Raining Dinner

It rained fish in Australia last week.

Killing Kermit

Weed killer castrates frogs.

One of the most common weed killers in the world, atrazine, causes chemical castration in frogs and could be contributing to a worldwide decline in amphibian populations, a study published Monday showed.

Daddy's Girls

And you thought your family was weird...



You'll be hooked on AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. Looks like the chimp is rockin' some velcro ROOS.

Real Life Jawz

Tourist eaten by "dinosaur-sized" shark in front of onlookers.

"Holy shit. We just saw a gigantic shark eat what looked like a person in front of our house," witness Gregg Coppen posted on Twitter. "That shark was huge. Like dinosaur huge."

...

Witnesses described the terrifying scene. The shark was "longer than a minibus", Coppen told the Cape Times newspaper.

He said: "It was this giant shadow heading to something colourful. Then it sort of came out the water and took this colourful lump and went off with it. You could see its whole jaw wrap around the thing which turned out to be a person."

British visitor Phyllis McCartain told the same paper: "We saw the shark come back twice. It had the man's body in its mouth, and his arm was in the air. Then the sea was full of blood."

...

Kathy Geldenhuys was sitting on a nearby bench. She recalled: "My husband had just pointed out how far the man was swimming from the other people. He asked what would happen if he was attacked by a shark, because he was so far away. The words were hardly cold when the shark attacked that man. The shark attacked twice; it turned and attacked the man again; I just saw the blood on the water."

Awesome Animals

Octopus uses coconut shell as armor.

Finding marks first reported instance of an invertebrate acquiring tools.

Watch the video here.

Bite Your Tongue

Fucked up tongue-eating parasite found off Jersey coast(?)



The sea-dwelling parasite attacks fish, burrows into it, and then devours its tongue. After eating the tongue, the parasite proceeds to live inside the fish's mouth. There's a horror film waiting to be made about this thing. Surprisingly, the fish doesn't seem to suffer any severe impediment--just the loss of its tongue--and seems to have no trouble surviving with its new, far uglier tongue.

About a Bear

Here's a headline you rarely see:

Ice-skating bear from Russia kills circus director in Kyrgyzstan

Color Me God

Color changing frog worshiped as a god in India?

Frog Leg

South African bullfrog fitted with false leg.

Strange Head

Strange fish has see-through head.

When Celebrity Chimps Attack

Police kill "celebrity" chimp who attacked a woman.

Here's Jeff Corwin talking about the incident on CNN.

Poisoned Pets

Pesticides in products are killing pets.

Last June Diane Bromenschenkel applied a flea-and-tick product to her English pointer, Wings, so the dog wouldn't get ticks while hunting pheasant in the tall grasslands of western Idaho. Wings, a healthy five-year-old with a sleek white coat and a chocolate brown mask, enjoyed long walks in the woods, bacon treats, and burying things in the yard. But three months after the pesticide was applied, the animal was dead.

Fishing for Freedom

Anglers unite against EU's proposal "for recreational fishermen to register their boat as a fishing vessel and record their catch as part of the UK's annual quota for certain species".

Hidden Animals

People have gone cryptid crazy!

Venture out into the waters and woodlands of New England, and there's a chance you'll bump into "Champ," America's own Loch Ness Monster, who allegedly plies the muddy ripples of Lake Champlain. Or, perhaps, the Gloucester Sea Serpent. Or the Granite State Bigfoot. Or Connecticut's Winsted Wildman. Dare you wander into the dark-woven forests of Maine or the eerie and unexplored Hockomock Swamp, smack in the middle of the Bay State's allegedly supernatural "Bridgewater Triangle"?

You well may. After all, could what's living in there be any scarier than what's living out here? We find ourselves in a world where presidents swindle their countries into wars, governors shake down children's hospitals, and con men abscond with $50 billion from their investors, many of them charities. Is it any wonder that some people spend hefty chunks of each day dreaming of a world inhabited by unseen creatures untouched by the mean banality of mankind?

Can it be a coincidence that the field of cryptozoology — literally, the study of "hidden animals" — has evolved from a discipline cloaked in shadows and pooh-poohed by science into a full-fledged pop-cultural explosion? In short: the world of late has gone cryptid crazy.

Creepy Crawlies

The 10 most disturbing animals on Earth.

via Posthuman Blues

Species

1,000 new species discovered in Mekong Delta region.

A rat believed to be extinct for 11 million years, a spider with a foot-long legspan, and a hot pink cyanide-producing "dragon millipede" are among the thousand newly discovered species in the largely unexplored Mekong Delta region.

Dog Save Dog World

A dog rescues another dog who has been hit by a car.