Terri Irwin- Japan's scientific whale kill is a sham

Terri Irwin to Launch Whale Rescue
Associated Press

On a Mission Dec. 27, 2007 -- The widow of TV "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin announced Thursday she will launch non-lethal research of whales in Antarctic waters next year in hopes of showing that Japan's scientific whale kill is a sham.

Tokyo has staunchly defended its annual cull of more than 1,000 whales as crucial for research, saying it is necessary to kill the whales to properly gather information about their eating, breeding and migratory habits.

Environmentalists and anti-whaling nations say the slaughter is commercial whaling in disguise, because much of the meat from the whales ends up being sold commercially.

Terri Irwin said that a whale watching program she started to honor her late husband would expand into scientific research in 2008. Steve Irwin, the high-profile wildlife show host and environmental campaigner, was killed by a stingray last year off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

"We are working with Oregon State University to do formalized research in the southern hemisphere," Terri Irwin told the Nine Network television. "We can actually learn everything the Japanese are learning with lethal research by using non-lethal research."

Japan's whaling fleet is run by a government-backed research institute and operates under a clause in International Whaling Commission rules that allows whales to be killed for scientific purposes.

Japan had planned to kill up to 50 endangered humpback whales this season, but backed away from the plan in the face of strong international condemnation.

"We are determined to show the Japanese they can stop all whaling, not just humpbacks," Irwin said.

Further details of Irwin's planned research program were not immediately available.

Earlier this month, Irwin threw her support behind a radical conservation group that has vowed to disrupt Japan's annual whale hunt, allowing the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to rename one of its flagship vessels after her late husband.

Sea Shepherd has come under heavy criticism in recent years for engaging in violent tussles with the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Bizarre Dinosaurs

AMARGASAURUS
X-FACTOR: Double row of spines on neck and back
WHEN: 130-125 million years ago
WHERE: Argentina
Like the tail fins on a 1959 Cadillac, a bizarre double row of spines extending from the vertebrae of Amargasaurus may have served little purpose other than to turn heads. Since the discovery of the sauropod was announced in 1991, paleontologists have pondered the function of the delicate bony rods, which would have offered limited defense at best against predators. Perhaps the bony rods were covered with skin, forming sails similar to those on some living lizards. If so, Amargasaurus might have flushed blood into the sails to help cool its body. But their likely function, says Smithsonian paleontologist Hans-Dieter Sues, was to attract mates or intimidate rivals. “In evolution nothing is really bizarre. Every structure makes perfectly good sense to the organism. In the case of extinct animals the challenge is to identify what the purpose might have been.”


CARNOTAURUS
X-FACTOR: Bull horns, tiny arms
WHEN: 82-67 million years ago
WHERE: Argentina
Consider the evolutionary hand dealt to Carnotaurus, or “meat-eating bull”: a big, bad, but seemingly underequipped predator, as if nature had set out to design a perfect killing machine but ran out of funding. Powerful jaws and long, agile legs suggest a highly mobile hunter prowling the lakeshores of what is now Patagonia. Its skull, constructed like a battering ram, features a stout pair of horns. Yet accompanying this formidable hardware are tiny arms (even more stunted than the famously puny arms of Tyrannosaurus rex) and surprisingly small teeth. Some scientists, like University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno, envision Carnotaurus and its kin as dinosaurian hyenas—fleet of foot and short-snouted to track down and gnaw on carcasses. “Who needs arms for that?” he asks.


MASIAKASAURUS
X-FACTOR: Inscrutable teeth
WHEN: 70-65 million years ago
WHERE: Madagascar
The mouth of Masiakasaurus speaks to how this German shepherd-size meat-eater survived in the river basins of northwestern Madagascar, near the end of the dinosaurs’ reign. But what is it saying? Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause led the team that found the remains, including part of the lower jaw. Masiakasaurus has long, conical front teeth with hooked tips that curl out of its mouth—unique among theropods—while its back teeth are more typically blade-like and serrated. So how did it use such a specialized mouth? “Our best guess is the teeth up front were used to stab small prey, perhaps mammals, lizards, and/or birds,” says team member Scott Sampson of the University of Utah, “and the teeth at the rear of the jaw were then used to tear up the kill.” Despite its formidable dentition, Masiakasaurus was likely prey itself for crocs and other large carnivores, like the 20-foot-long (6 meters) theropod Majungasaurus, with which it shared territory. Against such monsters, its best defenses would have been speed and agility.

-National Geographic-

holy fish!

