WebProNews

Tag: Animal

  • Mexico’s “Water Monster” May Be Extinct

    Mexico’s “Water Monster” May Be Extinct

    The search is on for Mexico’s “water monster”, known as the axolotl. The animal has all but disappeared from the lakes in the Mexico City region. This is of great concern, as this region is the only known habitat of the axolotl, prompting some to question whether or not the species may be on the verge of extinction.

    The axolotl earned the name “Mexican walking fish” due to the way it moves. Where as other fish swim, the axolotl makes use of four stubby legs and it’s tail to “walk” along the bottoms of lakes. It is here that they find their primary source of food: insects, crustaceans, and smaller fish.

    Lake Xochimilco, where the majority of the fish had been previously found, has become quite polluted as the population grows. Unfortunately, this may have played a huge role in the disappearance of the Mexican walking fish.

    It is thought that millions of the axolotl occupied the lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco and thrived long before Mexico City was established. It seems a familiar and sad situation is occurring; the proximity to human population growth and man-made pollution results in nearby animal populations suffering.

    If the destruction of the axolotl’s natural habitat is causing the fish to go extinct, it may require human intervention.

    Biologist Luis Zambrano of Mexico’s National Autonomous University says that the previous three month hunt for the fish turned up nothing. A second three month hunt has been planned. If any are captured, they will be kept in labs. It is hoped that breeding the fish in tanks will allow the species to survive and perhaps come back from the brink of extinction.

    What’s startling is how such a rare creature could virtually vanish and no one notice until it is almost too late. Hopefully for the axolotl, these efforts will pan out and the rare fish can be saved.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Rare Tiger Born at San Francisco Zoo

    The San Francisco Zoo this week announced that a rare sumatran tiger cub was born on Sunday, February 10.

    The cub hasn’t been named yet and even its gender won’t be known for some time. It is currently spending time bonding with its mother, Leanne, at the Lion House in the Zoo. The cub’s father, Larry, is continuing to live a normal zoo tiger’s life.

    The Lion House has been closed “until further notice,” and it will be a while before the cub will be on display for the public.

    The announcement of the birth came via the San Francisco Zoo’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

    A San Francisco Chronicle report on the event quoted a San Francisco Zoo zookeeper as saying that Leanne is “responding very well to motherhood” and grooming the cub.

    Sumatran Tigers are considered “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The worldwide population of the species is estimated by the group to be less than 700 tigers, total. That minimal population is still declining due to the loss of the tigers’ habitat in Sumatra, a western Indonesian island.

    (Image courtesy the San Francisco Zoo)

  • Hippo Stuck In Pool Sadly Dies During Rescue

    Hippo stuck in a pool sounds like one of those funny comedies from the 80s. It would feature a ragtag group of teenagers who find themselves having to care for a hippo that magically appears in the backyard pool. They would later have to defend the hippo from the poachers next door, and learn something about themselves in the process. Unfortunately, the real hippo that was stuck in a pool this week does not have a happy ending.

    Harry the hippo as he’s called was found stuck in a swimming pool at a South African lodge three days ago. Rescue teams attempted to rescue the Harry, but he died before they could get him out with a crane. It’s much sadder when you learn the specifics of hy he was in the pool in the first place.

    It turns out that Harry was chased away by his herd. There were a few males in the herd that were wanting to be the alpha males, and Harry couldn’t stand up to them. He ran into the pool as a way to get away from those who wanted him out. Unfortunately, there was no way out of the pool for the poor guy as stairs were non-existent.

    A team spent three days pouring water on the hippo in an attempt to keep him hydrated while they waited for the crane to arrive. They were also feeding him to keep the guy nourished, but it just wasn’t enough in the end.

    Here’s to you, Harry the Hippo.

    [h/t: AP]

  • The ‘Map of Life’ Tracks All Life on Planet Earth

    The ‘Map of Life’ Tracks All Life on Planet Earth

    The Map of life is an online tool that tracks and catalogues all of the world’s biodiversity. Every species of animal and plant life is catalogued and presented to you on an in-browser app.

    The project is led by biodiversity scientists Walter Jetz and Robert Gurainick. The goal is to create a living map that measures biodiversity in geographical terms, and shows changes in the territories a species inhabits as species grow and decline.

    “Imagine if you had the world’s most amazing field guide,” said Guralnick, biodiversity scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder to Good Environment. “When you go to the national parks or out exploring, you had at your fingertips something that was not just a static book but the world’s most amazing field guide that changed and that you could contribute to.”

    Right now the map is only in Beta version, with around 25,000 species included. There are over a million known species living on our planet, and those are just the ones we know about. There are potentially millions of undocumented species out there.

    Gurainick and Jetz’s goal was to bring biodiversity maps into the modern age: “Where geography was 150 years… that’s kind of what we’re doing today in the world of biodiversity,” Guralnick told Good. “Whereas today anyone can zoom in on a digital map and see details at the neighborhood level, the finest-grained biodiversity data is orders of magnitude more difficult to capture. Different sources of data about a species also provide different types of information. Some are really good at telling you where species are not, Some of them are really good at telling you where species are.”

    If you want to find out what is around your specific region, right-click on the map around where you live, and you will be able to select the species you want to track from a list. As well as a scientific project, it also makes a great teaching tool. Teachers will be able to show students of any age, the wildlife in their own back yards.

    Wild Turkey

    This is a screen cap that shows the prevalence of two different species of Wild Turkey, but you can explore the map for yourself, here.

  • No More Donkey Semen: Twitter Reacts

    As reported earlier by WebProNews.com, the television show Fear Factor was to air and feature a horrid stunt. On the episode contestants were to drink donkey semen, chased by a generous helping of donkey urine. Now, it seems this is not the case, according to the NBC website, which no longer lists the episode in its line-up, instead it is replaced by a repeat episode.

    Now that the network has removed the episode, what’s your opinion? Do you feel like the episode should have been aired due to the insane stunts in the past or do you think this particular stunt is too far?