Newfoundland Frozen Waves

Interesting video

Lake Superior: lowest in 81 years

The case of the disappearing Great Lake

Excerpt:

Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, has dropped to its lowest level in 81 years. The water is 20 inches below average and a foot lower than just a year ago.

The dropping levels have had serious environmental and economic consequences. Wetlands have dried up. Power plants run at half capacity. Cargo ships carry partial loads. Boaters struggle to find a place to dock.

Comment: 9 photos in the article.

Dress like a crocodile

Disguise that took the intrepid zoologist into the crocodiles' lair

Excerpt:

The zoologist adopted his bizarre outfit in the hope of getting closer to a colony of Nile crocodiles, which can grow up to 20ft.

His disguise was a prosthetic head attached to the front of a protective metal cage covered with canvas and a generous plastering of hippo dung to mask his human scent.

Comment: This guy is braver than Steve Irwin! An off-beat, nature article with good photos.

19th-Century Weapon Found in Whale

19th-Century Weapon Found in Whale

Excerpt:

BOSTON (AP) - A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt—more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.

"No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Calculating a whale's age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It's rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old.

The whale, which was nearly half a football field long, had a bomb lance fragment lodged a bone between its neck and shoulder blade. The fragment was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.

Non-native Invasive species

Battling a Nasty Green Invader From the Deep

New York Region
Battling a Nasty Green Invader From the Deep
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: June 12, 2007
State officials are spending millions to attack Eurasian watermilfoil, a plant that endangers swimmers, boaters and other aquatic plants in dozens of Adirondack lakes.

Excerpt:

Several lakes, including Schroon, have begun educational programs aimed at prevention, stationing volunteers at boat launches. Along with posted signs, the volunteers urge boaters to remove watermilfoil from their boats, as well as zebra mussels — another nonnative scourge.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent each year to remove watermilfoil. In July and August, teams of scuba divers descend to hand-harvest plants, which can grow up to 15 feet tall. Where the watermilfoil is too dense for that approach (scientists have found as many as 300 stems per square meter), divers fasten huge sheets of plastic, called benthic barriers, to the lake bottom to blot out the sun.

Another method, known as biocontrol, uses nature — in the form of insects and fish — to fight nature. At Augur Lake, where Mr. LaMere was hired to combat its Eurasian watermilfoil infestation, hundreds of sterile grass carp were released several years ago to eat the plants. For now, the watermilfoil, which had cloaked 10 percent of the lake, is still there, but is less of a nuisance.




Comments:

1. Minnesota has problems with both milfoil and purple loosestrife. The wetlands in French Park (Plymouth) has quite a bit of loosestrife.
   
2. Interesting explanation of the name (milfiol): "Myriophyllum (water milfoil) is a genus of about 45 species of freshwater aquatic plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Its name comes from Greek, "myri" meaning "too many to count", and "phyll", meaning "leaf"."
   
3. Picture above: Milfoil on left / Purple Loosestrife on right
   
4. The buckthorn is another Minnesota non-native invasive plant!
   

One BIG $$$ kitty!

A colossal cat comes with a princely price tag

Excerpt:

It's no great shock that cat lovers can get a little excessive when it comes to their feline friends. But one company, banking on the fact there are more than a few prospective pet owners willing to part with some serious ka-ching for a kitten, is selling a designer breed of cat that costs $22,000.

The Ashera, bred by Los Angeles-based Lifestyle Pets, "is a new ultra-exotic breed of domestic cat that already has wealthy animal devotees paying to get on the waiting list," the company press release claims.

Comment: Makes my big cat Blue look ... like a pussy cat!

Monster Pig: Real but not Feral

Here's the story: 'Monster Pig' was raised on Alabama farm and sold days before boy shot him

Excerpt:

FRUITHURST, Ala. — The huge hog that became known as "Monster Pig" after being killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred.

Far from feral, the pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area, the animal's former owner said.

Comment: Update on earlier story!

Fish goes boying

Turnabout at the lake: Fish goes boying

Excerpt:

Paris Copeland loves to swim. Well, the 9-year-old did love to swim -- until a big fish mistook his ankle for a meal as the boy splashed in Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis this week.

"My poor son," moaned his mother, Westy Copeland. "He adores swimming. Now he claims he's never going back in."

Paris and his mom, along with dad Jonathan and 16-month-old sister Mireille -- were at Calhoun's main beach on Memorial Day "with 8 billion other people," Westy Copeland said, when Paris felt something strike his ankle.


Comment: Cute story. This kid may never swim at the beach again!

Odin the swimmer

Cool pictures: Read the full article The BIG cat who likes getting wet and wild

Vanishing bees

Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons


NYTimes
Science
Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: April 24, 2007
More than a quarter of the country’s bee colonies have been lost, and no one can say what is to blame.

Excerpt:

More than a quarter of the country’s 2.4 million bee colonies have been lost — tens of billions of bees, according to an estimate from the Apiary Inspectors of America, a national group that tracks beekeeping. So far, no one can say what is causing the bees to become disoriented and fail to return to their hives.

...

So far, colony collapse disorder has been found in 27 states, according to Bee Alert Technology Inc., a company monitoring the problem. A recent survey of 13 states by the Apiary Inspectors of America showed that 26 percent of beekeepers had lost half of their bee colonies between September and March.

Honeybees are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts. The number of bee colonies has been declining since the 1940s, even as the crops that rely on them, such as California almonds, have grown.

Comment: Also in the Minnesota news:

Why are the bees disappearing?

Excerpt:

Minnesota beekeepers, whose hives are still in hibernation, will learn in coming days how hard they've been hit.

Comment: Of interest to me because bees facinate me and Kathee has expressed a desire to be a bee-keeper when we retire.