8-Foot Giant Catfish Caught in Cambodia

November 19, 2007—Captured just before midnight on November 13 by fishers in Cambodia, this Mekong giant catfish is 8 feet long (2.4 meters long) ands weighs 450 pounds (204 kilograms).

"This is the only giant catfish that has been caught this year so far, making it the worst year on record for catch of giant fish species," said Zeb Hogan (far right), a fisheries biologist at the University of Reno in Nevada.

After collecting data on the fish, Hogan released it unharmed.

Giant catfish were once plentiful throughout Southeast Asia's Mekong River watershed, including the Tonle Sap River—home of the fish in these exclusive pictures taken near Phnom Penh.

But in the last century the Mekong giant catfish population has declined by 95 to 99 percent, scientists say. Only a few hundred adult giant catfish may remain.

Since 2000 five to ten fish have been caught by accident each year throughout the Mekong area.

Earlier this year Hogan, a National Geographic "emerging explorer," launched the three-year Megafishes Project to document the world's giant freshwater fish.

The project is funded in part by the National Geographic Conservation Trust and Expeditions Council. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)

—Stefan Lovgren

Year of the Frog

Sign up to be a friend of frogs! Yes, I want to help save amphibians. Please send me information about how I can help raise awareness, take conservation action and support the global 2008 Year of the Frog campaign.

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums will highlight 2008 as the Year of the Frog to mark a major conservation effort to address the amphibian extinction crisis.



Why Year of the Frog?

Frogs are going extinct. So are toads, salamanders, newts, and the intriguingly unusual caecilians. In fact, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) estimates that at least one-third of known amphibian species are threatened with extinction. While the major culprit has historically been habitat loss and degradation, many of the declines and extinctions previously referred to as "enigmatic" are now being attributed to the rapidly dispersing infectious disease chytridiomycosis ("chytrid"). This fungus is causing population and species extinctions at an alarming rate. Can you imagine if we were about to lose one-third of the world's mammals?

The combined effect of habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, and chytrid cannot be addressed solely in the wild. Captive assurance populations have become the only hope for many species faced with imminent extinction and are an important component of an integrated conservation effort. AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums, with their demonstrated expertise in endangered species breeding programs, have been called upon to meet this conservation challenge.

The IUCN has classified four amphibians in the U.S. to be critically endangered, the Mississippi gopher frog, the Chiricahua leopard frog, the mountain yellow-legged frog, and the Wyoming toad. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed thirty-seven amphibian species under the Endangered Species Act. AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums may be their only hope for survival.

Scientists find Nemo's Cousin

Finding Nemo's Cousin: Scientists Spot New Marine Species
Oct. 16, 2007 — A swimming sea cucumber, a Nemo-like orange fish and a worm with tentacles sprouting from its head are among dozens of possible new species found during a survey of the Celebes Sea, researchers said Tuesday.

A team of U.S. and Filipino scientists plunged up to three miles underwater in early October in an area that has been isolated by rising sea levels and may have spawned sea life not found elsewhere.

They collected between 50 and 100 potentially undiscovered species of marine invertebrates and fishes.

"These waters are the richest biological regions of the world but have been largely unexplored," said expedition leader, Larry Madin, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

The survey was conducted by Woods Hole, National Geographic and Filipino scientists at the Coral Triangle — bodies of water bounded by the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia that are known to contain the world's richest biodiversity in shallow water marine species.

It will take a few more weeks of study of the deepwater sea life samples before they can be declared new species, Madin said during a video presentation of the findings in Manila.

Among the more unusual finds were an orange-tinged sea cucumber that uproots itself from the seabed and swims using flaps on its transparent body, and a worm with tentacles coming out of its head and transparent paddle fins growing all over its tan body.

"We don't know what this is," Madin said of the worm. "It might be something big."

Of the fish collected, a tiny, angular orange one with a puckered yellow mouth looked like the main character in the animated Hollywood film "Finding Nemo," Madin said.

The team also collected various types of deepwater jellyfish, predatory eels and single-celled organisms — as well as piles of household garbage.

The area holds promise for more discoveries, Madin said.

cute kid!

NASCARGOT!

This Fragile Earth

To commemorate TIME's Heroes of the Environment, a whirlwind tour of some of the wildlife and ecosystems most endangered by global warming.

I am pet friendly!

Make sure everybody knows it by ordering custom license plates that donate proceeds directly back to spay and neuter programs in your state. To find out if your state has these Pet Friendly plates, or other ways you could help out spay and neuter programs, check out this website!

Mutts- Shelter Stories

yep, it's definately a monday

D'OH! I hate when I lose track of where my intestines are.

