The National Park Service reports that a 72-year-old woman repeatedly came within ten feet of a bison Yellowstone National Park to take a photo, and was gored by the animal.

From a Park Service Statement:

After a 72-year-old woman from California approached within 10 feet of a bison multiple times to take its photo, the animal gored her. The incident occurred on the evening of June 25, 2020, at the female’s campsite at Bridge Bay Campground. Rangers provided immediate medical care to the woman who sustained multiple goring wounds. She was then flown via helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. “The series of events that led to the goring suggest the bison was threatened by being repeatedly approached to within 10 feet,” said Yellowstone’s Senior Bison Biologist Chris Geremia. “Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors like pawing the ground, snorting, bobbing their head, bellowing, and raising their tail. If that doesn’t make the threat (in this instance it was a person) move away, a threatened bison may charge. To be safe around bison, stay at least 25 yards away, move away if they approach, and run away or find cover if they charge.”

Image: NPS / Jacob W. Frank Read the rest

BBC Earth's "Spy in the Wild" series (also on PBS) uses animatronic animals outfitted with miniature cameras to capture wildlife close up. In this gripping scene, Komodo dragons meet the Robot Spy Pig. Guess who wins.

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Just for kicks, Paul Rule, 66, participated in a study launched by the Cambridge Natural History Society that enlisted citizen scientists and nature-lovers to help deepen knowledge of the flora and fauna in Cambridge, England. Rule recorded nearly 600 different animal species in his "ordinary" city garden, including an elephant moth like the one seen above, an ivy bee, and the locally endangered hedgehog. From BBC News:

The retired BT engineer has always been interested in wildlife, particularly "anything with six or eight legs", and was able to record 412 insects, including 272 species of moths.

"When it came to the insects, I used the internet and local experts - and I have a shelf full of wildlife reference books," he said.[...] Mammal visitors include a fox, hedgehogs and bats, while all the common garden bird species such as blackbirds, wrens, robins and goldfinches have been counted.

Cambridge nature-lover records 573 species in 'ordinary' garden https://t.co/qaPHyrUWSn

— BBC News England (@BBCEngland) May 31, 2020

Top image: Jean Pierre Hamon (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Okay, now THIS is a quarantine crafting project. Read the rest

These two little bear cubs are play-fighting, but they look beary serious. Read the rest

Der (Schw)Einsatz war kein Zufall: Wie dieses Observationsvideo zeigt, waren die borstigen Vierbeiner schon vorher ins Visier unserer Fahnder und Fahnderinnen geraten. pic.twitter.com/nS0jv3HhII

— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) May 17, 2020

Yesterday in Berlin police blocked a road in the Zehlendorf district for nearly two dozen wild boar to pass.

"Sometimes the wilderness is right on our doorstep," police stated.

Especially now.

(UPI) Read the rest

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Read the rest

Brazil's Trump, right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, formally authorized deployment of military forces in the Amazon rainforest region, purportedly to fight deforestation and fires. Surely the massive influx of armed troops to the region populated by indigenous people won't result in coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths. The decree was published in the government gazette today. Read the rest

A species of giant hornets native to Asia, nicknamed “murder hornets,” with mandibles that look like spiky shark fins they use to bite the heads off honeybees. People who've been stung by these hornets say their venom and stingers feel like hot metal driving into skin. Read the rest

That is one very large furry baby. Read the rest

Wild cats certainly kill many more other animals than outdoor pet cats. After all, they have to hunt for their food instead of just bug their human companions. But a new study by North Carolina State University zoologists and their colleagues revealed that outdoor pet cats kill between two and ten times as many animals as wild cats in the same size area. Apparently, every year North American pet cats with outside access kill between ten and thirty billion birds and mammals. But according to the new data gleaned from GPS cat collars, our feline friends generally don't venture further than 100 meters away from their home. Still, their hunting can be a real problem when it comes to conservation. From Scientific American:

[...]In some places, including California, Florida, Australia, and elsewhere, cats were an important threat to some species that are already in trouble.

"On one hand, it’s kind of good news that the cats aren't going out further abroad, but it’s bad news that they're quite likely to have an impact on animals they share space with near their houses," [says North Carolina State University zoologist Roland Kays.]

With so much killing concentrated around people's houses, the positive impacts of urban wildlife—like the beauty of songbirds, or the way small lizards can control insect pests—could get washed away in precisely the areas where those benefits are most appreciated.

image credit: Stiopa (CC BY-SA 4.0) Read the rest

PBS Nature's "Spy in the Wild" series employs spy cameras outfitted with animatronic animal disguises to capture intimate imagery of wildlife. In this clip, a drone wearing a hummingbird costume infiltrates a swarm of monarch butterflies in the mountains of Mexico.

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Impeached U.S. president Donald Trump says his administration plans to soon reopen the country's national parks and other public lands, with details to be announced on specific sites in coming days. Read the rest

From the Orphaned Wildlife Center: "To help you pass the time in your quarantine, here is a bear (Jenny) in a swing, not caring about quarantine and being oh-so-zen. Namaste my friends." Read the rest

I would have completely lost it. Read the rest

On Tuesday (or was it Wednesday? Yes, it was Wednesday), I noticed something on my front door steps. It was something small and freaky looking. It soon registered that it was a nestling, a featherless baby bird who had fallen from its nest in the curved Spanish tiles above the steps. Its eyes weren't even opened yet.

It wasn't the first time there had been an accident on those steps. Last year, an egg dropped from the same tiles. A half-formed, but beaked, baby bird remained, surrounded by broken eggshell. Dead, of course. The year before, just broken eggshells and yolk. No actual bird. You'd think the birds would learn not to build a nest in our terracotta roof slide.

I called out to my 15-year-old daughter, SJ, to help me think the situation out. Is it dead? ("I don't know!") Oh my gawd, it's moving. Did she think it had broken its neck too? ("Maybe...?!") Should we bury it? ("MOM! It's still ALIVE!") But, I don't want it to SUFFER! ("Mom, no.") Yes, it was alive. Struggling, but alive. It was difficult to determine if there were injuries but, as its beak opened and its legs squirmed, burying it no longer was an option.

Panic set in. We couldn't just leave the little guy there. This tiny creature suddenly seemed much bigger as I realized that I'd have to deal with it. I'd have to be the one who has to do something with its fleshy three-inch-long body. I grew up in a rural area and saw a fair amount of wildlife mishaps in my childhood but I was never the one charged with "cleanup."  Read the rest

Nature webcam network Explore.org curates a fantastic collection of countless live cams from around the world organized into categories like Africa, bears, oceans, dogs, animal sanctuaries, and "zen cams." They also provide short descriptions of what you're seeing when you teleport around the world. Above, one viewer's screenshot of the Northern Lights Cam (live view below) streaming from the Churchill Northern Studies Center in Manitoba, Canada.

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