Gulf Orca

And last week that same scientist, Keith Mullin, explained at a public meeting in Orange Beach, Ala., that yes, contrary to common perceptions, killer whales really do live in the Gulf, far from land.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

Excellent.

Wild boar

Thanks to my brother Brian for this picture of a monster wild boar killed in Louisiana.

Beware aggressive turkeys

Wild turkeys are turning into bullies in one Michigan town.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

This might be a good time to exercise the Ted Nugent "kill it and grill it" option.

Spider controversy

A spider that was found in a Tulsa grocery store may not have been as deadly as originally thought.

- AP/ajc (link here)

Misidentified and mishandled.

Shocking incompetence.

Coyote sighting

Gil and I were walking along the Oak Leaf Trail near 68th and Rawson today when we saw a coyote.

Big animal, prime condition, close up.

Very cool.

Pliosaurs

They swam with mighty flippers, two fore and two hind, all four accelerating on attack. In their elongated heads were bone-crushing jaws more powerful than a Tyrannosaurus rex’s. They were the pliosaurs, heavyweight predators at the top of the food chain in ancient seas.

- NY Times (link here)

Fascinating.

Creative antlering

A man who bolted antlers to the head of a dead doe and posed for a photograph with the deer was fined $400 and jailed for game violations.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

Pathetic.

Herd of dinosaurs?

The position of the dinosaur bones suggests they were looking for water on the edge of a lake, got stuck and died as the mud engulfed them, [University of Chicago professor] Sereno said in a telephone interview.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

Amazing what you can learn from a few odd bones.

Starving vultures

Spanish vultures are hungry, even starving - and the regional government in Madrid plans to do something about it. EU laws aimed at halting the spread of mad cow disease require the countryside to be kept clear of dead livestock even if they died of natural causes.

- AP/Miami Herald (link here)

I just hate is when there are not enough rotting corpses for everyone that wants one.

Crocodile attacks in Australia

If confirmed, it would be the second fatal crocodile attack in northern Australia in five weeks.

- AP/ajc (link here)

Moose on the roof

Nostdahl called police to report a moose on the roof of his hillside home northwest of Minot.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

Just one of the many advantages of living in North Dakota.

Deer in restaurant

(Thanks to Elizabeth for calling my attention to this one.)

Montgomery County police say a deer being chased by two dogs crashed through the front window of a restaurant before ending up in the bakery section of a grocery store.

- AP/Baltimore Sun (link here)

What happened to the dogs?

Nevada state insect?

The vivid dancer damselfly is a blue insect with transparent wings that "appear silver when rapidly beating in the sunlight."

The damselfly preys on mosquitoes and other pests. It's found throughout the state. It was first classified in 1865, the year after Nevada became a state.

- Las Vegas Review-Journal (link here)

Sounds like a worthy choice.

Eagle vs. truck

The eagle has landed - with a thud - after crashing through the windshield of a tractor-trailer on a Nevada highway. State wildlife officials said Wednesday that a 15-pound golden eagle with a 7-foot wing span has a swollen head but otherwise appears unhurt after crashing into a Florida truck driver's big rig on Monday.

- AP/Miami Herald (link here)

Ouch.

Wisconsin lion

Wisconsin wildlife officials today continued to pursue a mountain lion roaming near Spooner in an effort to fit it with a radio collar.

It’s only the second documented wild mountain lion in the state since the early 1900s. One spotted in January 2008 near Milton was later killed in a Chicago suburb.

- AP/Duluth News Tribune (link here)

Prehumans

Footprints uncovered in Kenya show that as early as 1.5 million years ago an ancestral species, almost certainly Homo erectus, had already evolved the feet and walking gait of modern humans.

- NY Times/Denver Post (link here)

Those were the good old days.