Climate change causes habitat shift in Kruger National Park

Disappearing savannas in South Africa's Kruger National Park are forcing scientists to reconsider what conservation means

This is a really long one so I hope you're not linkaphobic!

Basically, they're noticing that ground grazers are moving out, and the tree grazers are moving in because the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is giving shrubs and trees an advantage over grasses. If this trend continues to increase they fear that savannahs will no longer be the dominant ecosystem and will mean the end for them.

"Nature is reorganizing itself around the world"

Anyway, it's not much of a surpise but the shift itself and its process is pretty interesting.

The History of LOLcat

Pinups for Pit Bulls

Pinups for Pit Bulls is a unique project that stives to promote the true "nanny dog" Pit Bull image that is often overshadowed in combination with classic pinup style photographs.

All of their proceeds go towards various Pit Bull rescues, and you can help in several ways including-
*Becoming one of their pinups and being featured in their calander (if you meet their criteria)
*Buying one of their calanders which makes a great gift for both fans of pinups and Pit Bulls
*Simply donating

Pre-orders are now being accepted for their 2008 calander!

Triturus cristatus

The warty or great crested newt lives only in Europe. Females, which are larger than males, can reach 7 inches (18 centimeters) in length, making these stout-bodied amphibians the continent’s largest newts.

True to its name, the warty newt has skin that is covered in small bumps. The skin contains glands that secrete a milky, acrid-smelling substance to dissuade predators. Its other common name derives from the dramatic, jagged crest that males develop along their backs during the spring breeding season.

These newts are generally dark colored on top and orange or yellow with black spots underneath. They also have white speckles on their flanks and a large, vertically flattened tail that bears a white streak down the side.

Warty newts are nocturnal and are voracious eaters, feeding on worms, slugs, and insects on land, and tadpoles and mollusks in water. They are more terrestrial than most newts, but must remain near bodies of fresh water to keep their skin moist.

These newts spend a significant portion of their lives in hibernation, usually from around October to March of each year. On a rainy night in March, they awaken and trek back to the pond where they hatched to mate.

Females lay from 200 to 300 eggs, but only about half develop into tadpoles. Tadpoles emerge from their eggs in about 21 days and feed on small insects like water fleas and tiny worms. Warty newts are extremely long-lived, with some exceeding 16 years of age. Like all newts, they can regrow body parts if necessary, but that ability diminishes as they age.

Warty newt populations are in decline throughout their range, and they are considered an endangered species. They and their habitats are protected under European law.

Happy Halloween!

Aquarium Battles Drought

Aquarium Conserves Water During Drought
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 30, 4:51 PM ET


ATLANTA - With drought conditions intensifying across the Southeast, efforts to conserve water are popping up everywhere — even at the aquarium. In the name of conservation, the Georgia Aquarium, home of the world's largest fish tank, has emptied some of its watery displays.

The downtown Atlanta attraction has drained a lake in an atrium, turned off a waterfall and nearly emptied a moat at an exhibit, refilling it with sand. The aquarium isn't alone: A water salute to retiring pilots at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport also has been put on hold.

The efforts are some of the most unusual as the state contends with one of the worst droughts in its history. Georgia already has banned virtually all outdoor water use and ordered public water utilities to cut back water use by 10 percent.

The aquarium also is installing waterless urinals and low-flow faucets, banning pressure-washing of its building and requiring all employees and volunteers to take a water-conservation course.

None of the drained exhibits contained fish, aquarium spokeswoman Meghann Gibbons said. Exhibits with fish continue to operate normally, she said.

"We've tried to do anything we can internally," said Gibbons. She estimated that changes at the aquarium will save more than 3 million gallons a year.

Along with saving water, the measures have had a financial bonus: Pennies that visitors toss into a pool once brimming with water are now easily accessible. "And they've been turned in to the bank," Gibbons quipped.

___

On the Net:

Georgia EPA

Georgia Aquarium

you know it's a monday when....

Another Death Rocks the Whiskers Clan

Death Strikes 'Meerkat Manor' Again
By EDWARD WYATT,The New York Times
Posted: 2007-10-27 15:26:06
Filed Under: TV News

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27 -- Another tragedy has befallen the meerkats.

Mozart, the troubled daughter of Flower, the late matriarch of the Whiskers clan on the popular Animal Planet series 'Meerkat Manor,' died at the end of Friday's episode; it was the second death to shake fans of the show's lovable but hard-luck stars in a month.

