Animals in photos and videos and biological and animal curiosities

[moinsdewatt]

Australia: Police pay tribute to Max, the deaf and visually impaired dog, who rescued a girl
HEROS FOUR PAWS The dog, aged 17 years, had kept company and rescued a girl lost in the Australian bush ...

20 Minutes with AFP Posted on 21 / 04 / 18


Max, the 17 Blue Heeler who has protected and rescued a lost 3 girl in the Australian bush in Queensland on 20 April 2018. - Kelly BENSTON / AFP

A feat hardly credible and duly rewarded. Max, a 17 Blue Heeler, received this Saturday the honors of the Queensland Police in Australia.

It is indeed thanks to him that Aurora, a girl of 3 years who was lost in the Australian bush, could be found safe and sound, reported this Saturday the Australian channel Abc ..

A companion and a guide
The dog, who is deaf and partly blind, stayed with little Aurora throughout a rainy night, before leading family and rescuers to the child, missing since Friday to 15h and sought by air and in a rural area of ​​Queensland (northeast).


"Leisa [the child's grandmother] heard Aurora's voice, then she found Max who took her to her," said Kelly Benston, Leisa's companion.

https://www.20minutes.fr/insolite/22592 ... u-fillette

[moinsdewatt]

At the slightest warning, these sardines from the Pacific Ocean come together to form a thick and twirling spiral to deceive the predators. A technique that prevents their attackers from distinguishing isolated prey. With the exception that it is not uncommon for these large schools of fish to be the object of simultaneous attacks coming from both the sky and the depths. Thousands of sardines, swallowed by dolphins, swordfish and other sea bream, perish, as dozens of hungry seabirds fall on them.

photo 24h Figaro

[Grelinette]

This year it seems that wild boars have proliferated as they come many near houses, probably to find food. This is the case at home: they made holes in the fence that surrounds the property and dig the ground to find earthworms. Of course, since I drop horse dung everywhere in the garden, there must be thousands of worms that swarm under the ground which attracts wild boars! Fortunately my garden is of a rustic kind and the sensitive areas like the vegetable garden are better protected, and the wild boars do not ransack them.

At first I was running away wild boars, and then finally the sight of these wild boars coming every night under our windows is rather fun, and we watch them with my family ... even if you have to fill the holes in the garden in the early morning.

... and since a few weeks the flock has grown up with a lot of little boars!

From evening to evening I could approach them very slowly, and now the mother (laie) accepts me: she looks at me and continues to eat the bread that I put on the ground.
This is not the case every night, but lately I have spent a long time in the middle of the herd, crouching and without moving, the boars have come closer to me and the sow "allows me" now to stroke her young let's reject.

I was able to hang pictures:

A small flock: 3 adults and wild boars

Wild boars 1.jpg (231.74 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

Laie a few meters from me

Wild boars 2.jpg (82.7 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

Laie, incurred closer to me with some boars

Wild boars 3.jpg (172.55 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

Wild boars 4.jpg (178.21 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

Wild boars 5.jpg (242.42 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

A kebab of young boars within 1 meter of me

Wild boars 6.jpg (234.94 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

Even closer! When they are busy eating grass, I can caress them gently!

Wild boars 7.jpg (413.26 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

This one is tiny: about 25 cm long. I was able to stroke it!

Wild boars 8.jpg (370.88 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

The mother observing me, pushing a few grunts.
I did not understand everything but I think she tells me that she trusts me.

Wild boars 9.jpg (385.46 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

Wild boars 10.jpg (161.01 Kio) Accessed 4024 times

[Ahmed]

The laie first of all estimated the possible danger that you represented, then judged you to be harmless, hence its current behavior. They are not essentially fearful animals, only cautious, and with some good reasons ...

[Grelinette]

Another couple who share the same places as us. They live in a storm drain pipe in front of the house. They go out at night and when it rains.

Toad in rainforest.jpg (265.94 KIO) Viewed 4009 times

[Janic]

Yum, yum, these wild boars will be able to fill the freezers, for the year

[moinsdewatt]

Australia. The oldest spider in the world killed by a wasp.



The oldest spider, dubbed "16 Number", succumbed to a wasp sting in Australia at the age of 43. "Its long existence has allowed us to learn more about the behavior of burrowing spiders and the dynamics of populations," said the scientists who observed it.

