of islands in eastern Indonesia.

They are also popular at zoo exhibits around the world.

The species is considered vulnerable, with around 5,000 left in the wild.

Although deadly attacks are rare, several Komodo dragons have clashed with humans in recent years, the latest victim an Indonesian tour guide who was in February bitten on the calf in the Komodo National Park. ( AFP )

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Dinosaur Named After Daisy Morris

Pterosaur: Dinosaur Named After Daisy Morris - A girl who was just five years old when she stumbled across a completely new species of flying dinosaur is to have it named after her.

Daisy Morris who is now nine, found the fossil at Atherfield beach on the Isle of Wight in 2009 and took it to local dinosaur expert Martin Simpson.

Pterosaur: Dinosaur Named After Daisy Morris

With colleagues from the University of Southampton, he confirmed it was a new species of pterosaur, about the size of a crow, from about 115 million years ago and which will now be called Vectidraco daisymorrisae.

Vertidraco means "dragon from the Isle of Wight" while the rest of the title refers to the young fossil-hunter.

Mr Simpson said: "When Daisy and her family brought the fossilised remains to me in April 2009, I knew I was looking at something very special. And I was right.

"The fossil turned out to be a completely new genus and species of small pterosaur, a flying reptile from 115 million years ago in the Lower Cretaceous period, which because of the island's eroding coastline, would without doubt have been washed away and destroyed if it had not been found by Daisy.

"It just shows that, continuing a long tradition in palaeontology, major discoveries can be made by amateurs, often by being in the right place at the right time."

The pterosaur fossil has now been donated to the Natural History Museum. ( Sky News )

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Elephant Campaign Targets China Consumers

Elephant Campaign Targets China Consumers - The power of the internet is being used to transcend language and cultural barriers in an effort to halt a massive spike in the slaughter of elephants in east Africa.

A leading elephant welfare charity has launched a campaign with the help of New York artist Asher Jay aimed at targeting Chinese consumers who are thought to be fuelling the illegal and bloody trade in ivory.

"Last year's unofficial figure was 149 dead of which 139 were illegally killed, and there are many more uncounted." Dr Joyce Poole, the co-founder of ElephantVoices told Sky News in an email from her field research in the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya.

"In the last few days I have had word of five dead from one area of the Mara. This could all be stopped if we can get the word out in Asia. Surely people need to understand that tusks have to be hacked out with an axe."

The charity is basing its campaign on two works of art commissioned from artist Asher Jay. The two posters display slogans written in Chinese.

The slogans read 'Every Tusk Costs A Life; Don't Buy Ivory' and 'Every Tusk Costs A Life; Stop The Trade' and the Chinese characters are designed to resemble elephants.

"ElephantVoices is doing something unique by making the graphic art available online in several versions, so they can be shared on social networks and be used for T-shirts, bumper-stickers, posters and banners", executive director Petter Granli said.

Sky News has decided to make a Chinese translation of this article available online in an attempt to broaden awareness of the campaign. The article will be posted on the Chinese version of Twitter - Weibo.

With an ever increasing foothold and influence in Africa, China is widely believed to be behind a concerning increase in ivory poaching which is illegal worldwide. The ivory is smuggled by ship and also in commercial flights from east Africa to China and other Asian countries.

There it is manufactured into high-end decorative goods which are increasingly popular with China's growing middle class. ElephantVoices and other charities are concerned that those who buy the ivory have no idea of the impact it is having.

"Tusks are not shed like antlers, they do not drop out and they just cannot be removed from living elephants. To obtain them you must hack them out with an axe." ElephantVoices explained in their campaign.

"The tusks of male elephants are much larger than those of females. Poachers target elephants with the largest tusks, killing the mature, breeding males first. When they are dead and gone, poachers set their sights on younger males."

But it is the legendary intelligence of the elephant which focuses attention on their plight that much more. Experts explain that in many cases, when an elephant is slaughtered, it cries out.

