White Wallaby -- No Worries

An all-white wallaby stands out in a crowd for sure.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

"A rare albino swamp wallaby has been found living on the edge of Kosciuszko National Park in NSW, a stone's throw from Perisher ski resort. National park field officers spotted the cute, fully-grown marsupial, thought to be between one and two years of age, while maintaining tracks just outside the national park boundary last week. Kosciuszko National Park ranger Andrew Miller said the well camouflaged 90cm tall animal had been spotted twice eating grass in the sub-alpine region. "It's the first time any of us around here have seen one around Kosciuszko,' he told AAP." See full article.

1941 Zoology Science Test: Some Things Change and Some Remain the Same.

A 1941 science test found tucked away in an old science text tells us a few things about the evolving theory of evolution, what things were like before DNA information was in the picture and more.

Dan Vergano of USA Today reports:

Some of us might rather forget our old science exams. But sometimes they still have lessons to offer. For example, take a 1941 exam unearthed by one anatomy professor. The test is a relic of a simpler time that tells us a lot about the evolution of studying evolution.

What makes the 1941 test a fossil in its own right is that it doesn't mention DNA, or molecular biology, in its questions about evolution. ... As we all recall, tests work up to hard questions, and the 11th one on the 1941 exam asks whether whole new classes of back-boned species arise from unique, fairly recent ancestors or from early, more primitive life. "That's still a really big question today," See full article.

Young Eagle Sees Dog as Prey

A Jack Russell Terrier recently had a run in with a young bald eagle and got the worst of the encounter.

Hometown Annapolis.com reports:

"Trubee and Jurchison (dog's owners) suspect the eaglet spotted Moby as a potential meal and tried to fly off with him. They reason that Moby, who is mostly white, was a visible target against the green grass. Perhaps the eaglet didn't realize just how heavy the dog was.

'Who would have thought a raptor would swoop down and try to take your dog?' Trubee said. Moby suffered puncture wounds all over his body, which are now healing with the help of an antibiotic and painkillers from the veterinarian. see full article.

Seafaring Florida Reptiles Draw Interest

Two reptiles have been spotted in the sea off Brevard County Florida. Two differnt species and both a bit out of place. (Photo by: S. Harp, Florida Today)

J.D. Gallop at Florida Today reports:

"Experts say ... mystery tracks left behind [on the beach] ... likely belonged to a 5- to 6-foot-long alligator. The rare beachside tracks also were the latest incident in which alligators -- along with a crocodile caught during the weekend in waist-deep waters beneath the Cocoa Beach Pier -- made their presence known in the ocean waves off Brevard County. Typically, alligators shy away from salt water -- the habitat of sharks, sea turtles and other species more familiar to beachgoers -- while crocodiles, which thrive in saltwater environments, stick to the coastal areas farther south of Brevard. 'It is unusual,' Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Lindsey Hord said, referring to the sightings. 'With the crocodiles, we're on the northern periphery of its habitat range. But animals are always pushing, trying to get into new areas.'"

Rare Look at a Giant Sunfish on New Zealand Beach

A ocean-going tropical sunfish is really quite something to see. They average about 2,000 pounds and look alot like a giant fish head with a tail. They have a reputation for being surface sunners but usually they feed (mostly on jellyfish) at great depths as much as 2,000 feet.

One recently washed up on a New Zealand beach and provided a close look.

Vanessa Phillips for the Nelson Mail reports:

Tourists being guided along Farewell Spit were mesmerised by more than just the area's natural beauty yesterday. A large sunfish, about 2 metres long, and 2m wide from fintip to fintip, was spotted as Farewell Spit Eco Tours driver John Stevens was heading towards the spit with a busload of tourists. The dead sunfish was on the intertidal plain of the spit, about one kilometre on the Collingwood side of Puponga township." See full article.

Cops Uncover 5,000 Stolen Bird Eggs in One Home

Scottish law enforcement agents learned just how serious a problem bird egg thiefs (called "eggers") can be to species survival.

The Edinbugh Evening News reports"

"Investigatore say it will take a painstakingly long time to sift through a huge haul of more than 5000 birds' eggs discovered at a Lothians home. Wildlife crime officers from two forces and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) were involved in the operation to uncover the eggs, which has been described as one of the biggest finds yet in the Lothians. ... Rare breeding species particularly vulnerable to egg collectors include Slavonian and black-necked grebes, ospreys, white-tailed eagles, red kites, and red-necked phalaropes." See full article.

First Study of Rare Egg-laying Mammal

An elusive nocturnal mammal has finally been studied.

Science Daily reports:

"A Wildlife Conservation Society research intern working in the wilds of Papua New Guinea has successfully completed what many other field biologists considered "mission impossible"—the first study of a rare egg-laying mammal called the long-beaked echidna.

The long-beaked echidna is found only in New Guinea and is a member of the monotremes, a primitive order of mammals that forced zoologists to change their very definitions of what a mammal is. Unlike all other mammals, monotremes like the echidna (also called the spiny anteater) and the better known platypus lay eggs." See full article.

