Boing Boing » wonderful creatures

Bees ground Delta flight

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:18:12 +0000

Honeybees clustered under the wing of a Delta Airlines flight at Pittsburgh International Airport last week; the plane could not depart until a beekeeper was summoned to take possession of the swarm. CBS reporter Mary Robb Jackson adds that swarms of bees are not uncommon at the airport, where 25,000 to 30,000 occupied Taxiway-C last May. [KDKA]

Baby deer saved

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:49:32 +0000

A cute, speckled deer "scampered" into the woods Thursday after being rescued from a 20-ft hole in Suffolk County, NY. [Huffington Post. Photo: Suffolk County Police Department]

• Two grey tiger kittens who spent hours trapped in a drain pipe were rescued by Ingham County Animal Control. Officials believe the kittens were thirsty, and did not realize that the pipes were slippery. [Battle Creek Inquirer]

• Puppies! Pongo the Rottweiler mix was rescued from a dumpster in Riverside, Ca., only hours before it was scheduled for pickup and crushing. Meanwhile, 57 puppies were rescued from a puppy mill by officers from Brunswick and New Hanover County Sheriff's department: "The raid was initially planned for next week, but ... the conditions were so bad, they had to take action earlier." [PE.com]

• Sadly, a group of campers in Nova Scotia was rescued from a circling pack of coyotes, which will now go hungry. [UPI, which deserves much kudos for finding stock art of a disappointed coyote]

See-through Jewel Caterpillar

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:00:27 +0000

Here's a photo of the Jewel Caterpillar (Acraga coa), snapped by Gerardo Aizpuru near Cancun, and submitted to Project Noah. Be sure to click through for other views. Wow.

Photo take in a mangrove area , found this Stoning translucent caterpillar lay on a Red Mangrove tree leaf this morning early. Just can believe there is some species like this around the world. looks like made of glass whit small red mushroom inside every pic. about 3 cm long.

Jewel Caterpillar (via Geekologie)

Medvedev cat safe

Rob Beschizza — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:35:45 +0000

Following rumors that his cat had run away from home, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev reassured Twitter, the nation and the world that Dorofei is safe. This is not Dorofei's first scrape; he once lost a fight with neighbor and former president Mikhail Gorbachev's cat. [Reuters]

Happy cows

Rob Beschizza — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:28:09 +0000

A herd of Holstein cows, just released from the winter barn. [YouTube via Metafilter] Previously.

I have no idea what you're doing

Rob Beschizza — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:02:37 +0000

At a dog show in Shenyang, China, a Tibetan Mastiff has no idea whatsoever what this man is trying to achieve. Photo: REUTERS/Sheng Li

Honeybees can smell TB

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:43:18 +0000

New Zealand biologists believe that honeybees can sense the faint floral odor on the breath of people infected with tuberculosis, and are trying to find a way to train bees to help them diagnose TB:

“When we tested them with the tuberculosis odours we found the bees can still smell it down to parts per billion,” says Max Suckling.
Christchurch zoologists are training bees to associate the smell of the disease with a sweet treat and to stick out their tongues when it's present.
Worldwide new TB infections occur at a rate of one per second. Right now it's diagnosed medically by expensive tests and with the disease being most common in poverty stricken areas, using bees instead could make a real difference.

Bees help in the battle against tuberculosis (Thanks, Gnat!)

(Image: Honeybee on Snakeroot, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from dendroica's photostream)