Other elephants then hear that crying and in keeping with their social nature, they follow the noise. They too are then drawn into the poachers trap.

"We are asking people to help us reach out to potential buyers of ivory who don't realise that elephants are dying in record-high numbers for trinkets and decorations. The only way to stop this wanton slaughter of elephants is to choke demand for ivory and stop the trade," Dr Poole said.

ElephantVoices describes elephant societies at the moment as resembling human communities after a prolonged war: most of the adult males - with their big tusks - have been killed.

"There are no role models for the elephant sons. As the number of adult males available to kill declines, poachers turn to the older females - the leaders of elephant society." ElephantVoices explained.

"They kill the family elders first, taking out the matriarchs, one by one. As the price of ivory increases with rising demand, the poachers slaughter the elephant mothers and daughters, causing the disintegration of entire families.

"An elephant's child, like a human child, cannot survive without the loving care of its mother. Africa's elephant orphans are succumbing in droves to starvation, grief and death."

ElephantVoices says it believes the Chinese government and the people of China have a special responsibility to end the killings. They claim that 90% of the ivory available in China is from slaughtered elephants.

"Chinese buyers deserve to know that tens of thousands of elephants are being killed to supply them with ivory. Every tusk costs a life. China has the ability to raise public awareness and to enforce their strict laws to quickly strangle the trading, buying and poaching," Ms Poole said.

"China can stop her countrymen causing the destruction of Africa's heritage and biodiversity, while concurrently protecting her enormous investments on the African continent. We urge China to take action now to end any trade in ivory - we cannot afford to lose Africa's keystone species." she said. ( Sky News )

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Nightmare zoo in Indonesia shaken by giraffe death

Nightmare zoo in Indonesia shaken by giraffe death — The tigers are emaciated and the 180 pelicans packed so tightly they cannot unfurl their wings without hitting a neighbor. Last week, a giraffe died with a beachball-sized wad of plastic food wrappers in its belly.

That death has focused new attention on the scandalous conditions at Indonesia's largest zoo. Set up nearly a century ago in one the most biologically diverse corners of the planet, it once boasted the most impressive collection in Southeast Asia.

 

In this Saturday, March 10, 2012 photo, a moon bear which suffers from a skin tumor sits inside a cage at the quarantine section of Surabaya Zoo in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. Indonesia's biggest zoo, once boasting one of the most impressive and well cared for collections of animals in Southeast Asia, is struggling for its existence following reports of suspicious animal deaths and disappearances of endangered species. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

But today the Surabaya Zoo is a nightmare, plagued by uncontrolled breeding, a lack of funding for general animal welfare and even persistent suspicions that members of its own staff are involved in illegal wildlife trafficking.

The rarest species, including Komodo dragons and critically endangered orangutans, sit in dank, unsanitary cages, filling up on peanuts tossed over the fence by giggling visitors.

"This is extremely tragic, but of course by no means surprising in Indonesia's zoos, given the appalling way they are managed on the whole," said Ian Singleton, a former zookeeper who now runs an orangutan conservation program on Sumatra island.

The zoo came under heavy fire two years ago following reports that 25 of its 4,000 animals were dying every month, almost all of them prematurely. They included an African lion, a Sumatran tiger and several crocodiles.

The government appointed an experienced zookeeper, Tony Sumampouw, to clean up the operation and he struggled, with some success, to bring the mortality rate down to about 15 per month.

But following last week's death of the 30-year-old giraffe "Kliwon" — who had for years been eating litter and trash thrown into its pen and was found with a 18-kilogram (40-pound) ball of plastic in its stomach — Sumampouw said he's all but given up.

Nothing short of a "total renovation" is needed, he said.

"We need to either think about privatizing or transferring out some of the animals."

With entrance fees of less than $2, critics say there's not enough money to care for the animals, much less invest in improving the zoo's facilities.

One of the biggest problems is overcrowding.

