A small carnivorous mammal in the raccoon family has been discovered to be a unique species. Using DNA analysis, scientists distinguished the new olinguito from olingos. Both eat meat and are native to Central and South America. There is also a close physical resemblance, so for decades it was assumed they were the same species.
There’s no peace in the land for a man and his dancing raccoon. If you haven’t seen this video of a man dancing with his pet coon to Aretha Franklin, it is rather entertaining. The title is “The Hillbilly Slide And One Mad Coon Starring Your Favorite Coon and Coonrippy!” The video has generated over
A known type of hammerhead shark has been discovered to be a distinct species. It was assumed for many years that the hammerheads in South Carolina waters at Bull’s Bay north of Charleston, St. Helena Sound near Beaufort and in the Charleston harbor, were all scalloped hammerheads. However, it was discovered that some specimens had
A relative of the piranha, the pacu, was found in Swedish waters near Oresund Sound last week. It was about ten inches long, but this type of fish can grow to about four times that length. Why a South American fish would be in Swedish waters is not clear, but it could have been placed
A baby elephant at the Ft. Worth zoo plays in a small inflatable pool and gets sprayed. It was a hot summer day, so the water was put out for the young one. The zoo has a much larger permanent pool for adults but that would be dangerous for such a small elephant. Elephants in
Texting while driving kills several thousand people in America every year. Research has found that texting while driving makes it 23 times more likely that there will be an accident. Drinking and driving actually results in slightly fewer teen deaths annually. About half of teens surveyed have said they have texted while driving. In 2011, there
“No Cages” is the new policy on zoo animals in Costa Rica. Animals at the Simon Bolivar Zoo will be released or taken to sanctuaries. The zoo will be changed dramatically into a botanical garden and the Santa Ana Conservation Center will be made into a park. Environment Minister Rene Castro made the announcement. He
Recently, it was reported that a kangaroo came to the aid of a seven-year-old boy in Australia. He was on a family outing in the Fleurieu Peninsula where he got lost, because he wandered away from them when he saw a wallaby and followed it into the bush. Then he started picking flowers for his
The part where the bear stands upright and walks backwards on two paws is striking. The movements look very human. The scene also raises some intriguing questions, such as, does the bear know it is taking something that is owned by someone else? Or at least that it is invading foreign territory for a raid?
A great white shark was filmed near Boothbay Harbor, Maine. It was feeding on a minke whale carcass and looking noticeably pedestrian. This is an important point because so much media depicting sharks presents them as threatening and vicious, when in fact the number of attacks from great whites and all sharks is extremely small.
The World Wildlife Fund said recently that at least 19 Siberian (Amur) tigers were killed by poachers in Russia since 2012. Body parts and skeletons of 19 dead tigers were discovered during seven criminal investigations by Russian authorities. There are only several hundred Amur tigers remaining in the wild, and most live in Russia’s Far
Mountain lions will be hunted in most parts of Nebraska in 2014. It will be the first year hunting of them will occur in the state (South Dakota has already allowed a number of hunts.) Curiously, there is only one area of Nebraska that is known to have a reproducing population of mountain lions. Pine
A wildlife camera set up by Alberta Parks in Canada captured some comical scenes of bears playing and assorted wildlife gathering at a single tree in a wooded area. It appears they were all smelling the various scents left on it and encountering one another by smells. One might imagine these animals would want to
A man living in the Nantucket area caught a shark while fishing and spent about 45 minutes wrestling with it. He said he enjoys catching them in this manner and then letting them go. “I always let them go. I’m not trying to hurt the sharks,” he explained according to CNN. Amazingly, it has also
