Staff file photo/Former City Councilor Bill Fonvielle
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research/Courtesy photo/This chimaera or ghost shark, at roughly 20 inches, was the largest and darkest seen during the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. The dots on its head are ampullae of Lorenzini that can detect minute electrical signals generated by their prey.
As we write this on Friday, we re kind of cold and a little cranky. So, what do you say we go right to the items? The Electoral College votes yes.
Ghost sharks. Something else to fear
There was a very interesting story in the New York Times last week about ghost sharks. Or perhaps it was a very terrifying story. Hard to know which way to go on this one.
OPINION | Nature as a solution for what ails us
As Canada embarks on a massive effort to address climate change and the loss of nature, nature-based solutions hold the promise of tackling the economic and ecological challenges we face today, says strategist Stephen Legault.
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Sanda and her baby.
Photo: Supplied / Hamilton City Council
Sanda the chimp has given birth, just a day after a new outdoor enclosure opened. The zoo now has seven chimps.
Zoo director Dr Baird Fleming said it is a positive sign that Sanda felt happy and safe enough in her new surroundings to deliver her baby.
He said the troop will be given time to get used to their new space and to bond with the baby before zoo visitors can inspect the new enclosure and see the latest addition.
The chimps have not been on public display since February while their outdoor enclosure was upgraded.
[INTERVIEW] Mutated pathogens make wildlife-borne diseases like COVID-19 harder to treat
Posted : 2020-12-18 17:23
Updated : 2021-01-07 05:27
A zoo veterinarian takes a sample from a bat for research on the coronavirus at the Palmyre Zoo, which was closed to the public due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Les Mathes, France, April 21, 2020. Reuters
By Ko Dong-hwan
The National Institute of Wildlife Disease Control and Prevention Head Noh Hee-kyong. Courtesy of NIWDCWhile the seemingly interminable COVID-19 global pandemic is believed to have started with an endemic disease in bats that was transmitted to humans via a third species of animal, other cases of such zoonotic diseases have become (and are becoming) harder to treat because of mutations within the nuclear structure of the pathogens, according to the chief of the country s new wildlife diseases control agency.
The Other 364 Days of the Year. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey
Dec 18, 2020 Reindeer have been soaring since long before Christmas came into being. For some reason, the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria), a lovely red-and-white polka-dotted ‘shroom bearing an uncanny resemblance to a Christmas ornament, is attractive to these creatures. It’s also hallucinogenic, and Comet, Cupid, and loads of other blitzed reindeer have been observed lurching about after munching the mushrooms (Santa’s sleigh makes more sense after you learn about this little reindeer game). Regrettably, flights of any sort will become less frequent for these animals, as their population is in steep decline as a result of a warmer Arctic.