Whereas most zoos limit the number of animals born in captivity — taking into consideration how many can reasonably be cared for or exchanged with other zoos — the notion of "family planning" has not yet taken off here. Contraceptives are expensive and there are not adequate facilities to separate males and females. As result, species at the Surabaya zoo are bred to excess.

The 180 pelicans are kept in a pen the size of a volleyball court. Nearby, 16 tigers — 12 Sumatran and four Bengalese — are kept in a prison-like row of concrete cages.

One white tiger, whose parents were donated by the Indian government nearly 20 years ago, is now covered by skin lesions.

Let out so rarely, she suffers from back complications that make it difficult to just stand up, let alone walk, zoo curator Sri Pentawati said.

"There are too many tigers," she lamented. "We have a hard time rotating them out to get all the exercise they need."

Rahmat Shah — a well known big-game hunter with a museum in the city of Medan that is filled with rhinos, big cats and other animals he's shot around the world — currently heads Indonesia's National Zoo Association. He says none of the zoos run by the government are in good condition, but that Surabaya is especially troubled, due to a bitter internal rift.

Two men who each claimed to be the zoo's chief were fired several years ago, but their followers among the staff have continued the feud.

Police believe the poisoning death of a Javan warthog in January, found with traces of cyanide in its stomach, was linked to that conflict.

"One side is always trying to discredit the other," said Ludvie Achmad, head of a local conservation agency.

Sumampouw acknowledged he has had little success in controlling the undisciplined staff.

He said he believes some animals, including three young Komodos that disappeared last year, were stolen by caretakers and sold into the exotic pet trade.

Zookeepers also have been accused of taking meat meant for the tigers and selling it in the local market. ( Associated Press )

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Your Cat is Making You Crazy

Your Cat is Making You Crazy - The derogatory term "crazy cat lady" is not just talk. According to Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr, the syndrome is very real. While he is not the first scientist to point out the link, it is common knowledge that Toxoplasma gondii found in cat feces causes the illness toxoplasmosis. Flegr says the parasite manipulates a person's brain. In other words, your cat is making you crazy, according to an article in the Toronto Star.

Experts convened Sunday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, British Columbia, to discuss the issues related to this prevalent parasite. The findings were conclusive in that Toxoplasmosis is dangerous, but they also state there is no need for panic. Severe pathologies are a result of several complex interactions, of which Toxoplasma gondii is only a factor.

Approximately 60 million people unknowingly carry toxoplasmosis, according to estimates from reports through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flegr estimates 30 percent of the Czech Republic population is infected. There are fewer cases in Canada and the U.S.

Fatal Attraction

Joanne Webster, a professor of parasite epidemiology at Imperial College London, has also studied the effects of Toxoplasma gondii in rats. She says a "toxo-infected rat looks and acts, in general, happy and healthy and very much like an uninfected rat." The striking difference is the part humans should take note of. Toxoplasma gondii manipulates the brain causing the rat to be less fearful including a strange attraction to cats. For obvious reasons this could be deadly for the rat.

Crazy cat lady, crazy cat man differences

Flegr discovered a difference in how Toxoplasmosis affects men and women. Men who are infected tend to act suspicious, while women are extra warm and caring. This may be linked to the fact that testosterone levels are affected differently, increasing in men and decreasing in women compared to uninfected counterparts.

Psychotic symptoms

Although Flegr connects the dots between psychotic symptoms and serious disorders including schizophrenia, his intention is not to scare people. Flegr wants to make society aware of the manipulation potential and wants to shine a spotlight on his studies that link traffic accidents with the illness. His research leads him to believe infected individuals need to be more careful when driving. "Latent toxoplasmosis is to blame for one million traffic-related deaths," Flegr writes in a 2010 study.

