Animals & Pets at politburo diktat 2.0

And I thought only dogs would eat themselves to death

At least 19 bald eagles die in Alaska

At least 19 bald eagles died Friday after gorging themselves on a truck full of fish waste outside a processing plant.
Fifty or more eagles swarmed into the truck, whose retractable fabric cover was open, after the truck was moved outside the plant, said Brandon Saito, a biologist with […]

Larry’s Super Tuber

I’m trying to ignore politics and scandals, (like the latest with Larry Craig). So, am I the last to find out about his Super Tuber recipe?
But I just couldn’t resist this pictorial.
Now, if we could make one of those out of squirrel, we’d really have something, … a Squirper Tuber, perhaps.
Update: Tap Three Times.

Mastodon Park

Baby mammoth find promises breakthrough
The discovery of a baby mammoth preserved in the Russian permafrost gives researchers their best chance yet to build a genetic map of a species extinct since the Ice Age, a Russian scientist said on Wednesday.
“It’s a lovely little baby mammoth indeed, found in perfect condition,” said Alexei Tikhonov, deputy […]

Honey, I’m Gone

Abandoned Beehives Are a Scientific Mystery and a Metaphor for Our Tenuous Times
Around the world, honeybees are vanishing en masse, leaving their humans engaged in a furious attempt to figure out the meaning of their exodus. Entire colonies are following the Shakespearean stage direction, “Exeunt omnes.” They’re flying off and not returning. Commercial beekeepers open […]

Nazi Raccoons taking over Europe

From Nazi Past, a Proliferating Pest
In 1934, top Nazi party official Hermann Goering received a seemingly mundane request from the Reich Forestry Service. A fur farm near here was seeking permission to release a batch of exotic bushy-tailed critters into the wild to “enrich the local fauna” and give bored hunters something new to shoot […]

Invasion of the Brood

Swarms of cicadas emerging in Midwest
Coming soon: Brood XIII. It sounds like a bad horror movie. But it’s actually the name of the billions of cicadas expected to emerge this month in parts of the Midwest after spending 17 years underground.
The red-eyed, shrimp-sized, flying insects don’t bite or sting. But they are known for mating […]

Pungent pulp: Panda poop perfect for paper

CNN.com
There’s a new Chinese saying: When life hands you panda poop, make paper.
Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper.
Liao Jun, a researcher at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province, said the idea came […]

Advice for TPD Commenters

Six survival tips if you run into a moose
Here are six tips from “moose whisperer” Rick Sinnott, the management biologist for the Alaska department of fish and game, in case you should stumble upon a moose.
What do you do if you spot a moose? “Usually if the moose is standing on the trail […]

Seriously “eeewwwww”-worthy

from The LLama Butchers, who will not be urinating in the Amazon any time soon.

Treadmill for Shrimp Invented

Treadmill for Shrimp Invented « Innocent Bystanders
Michael has the link to the video. Shrimp on a treadmill. No kidding.

Overdue Fruit Fly Post

Evolutionary First: Parasite Reaches Beyond Host To Play Havoc With Others’ Sex Lives

“Crocodile Hunter” killed

Irwin had little chance, expert says.

Marine experts say television personality and naturalist Steve Irwin had little chance of surviving after being struck in the chest by a stingray’s barb. Forty-four-year-old Irwin died this morning in far north Queensland while filming for a marine documentary. Sea World’s marine science director Trevor Long says stingrays have killed […]

animals on the London tube map

like a bird

Nature, red in tooth and claw

Psycho killer raccoons terrorize Olympia
by Rachel

Guestblogging light and intermittent this week…

Barry@enrevanche here, with a word of advice to readers and fellow guestbloggers:
I’m out in California for a week of training and conferences. (JetBlue completely rocks. Last week from JFK to Raleigh-Durham and back; this week from JFK to Oakland, CA amd back. Cheaper *and* more comfortable than any other airline… I don’t […]

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