Ever hear of Beeologics? Well, they were one of the premier firms researching Colony Collapse Disorder in bees. I say they "were", because it turns out they were bought by Monsanto last year - this, after several studies implicated a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids in CCD ( Read more... )

The Toronto Zoo has lost its accreditation (first obtained in 1977) from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, at least in part because zoo officials were over-ruled by city council over moving the elephants to an animal sanctuary in California.

"The lines of communication between CEO, director and governing authority must be clearly defined," ( Read more... )

I'd previously blogged about zombie ants in Texas, where fire ants are being used as mobile incubators by phorid flies. The fly lays eggs in the ant's brain, and it wanders around aimlessly until its head falls off.

But that's not the only zombie ant out there - there's a fungus which also zombifies its hosts. There are other examples of ( Read more... )

A businessman in Australia is proposing to fight Anthropogenic Global Warming (or whatever they're calling it this week) by exterminating a million feral camels (descendants of beasts of burden imported during the 19th century) living in the Australian outback. Supposedly, these camels fart out so much methane (a much more potent "greenhouse gas" ( Read more... )

One of the mantras of the vegetarian earth-hugger movement is that cattle are bad for the environment. However, over in Africa, they're proving that this isn't the case - grassland is being revitalized by quadrupling the number of cattle grazing on it. And they've now won a Buckminster Fuller prize for it, to boot!

The US military is air-dropping dead mice (each on its own little parachute) stuffed with Tylenol from helicopters into the trees around their naval base on Guam. Yes, reallyApparently, it's to control the population of brown tree snakes, which "invaded" Guam during or after WWII, eating everything that will fit into their mouths, and wiping out ( Read more... )

Apparently, some PhD type in Norway is worried that, as a possible result of Global Warming, Climate Change, or whatever they're calling it this week, the ice layer on top of the snow will be too thick for reindeer to dig through to get to the tasty lichen beneath. And yes, I know that sentence is too damn long. Anyway, it turns out that male ( Read more... )

The provenance is a bit suspect, but this is still an interesting graphic. I checked a few of the numbers, and they seem to jibe with historical records for the IXTOC-1, Amoco Cadiz, and Torrey Canyon spills, as well as the historical record for what the Iraqis did after Gulf War I as they were leaving Kuwait ( Read more... )

The Hoover Dam is no longer the world's longest dam - it's been surpassed by the workings of Castor canadensis, the Canadian beaver. It seems some enterprising beavers in Alberta have built a dam over half a mile long -- twice as long as the Hoover Dam.

Police in Wiltshire, England have issued a public warning after an European eagle owl (picture a metre-high owl, with a 2-metre wingspan) escaped its enclosure. The bird is a "top predator" and might decide a cat or small dog looks edible. Mark Avery, director of conservation for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, is quoted in part as ( Read more... )