Not all cats are out to get you

Instead, not all cats carry toxoplasmosis according to CNN. In fact, they only secrete oocysts when they are young. With that said, even if only 10-percent of pet cats were infected, the number is staggering considering there are over 86 million pet cats in the U.S. alone. Final advice, wash your hands. ( yahoo.com )

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Pythons linked to Florida Everglades mammal decline

Pythons linked to Florida Everglades mammal decline - Non-native Burmese pythons are the likely cause of a severe mammal decline in Florida's Everglades.

A team studied road surveys of mammals in the Everglades National Park before and after pythons became common.

Researchers found a strong link between the spread of pythons and drops in recorded sightings of racoons, rabbits, bobcats and other species.

In PNAS journal, they report that observations of several mammal species have declined by 90% or more.

“Start Quote

They are a new top predator in Everglades National Park - one that shouldn't be there” - Prof Michael E Dorcas Davidson College, North Carolina

The national park covers the southern 25% of the original Everglades - a region of subtropical wetlands that has been drained over the last century to reclaim it for human use.

The origins of Burmese pythons in south Florida are unknown, but many were imported into the US through the pet trade.

As the pythons have made it from captivity into the wild, the absence of natural predators has allowed populations to balloon. Intermittent sightings were recorded for 20 years before the snakes were recognised as being established across the Everglades in 2000.

Pythons occasionally tackle alligators, which can end badly for both animals

The pythons are now established across thousands of sq km in southern Florida. Although there are no accurate figures for how many there are, the numbers removed from the Everglades reached nearly 400 in 2009 and this has been increasing year-on-year (apart from a slight drop in 2010 due to a cold spell).

Restoration of the Everglades remains a divisive issue in Florida

"Any snake population - you are only seeing a small fraction of the numbers that are actually out there," said Prof Michael Dorcas, one of the study's authors, from Davidson College in North Carolina.

He told BBC News: "They are a new top predator in Everglades National Park - one that shouldn't be there,"

"We have documented pythons eating alligators, we have also documented alligators eating pythons. It depends on who is biggest during the encounter."

Earlier this month, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the US was poised to approve a ban on importing Burmese pythons. But some observers remarked that the move was about 30 years too late.

Getting ambushed

Prof Dorcas and his colleagues looked at data on mammals found during roadkill surveys from 1993-1999, and on live and dead mammals encountered during nighttime road surveys from 1996-1997.

Burmese pythons are well established across thousands of sq km in south Florida

They then compared these results with similar data collected between 2003 and 2011, after the pythons were recognised as being established.

They found that observations of raccoons and opossums had dropped by about 99%. There had been a 94.1% fall in observations of white-tailed deer and an 87.5% decrease in sightings of bobcats.

No rabbits or foxes were seen during the more recent survey; rabbits were among the most common mammals in the roadkill survey between 1993 and 1999.

The majority of these species have been documented in the diet of pythons found in the Everglades National Park. Indeed, raccoons and oppossums often forage at the water's edge, where they are vulnerable to ambush by pythons.

Observations of rodents, coyotes and Florida panthers had increased slightly, but the overall number of sightings remained low.

The researchers also found that the declines in mammals coincided geographically with the spread of Burmese pythons. Mammal species are more common in areas where pythons have only been recently introduced, and are most abundant outside the snakes' current range.

Bill Nelson holds up the 5m-long skin of a Burmese python at a hearing on Capitol Hill in July 2009

Prof Dorcas said more research was needed to assess the impact of such large declines. But he added: "It's not unreasonable to assume that any time we have major declines in mammals like this it's going to have overall impacts on the ecosystem. Exactly what those are going to be, we don't know. But it's possible they could be fairly profound."

The ban on importing Burmese pythons has come after five years of debate and lobbying in Washington DC. Florida's Democrat Senator Bill Nelson was among those who campaigned for a ban, unravelling the skin of a 5m-long Everglades python at a 2009 Senate hearing to make his point.

But reptile breeders and collectors had disputed that the tropical snakes posed much risk beyond south Florida and argued that any ban would harm a multi-million dollar industry.