Scientists have documented for the first time that a wild cat deliberately imitated the cries of a monkey in order to draw it closer for an attack. Marguays are medim-sized wild cats and obviously hunt for small animals to eat. Researchers were able to observe a margay making noises similar to that of a baby
Stanford researchers created an experiment where human subjects were treated like cows. The point was to see how much the test subjects would identify with bovines and perhaps change their attitude or perceptions about them. In the experiment, volunteers walked on hands and feet and saw themselves in a mirror created by virtual reality technology
Sharknado is not must-see TV, unless you are drawn for the unintended humor, ala Manos. In other words, it’s so stupid, it’s laughable. Or you could say comically bad. The extremely silly premise of Sharknado is that sharks could be lifted out of their marine habitats and propelled by violent tornadoes onto land where mayhem
Jaguars are the third-largest wild cats in the world and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. They require very large amounts of wild land to be healthy because tend to roam great distances. Arizona and New Mexico used to be part of their natural range, but human activity drove them out or killed them. Today,
It is hard to see if the impala made it all the way into the SUV in this video, but the narrator seems to think so. A herd of impala in South Africa were being chased by two cheetahs and were driven across a road. Tourists were gathered in their vehicles on the road trying
Big Major Cay is an uninhabited island in the Bahamas, at least not lived on by humans. Pigs do live there and take advantage of the beautiful, colorful local waters by swimming. It has been reported that the pigs survive because local people feed them. They must travel to the island by boat with some
A wild Florida panther kitten about one month old was found two weeks ago by biologists working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The kitten was birthed by a female adult panther that was raised as an orphan. This young adult was just released back into the wild in January of this year. The
The reporting on this situation in Sumatra is almost completely human-centric. Some men ventured into Sumatran tiger habitat to trap deer. They accidentally caught a Sumatran tiger cub, which they killed. Sumatran tigers are critically endangered with only about 300-350 remaining in the wild. That is, they are on the brink of extinction. You would
This is extremely disturbing news. Five thousand wild badgers could be killed in England by marksmen. The rationale for doing so is that tuberculosis cases in some commercial cattle have been increasing, and badgers are thought to be the cause. Aside from the obvious animal cruelty involved, there is a potential public health risk for
As part of their series on the best sandwiches, Restaurant Hospitality magazine named their best vegetarian sandwich of 2013, the creation of Chef Matthew Topeano from Pain D’Avignon in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The winning ‘wich is composed of crispy sauteed eggplant, roasted garlic white bean hummus, roasted red pepper and creamy burrata (mozarella and cream). All
The Center for Environmental Health conducted a study in June of Pepsi products and found that ten out of ten of them contained high levels of a chemical called 4-MEI. This chemical has been identified as a carcinogen by the state of California. On a CA state website, an explanation of the chemical’s health effects
If you have been following the decline of bees lately, you know a strong contingent of advocates say it is pesticides that are one of the main culprits. Some dispute this view and say results of research studies are inconclusive. It is a little too convenient that the critics of studies showing a link between
An injured dolphin in China was reportedly mishandled by swimmers at Dadonghai beach on the island of Hainan, which is several hundred miles from Hong Kong. A group of male swimmers picked up the distressed dolphin out of the water to have photographs taken with it. It was also reported that their interaction with the
Holy ecological treasure….133 new species have been discovered in India, including an unnamed species of bird. Reptiles, spiders, insects and fish make up the new bounty, which had actually existed on their own for perhaps millions of years, but were not documented by science. India may have twice as many undocumented species as documented ones.
