Finland is painting deer antlers with reflective paint (2014)(smithsonianmag.com) Every year, about 4,000 reindeer lose their lives on Finnish roads in car accidents, causing 15 million Euros of damage every year. And now, the Finnish Reindeer Herders Association is testing out a new way to make the large mammals more visible to drivers: reflective paint.
First confirmed footage of a colossal squid captured(rnz.co.nz) The colossal squid was first described in 1925 based on specimens from the stomach of a commercially hunted sperm whale. A century later, an international voyage captured the first confirmed video of this species in its natural habitat - a 30cm juvenile, at a depth of 600 metres near the South Sandwich Islands.
DIY "Teensy" Bat Detector(zachpoff.com) Ultrasound has fascinated me for a long time (see my other pages about ultrasound recording and microphones), and I’ve been observing urban bats in NYC for several years. I’m fascinated by the urban wildlife that coexists with humans and particularly interested in making unheard voices accessible by playing them back at slower speed (AKA “time expansion”) so the fast details of their vocalizations and echoes are preserved.
When Oregon blew up a whale with 20 cases of dynamite (2024)(katu.com) Tuesday, November 12 denotes a remarkable day in Oregon history: 54 years since a dead whale was infamously blown up on a Florence beach, showering bystanders and cars with whale bits - and capturing the hearts and minds of the public.
Butterfly population in US shrinking by 22% over last 20 years, study shows(theguardian.com) Butterflies may be among the most beloved of all creatures, routinely deified in art and verse, but they are in alarming decline in the United States with populations plummeting by a fifth in just the past two decades, according to the most comprehensive study yet of their fortunes.
After 120 years, Yellowstone bison are a single breeding population(phys.org) Researchers from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have discovered that bison in Yellowstone National Park—the only group of American bison that has continually existed as wildlife in the United States—now consist of a single large, interbreeding population derived from multiple historic bison herds.