Although the ban will not reverse the situation in southern Florida, where the reptiles are already established, Prof Dorcas said it could help prevent their spread to other suitable habitats in the US, such as southern Louisiana and south Texas. ( bbc.co.uk )

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Captive Rhino Romance May be Last Hope for Species

Captive Rhino Romance May be Last Hope for Species - Puntung is a Sumatran rhino, one of roughly two hundred left in the world. Captured in a Borneo forest on Christmas Day, she is the latest addition to Malaysia’s Borneo Rhino Sanctuary — and experts say she may also be one of the last hopes for a species on the brink of extinction.

Veterinarians want to introduce Puntung to Tam, a 20-year-old male Sumatran rhinoceros in the enclosure next door, in the hopes that they will breed — although this cannot take place for a number of months yet, until Puntung is deemed ready. Estimated to be 10 to 12 years old, she was airlifted to the sanctuary in the Tabin Forest Reserve after her capture, and has since been adjusting to her new home, eating more than 60 kg (132 lb) of leaves each day.

“She doesn’t look stressed, she’s eating well ... but the stress (of a new environment) is enough to offset her cycle, her normal cycle,” said Zainal Zahari Zainuddin, a veterinarian with the Borneo Rhino Alliance.

“So she may not have a cycle now. That’s why we’re monitoring her.”

Captive breeding is now regarded as the only way to boost the population of the two-horned Sumatran rhino, which at 500 to 600 kg (1,100 to 1,322 lb) and 1.3 metres tall (4.3 feet) is the world’s smallest rhinoceros. Deforestation and illegal hunting have decimated the population in the wild, and habitat fragmentation has cut the surviving animals off from potential mates.

The animals are ageing to the point where they are too old to breed. But even the capture of Puntung, dubbed a “Christmas miracle” by scientists, does not mean success is assured.

Though she is the right age to breed, she may well turn out to be infertile, said John Payne, at the Borneo Rhino Alliance. “The rhinos that were caught in Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sumatra in the past ... quite a few wild caught females did have reproductive tract problems.

They weren’t producing eggs or they had cysts or tumours in the fallopian tubes,” Payne said. “So we are not over the hurdle yet. It may prove that she’s not fertile, in which case we need to go on what sort of treatments might be possible to make her fertile.”

The sanctuary’s only other female rhino, Gelegob, was unable to conceive even with the help of fertility treatment, since she could not produce eggs. She is now 30 years old and blind. If Puntung shows signs of being ready after six months of observation, she’ll be released into an enclosure with Tam, who walked out of a palm oil plantation in 2008 and refused to go back into the forest.

The two are now being kept in adjacent paddocks so each is aware of the other’s existence. But Sumatran rhinos are solitary animals and only come together in the wild for courtship and the rearing of young.

Two breeding attempts have been made since the Malaysian captive breeding project began in 1983, but neither succeeded. The last successful attempt to breed captive rhinos took place at the Cincinnati Zoo in the United States.

Rhinoceros horns are a coveted ingredient in traditional Eastern medicine, which has led to widespread illegal hunting. The WWF said last year that the Javan rhinoceros had been poached into oblivion in Vietnam and is now believed to be confined to one population of less than 50 individuals in an Indonesian national park. ( reuters )

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Scientists Uncover How Dainty Rhino Feet Support Huge Bodies

Scientists Uncover How Dainty Rhino Feet Support Huge Bodies - How do rhinos' dainty little pigeon-toed feet support their portly bodies?

A group of veterinary scientists in the United Kingdom are on the case. By coaxing three white rhinos to walk back and forth across a "pressure pad," a floor mat embedded with thousands of pressure sensors, the researchers are collecting data on how much force the beasts exert on different parts of their feet as they walk.

A rhinoceros can weigh as much as 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), yet somehow, their feet manage to take all those tons in stride. Initial results show that, with each step, their toes feel peak pressures of 75 pounds per square inch (psi), and the pads of their feet, 15 psi. That's not so much.