Roseate Spoonbill In Indiana

A bird that lives in Florida seems to ahve ventured into the Hoosier State. (Photo: St. Louis Zoo)

The Greene County Daily World reports:

"On June 2, Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area became the first location in the state to record the sighting of a Roseate Spoonbill. .... the June 2 sighting is the only confirmed sighting of a Roseate Spoonbill ever in Indiana. The excitement of the occasion had birdwatchers from all across Indiana and a few from Illinois traveling to Goose Pond to get their view of the unique bird." See full article.

Rare Sea Turtle Lays Eggs in Florida

A group of campers saw an unusual site in a Florida state park. (Photo by: Katie Dickey/Special to the Democrat)

Tallahassee.com reports:

"During a visit to the Franklin County park earlier this month, educator Elizabeth Franklin Waller and some middle-school campers spotted a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle on the beach. Of the seven species of sea turtles, the Kemp's Ridleys are considered the most endangered, according to The Sea Turtle Restoration Project. Katie Dickey, 15, a soon-to-be sophomore at Godby High School, was one of several students who captured photos and footage of the sea turtle, as it began to lay eggs." See full article.

Falcons Rebound in Vermont

The return of Peregrine Falcons to New England offers promise. Photo by: Peter Larsen

The Burlington Free Press reports:

"Thirty years ago, 60 Vermont cliffs and quarries had emptied of the falcons that once nested there. The birds had been wiped out by DDT, the now-banned pesticide that accumulated in animal tissue and thinned the shells of bird eggs.

Peregrines, small but aggressive hunters, sit at the top of the avian food chain and thus accumulated high concentrations of DDT from their prey. Nest after nest went silent in the 1940s and ’50s, until the birds were gone.Today, many bird species are in steep decline, but peregrines — along with loons, osprey and bald eagles — offer rare good news.Falcons were reintroduced in New England in the 1980s and have thrived. Thirty-eight pairs nested in Vermont this year and have produced at least 50 chicks." See full article.

First Wolverine in Ninety Years Ventures Into Colorado

Wolverines are known for being wideranging loners with somewhat bad tempers. One has ventured into Colorado after a long absense.

The DenverPost reports:

"A solo wolverine, perhaps in search of a mate, has traveled more than 500 miles to northern Colorado, the first confirmed sighting of the species here since 1919.

Bob Inman, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Yellowstone Wolverine Program, said the animal, tagged M56 and fitted with a radio collar in December, went on the move in April.
He traveled from Grand Teton National Park, crossing busy Interstate 80 in southern Wyoming, to reach timberline in the mountains of northern Colorado. 'It is great news that this animal has ventured into Colorado, where it hasn't been documented in 90 years, but it also underscores the need to manage this species at a multi-state scale,'" Inman said. See full article.

Rare Warbler Returns After 139 Year Absence

It is so wonderful to get some good news about nature. A bird that was thought gone shows up again 14 decades later. Photo: Philip Round/The Wetland Trust.

Science Daily Reports:

"The Large-billed Reed-warbler is the world’s least known bird. A single bird was collected in the Sutlej Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India, in 1867, but many had questioned whether it was indeed represented a true species and wasn’t just an aberrant individual of a common species.
But on 27 March 2006, ornithologist Philip Round, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, Mahidol University, was bird ringing (banding) at a wastewater treatment centre (the royally initiated Laem Phak Bia Environmental Research and Development Project) near Bangkok, Thailand." See full article.

Utah is the Place to See California Condors

The Califonia Condor is a rarity in nature but there is a place in Utah where they can usually be seen.

The Spectrum.com reports:

“'Condor activity in Utah has increased dramatically over the past five years,' says Keith Day, regional sensitive species biologist for the DWR. 'It’s not unusual to see 24 birds in Utah in the summer months, but 54 condors were here one day last August. That’s very exciting when you consider how rare this bird is,' Day says. Of the 320 California condors in the world, just over half are free-flying, and only half of those are found in Utah and Arizona. That means on any given day, you have the potential of seeing one-sixth of the world’s wild population of California condors right here in Southern Utah."'

"To reach the viewing site, take state Route 9 to Virgin. Turn off at the Kolob Reservoir turnoff in Virgin and travel north through Zion National Park. The viewing site is 21½ miles from Virgin near Kolob Reservoir. After you’ve traveled 21½ miles, look for a parking area on the south side of the road." See full article.

The Four Most Unusual Fish on Earth

There are fish and there are FISH!

markuses at Science Ray.com lists the "four most unusual on Earth" including the Whale Shark (some reported as large as 50 to 70 feet in length), the Stone Fish and others. See the list.

Rarest of Cockatoos Rediscovered

A U.S. all-volunteeer non-profit organization in Indonesia has rediscovered a lost bird.

City Parrots.org reports:

"The world’s rarest cockatoo has been found in Indonesia. A research team on behalf of the Indonesian Parrot Project rediscovered the Yellow-crested Abbott’s cockatoo this summer in the Masalembu Archipelago. This archipelago is in the remote Java Sea... Parrots are the most endangered bird family. A number of the parrots threatened with extinction are found only in Indonesia. Four of the five cockatoo species listed on the highest category of protection by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species are found in Indonesia. Of these, the Yellow-crested cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea) are the most imperiled." See full article.