A new Harvard School of Public Health study found that pregnant women could be twice as likely to give birth to an autistic child if they were exposed to high levels of air pollution. Specifically, exposure to chemicals such as lead, manganese, mercury, methylene chloride and diesel particulates have been known to impact brain function
Chorozinho-do-aripuanã is a small bird similar to the the Black-capped Antwren. It is one of 15 bird species new to science. More of them are pictured here. The birds were discovered across a span of twenty five years, but it was only recently that they were confirmed by scientists to be new species. Most of
Looks like someone’s been having fun on Mars without telling anyone. Trails in slopes that seem suspiciously like sled tracks have been documented by research photographs. They weren’t made by little green men though. Blocks of dry ice are the suspects this time. These tracks are called linear gullies and you can see a much
A report jointly produced by the Environmental Services Association and Waste and Resources Action Programme has found that 10,000 jobs could be generated by the UK recycling industry. One of the main areas for potential recycling and reuse is the electronics industry, because an estimated 12 million tons of electronics waste will be created by
A fascinating study published in the Journal of Preventive Medicine found an increased rate of death in areas where many trees had died due to an insect infestation. (The basic premise of the research is that having more trees around is good for human health.) The main culprits in the observed additional deaths were cardiovascular
Two tiger poachers have been caught in Mansar, India. They are allegedly part of the Baheliya gang, a group of thirty individuals who have claimed to have killed five tigers in the last month. Their illegal poaching activity is compounded by selling the skins to a trader in northern India. There is also an illegal
Nearly 50% of all deaths of children under the age of five are from malnutrition, according to new research published in the Lancet. A world hunger summit was just held in London and the updated mortality figures were presented there. ‘Our findings strengthen the evidence that good nutrition is a fundamental driver of a wide
A research study conducted at the University of Kentucky found that working with horses could increase emotional intelligence. The total number of research subjects in the study was 21, and they were all nurses. Ten were from a neuroscience surgery service unit and eleven worked in trauma and acute care at a hospital. The group
(This interview originally appeared on Healthfooddaily.com) What did your diet used to be, and what is it now? I made the switch to a vegetarian diet about 10 years ago. I grew up in the country where our family planted a huge vegetable garden every year, so I was never one to shy away from
Critically endangered Javan leopards have been caught on digital camera traps in West Java. If you have been following conservation news, you know that the Formosan Cloud Leopard was recently declared extinct. They were driven into extinction by human activities. So it is very important that the Javan leopards be protected or they may suffer
India has released a statement rejecting captive dolphin shows due to damage dolphins sustain when kept in confined spaces. ‘Confinement in captivity can seriously compromise the welfare and survival of all types of cetaceans by altering their behaviour and causing extreme distress,” said B.S. Bonal, the member secretary of the Central Zoo Authority of India.
In case you haven’t see the photos that are going around the Web, there is one below. The horse reportedly is owned by the president of Turkmenistan Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. The breed is Akhal Teke and there may be only about 3,500 of them in the world. Some are cream-colored like this one, and others have
A news story about a woman who swam with dolphins and was somehow inspired to visit a doctor who identified a cancer tumor, has speculated a dolphin might have helped. A Panama City Beach, Florida woman went on a dolphin cruise and once in the water with about 15 dolphins something strange happened. One male
A recent study of research papers published from 1991 to 2011 that took a view on human-related climate change found 97% of them were in agreement that humans are a factor. The study was published in Environmental Research Letters, Volume 8, Number 2. A large team of researchers made up the study group, which had
University of British Columbia scientist William Cheung has documented a gradual shifting of some fish species further north than their typical ranges. Some tropical commercial species are being found by fishing boats in waters near New England. Ocean water in the tropics is becoming too warm due to climate change, so they are seeking cooler
Sea ice has been in a decline recently, and that is very bad news for polar bears. They conduct much of their lives on sea ice, including locating mates and reproducing. ‘Sea ice extent averaged for the month of April 2013 was 14.37 million square kilometers (5.54 million square miles). This is 630,000 square kilometers
Confirmation of the Formosan clouded leopard’s extinction has been achieved by research scientists from Taiwan. They looked carefully for any signs of them for thirteen years using various forms of technology and no indications were ever documented. ‘A lot of people have said they are disappointed and find our discovery quite regrettable. Some say they
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) scientists have discovered a new species of black bass. The fish was first noticed in 2007 during a routine survey in the Chipola River, which is located in North West Florida near the Alabama/Georgia border. (The river is about 92 miles long.) When Florida scientists were doing their
Additional dog teams have been called in to help search for a missing hiker in Yosemite National Park. A 73-year-old man was hiking on the Mist Trail leading to Vernal Fall and has not been seen for some time. His day pack was found above the fall near a railing. In 2011, three hikers were
In another victory for animal activists and sympathizers, a dolphin entertainment park in Turkey was shut down recently. (Hopefully, others around the world will suit.) The park was in Antalya’s Kaş, a small coastal town where tourism, fishing, diving and yachting are popular. (Considering all the water activities available it hardly seems necessary to keep