"Impressively, the peak pressures aren't that different from human feet (similar range of values), although the timing and distribution of pressures around the feet surely are different to some degree we haven't yet quantified," said John Hutchinson, professor of evolutionary biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College's structure and motion laboratory and one of the researchers working on the study.

A rhinoceros crosses a road inside Kruger National Park, some 60 km from Nelspruit in South Africa, June 2010. Eight dehorned rhino carcasses have been found in South Africa's Kruger National Park, in a poaching attack blamed on gunmen who slipped across the Mozambican border, a park spokesman said Wednesday. (AFP Photo/Martin Bernetti

In addition to figuring out how rhino feet manage this feat, the scientists are investigating how the beasts' locomotion differs from that of other large land mammals — in particular, elephants. Unlike elephants, whose columnlike legs turn into feet without much notice, rhinos have relatively thin legs that splay out into larger, circular pads tipped with three rigid toes; they look as if their bodies are teetering on four saplings whose roots are slightly exposed near the ground.

As well as those differences in anatomy, the researchers have learned that the two types of animals carry their weight very differently, too. "Rhinos put more pressure on the inside [edge] of their feet; elephants on the outside, which is weird and we don't really understand it yet," Hutchinson told Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience.

One technical difficulty of the project has been convincing three rhinos at Colchester Zoo in the U.K. to walk across the researchers' pressure pads, allowing them to collect data. Zookeepers have trained the animals to approach a ball attached to a pole at the other end of the pads by rewarding them with a treat every time they touched their noses to the ball. Still, the beasts easily get distracted from this routine.

"They don't care, really, about science," Hutchinson said in a recent BBC interview.

For that matter, should anyone? What good is this rhino research?

The study of large mammal locomotion may sound like science at its most irrelevant, but it actually has several applications. "Our work is mainly intended to help us detect, monitor and treat abnormal foot pressure patterns in rhinos. Such abnormalities could indicate lameness or deeper health problems, which are a very serious issue with large land mammals like rhinos," he said.

Secondly, learning how rhinos carry their bulk with minimal pressure on their feet could help engineers design heavy load lifters. As Hutchinson explained, "One of our big questions is how do larger animals support loads on their feet, which would help establish principles [for carrying heavier loads], but we still have a ways to go before we can really suggest new inspirations for design."

The scientists plan to publish their results later this year. ( LiveScience.com )

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More Than 1,000 Dead Birds Fall From Arkansas Sky

More Than 1,000 Dead Birds Fall From Arkansas Sky - Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 black birds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Saturday that it began receiving reports about the dead birds about 11:30 p.m. the previous night. The birds fell over a 1-mile (2-kilometer) area, and an aerial survey indicated that no other dead birds were found outside of that area.

Jan. 1: An Environmental Services worker picks up a dead bird in Beebe, Ark. as other dead birds line the street behind him.

Commission ornithologist Karen Rowe said the he birds showed physical trauma, and she speculated that "the flock could have been hit by lightning or high-altitude hail."

The commission said that New Year's Eve revelers shooting off fireworks in the area could have startled the birds from their roost and caused them to die from stress.

Robby King, a wildlife officer for the agency, collected about 65 dead birds, which will be sent for testing to the state Livestock and Poultry Commission lab and the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Wisconsin.

Rowe said that similar events have occurred elsewhere and that test results "usually were inconclusive." She said she doubted the birds were poisoned. ( foxnews.com )

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Girl, 10, is 'first person' to survive sting from the world's most venomous creature... the lethal box jellyfish

Girl, 10, is 'first person' to survive sting from the world's most venomous creature... the lethal box jellyfish

A ten-year-old girl has become the first person ever to have survived an attack from a lethal box jellyfish, the world's most venomous creature.

Rachael Shardlow was stung by the creature while swimming in the Calliope River, near Gladstone, in Queensland, Australia.