"16 number" died at the age of 43 years in Australia. This spider, so named by researchers who observed it, was killed by a wasp sting. She was the oldest known spider in the world.

This gaius villosus, a spider from the suborder Mygalomorphae, far exceeded the previous record that was held by a Mexican 28 tarantula, according to the study published by the Pacific Conservation Biology Journal.

A valuable contribution to science
"16 number" has allowed scientists to learn more about the behavior of a spider that is found throughout Australia, including private gardens.

"To our knowledge, this is the oldest spider specimen to have been monitored and its long history has allowed us to learn more about the behavior of burrowing spiders and population dynamics," said researcher Leanda Mason, Curtin University of Perth, Western Australia.

Followed from 1974
She was discovered in 1974 when she launched a study of burrowing spiders in central Wheatbelt by Australian spider specialist Barbara York Main, now aged 88.

"Through Barbara's extensive research, we have been able to determine that the longevity of burrowing spiders is due to their life cycle, including how they live in uncleared bush areas, their sedentary nature and their to their weak metabolism, "said Leanda Mason.

A species threatened by global warming
16 number was studied in its natural habitat. Female burrowing spiders spend most of their lives in or near the same burrow. The researchers had marked his burrow and observed it very regularly.

The study also provided a better understanding of the human threats to the species, including global warming and deforestation.

Burrowing spiders usually live between 5 and 20 years. They do not pose a major threat to humans but their bite can be painful.

https://www.ouest-france.fr/sciences/an ... pe-5733489

[moinsdewatt]

IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. A marine crocodile observed for the first time devouring a whale

By Anne-Sophie Tassart the 30.04.2018

An incredible scene was observed off Australia: a marine crocodile and 4 tiger sharks were seen eating at the same time corpse of a whale. This is the first time this behavior has been observed in the reptile.



Opportunistic animals, which do not hesitate to feed on dead animals for example, are both very important for the ecosystem and for researchers. In addition, their behavior can sometimes observe absolutely incredible scenes. Thus, in September 2017, a diving company sighted north of the Montgomery reef (west coast of Australia) only 1 km from the coast, the corpse of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) of about 15 meters, floating on the back and rotting. According to his look - and especially his smell - the body was present for surely more than a week. But it's something else that caught the attention of the group: the presence of 4 tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) and a marine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), all in the process of feeding on cetaceans at the same time! Such a scene had never been observed. In order to better examine it, a drone has been launched. Spectacular photos and video were captured (see below).



The interaction between all of these powerful predators (tiger sharks was around 3 meters tall and crocodile 4) went well overall except perhaps during a short interaction. "A shark had brief contact with the crocodile and appeared to hit the water with its tail, probably in an effort to repel the crocodile from the area," say American researchers in a brief in the Journal of Ethology on the 9th. March 2018. After this interaction, the shark quickly left the place ". While ethologists were already aware of the opportunistic nature of tiger sharks, this behavior is much less well known in marine crocodiles. And the consumption of a whale by this species had, according to Austin Gallagher, lead author of the study, never been observed. 7 days later, the scene was repeated, but on dry land: the carcass of the cetacean washed up on the shore was surrounded this time by 12 crocodiles.

https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/animaux ... ine_123535

[moinsdewatt]

Emperor penguins broke the apnea record of the species

By Anne-Sophie Tassart the 08.05.2018

Researchers have managed to record the longest snorkeling of emperor penguins. If these birds do less well than the Cuvier's beaked whale, their abilities are much greater than those of humans.



In addition to tracking their movements on land, the researchers also collected data from no less than 96.000 dives! According to their study published in 12 April 2018 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, these animals dive on average at 90 m depth and sometimes reach more than 450 meters. If they stay only 4 minutes underwater usually, by 17 times, scientists have recorded dives of about 32 minutes. These penguins therefore broke the previous record which was 27,6 minutes in apnea. On the Antarctic continent, dives tend to be shorter and shallower than when these birds go further out to sea. "
.........

https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/animaux ... ece_123652

[moinsdewatt]

A Osprey photographed flying with a shark stuck between his talons

By Anne-Sophie Tassart the 02.05.2018

In the United States, a photographer has managed to immortalize an incredible scene: a bird holding between its claws a shark holding a fish itself. Clichés have become viral.



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other photos in the link https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/animaux ... res_123599