Animal News Snippets
>> Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Apparently there is a lot going on in the kingdom Animalia. Since I don't have the time to do an individual post on everything I have found interesting just this morning, I am going to summarize it all and let you pick what you want to read!
- Australia- A team of scientists finds that fiddler crabs lie. The crabs' giant claws can regenerate, but some of the males have HUGE fake claws with no teeth and are quite flimsy. These claws are used to attract females and convince males that it is not worth fighting them. I guess this is along the lines of fake muscle implants.
- United States- Thousands of wild mustangs (as in the one I got to see on my adventure in the West) may have to be slaughtered. These wild horses are kept in holding pens by the Bureau of Land Management and the cost to keep them is getting too high. They won't release them into the wild because their populations increase rapidly and the public land they live on needs to be used for ranching and farming. Really?!?! THAT'S the excuse they came up with??? "I'm sorry, Spirit
, we want sheep here instead." Anyway, you can adopt on of the majestic creatures here.
- Japan- The supposedly scientific whale hunts that Japan has been conducting have started again. This year, however, the research vessel left without the usual fanfare. The boat left quietly and spokesmen said they would not disclose whether or not the boat was again going on its whale hunt for safety of the crew. This is all after a disagreement the Japanese government had with Australia over approval to kill, excuse me, cull some 50 humpbacks. You can watch Sea Shepard's campaign against the whaling on the new Animal Planet show, Whale Wars.
- Washington D.C.- A cute little baby gazelle was born at the National Zoo. This is a big deal as it is estimated that less than five hundred of this particular species exist in the wild. You should see the pictures. Really cute!
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