Rachael's 13-year-old brother pulled her on to the riverbank. She told him she could not see or breathe, and fell unconscious with the jellyfish's tentacles still strapped to her limbs.

Survivor: Australian schoolgirl Rachael Shardlow was stung by a box jellyfish

Zoology and tropical ecology associate professor at James Cook University, Jamie Seymour, says the girl's survival after such an extensive sting is unheard of.

'I don't know of anybody in the entire literature where we've studied this where someone has had such an extensive sting that has survived,' he told ABC news in Australia.

'When I first saw the pictures of the injuries I just went, 'you know to be honest, this kid should not be alive. I mean they are horrific.

Extensive sting: Rachael's leg following the sting, which are experts are amazed didn't kill her

Lethal: The box jellyfish - one of the deadliest creatures in the world

'Usually when you see people who have been stung by box jellyfish with that number of the tentacle contacts on their body, it's usually in a morgue.'

Associate professor Seymour says the university is interested to see how long it takes for Rachael to recover, as well as whether there are any long-term effects.

'From our point of view it's really useful information that you very seldom, if ever, get your hands on,' he told the Aussie TV station.

Rachael's father, Geoff Shardlow, says his daughter has scarring as well as some short-term memory loss.

'We've noticed a small amount of short-term memory loss, like riding a pushbike to school and forgetting she's taken a pushbike,' he said.

'The greatest fear was actual brain damage [but] her cognitive skills and memory tests were all fine.'

Mr Shardlow says it is vital there are more jellyfish warning signs erected throughout central Queensland. ( dailymail.co.uk )

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Australia welcomes giant pandas with city party

Australia welcomes giant pandas with city party. – Two giant pandas from China were welcomed to Australia on Saturday with gifts of bamboo and a city party before settling into their new home, a 25-acre (10-hectare) natural enclosure at the Adelaide Zoo.

Four-year-old male Wang Wang and 3-year-old female Fu Ni are on loan to the zoo for 10 years as part of a joint research program, and their arrival comes amid slightly strained relations between China and Australia.

"It's a dream come true," said zoo CEO Chris West. "It's a journey ended and a journey started."

Twelve life-size panda figures lined the runway at the Adelaide airport, where the animals' flight was met by state Premier Mike Rann and other state and zoo officials holding a "Welcome" sign and branches of bamboo.

An 18-vehicle convoy of floats then left the airport for downtown Adelaide, where a parade through the streets was followed by a public party lasting all afternoon.

The pandas were given a police escort to the zoo, which built an 8 million Australian dollar ($7.25 million) enclosure that includes bamboo plants and refrigerated rocks to keep them comfortable in Adelaide's hot summers. Two Chinese handlers traveled with the pandas and will stay in Adelaide for a few months to help with their adjustment.

"They're in the quarantine area and they're very happy and relaxed," zoo spokeswoman Emily Rice said as they animals settled in to their new quarters, stretching their legs and munching on fruit.

The pandas will be in quarantine at the zoo for 30 days, but will be visible to the public behind glass when their exhibit opens Dec. 14.

West said the pandas are expected to generate more than AU$600 million for the South Australia state economy during their time here, with an anticipated 262,000 overseas visitors and 1.3 million Australians visiting Adelaide to see the animals.

China often sends gifts of its unofficial national mascot to foreign nations as a sign of friendship. Chinese President Hu Jintao offered the pandas as a goodwill gesture during a 2007 visit to Australia.

However, relations have recently become strained between the countries, with Beijing upset over alleged Australian government restrictions on Chinese investment in mining, and the arrest of an Australian mining executive in China.

The two pandas had been living at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding Center in Ya'an City in southwestern Sichuan province, after the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center where they were living was destroyed in a massive earthquake last year.

Only about 1,600 of the animals live in the wild, while another 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos.

China uses payments from zoos that host loaned pandas to fund research and breeding programs. Under such loan agreements, any panda cubs born overseas to lent animals remain China's property. ( Associated Press )

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