After Flower's death -- from a snake bite -- in the Sept. 28 episode, fans flooded the Internet with tributes in poem, picture and song. Early this week, as news of Mozart's demise leaked out, similar tributes began to crop up online.

For the uninitiated, 'Meerkat Manor' traces the lives of the members of several colonies of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa as they procreate, fight for territory and scarce resources and race around looking as cute as all get-out. The Whiskers clan is part of a 13-year study that was originated by Cambridge University and has been followed on camera by producers from Animal Planet for the last three years.

To the dismay of the show's more fervent fans, the life span of a Kalahari meerkat turns out to be not much different from that of the average soap opera villain. Despite calls from some fans after the death of Flowers for the repeal of the Darwinian laws of the desert, the producers have no such refinements in mind.

But they did learn something from the uproar created after the first season, when Shakespeare, a lovable scamp of a meerkat, disappeared and was presumed to have died. The producers place radio collars on each family's dominant female, the better to track the families' movements, but because Shakespeare, a male, simply went missing, there was no visual evidence of his demise. When Flower succumbed to snakebite, the radio collar let producers track her movements closely and provide viewers with visible closure.

With Mozart, the cause of death was uncertain -- it was likely that she fell prey one night to a passing jackal, the show's narrator intones -- but viewers are shown her lifeless body, if from a tasteful distance. Although one meerkat looks much like another, the producers mark each animal with a strategically placed spot of hair dye to tell them apart.

All is not lost, however. Fans of the show are likely to see more of Flower, and perhaps Mozart, in a feature film, 'Queen of the Kalahari,' tentatively scheduled for release next year.


Copyright © 2007 The New York Times Company

The world's most lovable animals

If you're enjoying the images used for the background, then you may want to check out more of Rachael Hale's work. One of my favorite pet photographers, her work pushes the lovableness and cuteness of our animal friends to the max.

More of her work can also be seen on AllPosters.com and is ready and waiting to be put on your wall! Her photography also makes a wonderful gift for any animal lover regardless of age.

whoops!

Is your war dog's attire out of date and rusty?

Is your guard dog lacking a little something extra? Then I've got the solution for you!

Organic Armor Products will make your pooch the most fashionable on the front lines.

Not only does it provide protection for your dog from flying spears and menacing burglers, but the elaborate detail will scream "My dog means buisness and will MESS.YOU.UP."

Protection Pug? Attack Airdale? Medieval Maltipoo? No problem! We make armor that fits all sizes and breeds!

Don't forget to pick up a matching headdress for yourself! Perfect for any aspiring warmongering dictator!

JK Rowling Adopts Retired Greyhound

New Pet for JKR No Mere Padfoot

Posted by: Sue
October 08, 2007, 06:41 PM

There is a new addition to the Murray family to tell you about tonight, as author J.K. Rowling has now adopted a four year old former race dog. The Herald reports that Jo and her family visited the Greyhound Rescue Fife agency in Scotland, and chose the female dog, making a generous donation to the business in the process. The owner of the agency said:

It was only when she asked for a £30 donation to Greyhound Rescue Fife, which the 61-year-old runs with her husband, Jimmy, near Kirkcaldy, that she realised she had been dealing with the world’s most famous children’s author.

At the bottom of a cheque for £1000 was the signature millions of Harry Potter fans would die for. “When I looked at the cheque I couldn’t believe it. The first thing I noticed was the amount she had made it out for,” Mrs Fernie said yesterday.

“Then I spotted her name and realised who it was. I just said Oh, I didn’t recognise you,’ and she just smiled politely. She was a lovely woman – the whole family were very nice.”

The new member of the family, named Sapphire (no word if she is a Ravenclaw ;) joins their other pet, a Jack Russell named Butch, at the Murray home in Edinburgh, Scotland. The owner of the dog rescue center said that she “always ask a person a bit about their lifestyle – what size their house is, do they have a garden and quite importantly does it have a wall at least 6ft high, because I would hate for the dog to get out and run off,” Mrs Fernie recalled…I could see Sapphire was going to a good home. Now I know just how good,” she said.”

You can see photos of JKR and her new addition, here in our galleries courtesy of Greyhound Rescue. Congratulations Jo and family!

I Do Dog Tricks

Here's a neat little site that gives a great excuse for avoiding any type of work. It's called I Do Dog Tricks and features a little Yorkie that obeys any commands you type in the text box at the bottom of the screen.

This dogs vocabulary consists of commands such as sit, roll over, down, stand, sing, dance, shake, fetch, play dead, jump, circle, and even kiss! Sneeze is also very cute.

Play around and find out what else this little guy can do!