Samwise rides again

It’s been a while, but Aunty dishes up the goods …

A couple who became lost on hills on Orkney and were being attacked by birds had to be rescued.

The pair were lost for much of Monday at Hoy and were said to be cold, disorientated and frightened.

The woman had suffered an ankle injury, and they were being attacked by birds - Great Skuas - which were nesting in the area.

The Shetland Coastguard rescue helicopter found the couple and took them to safety.

“The couple were obviously quite distressed.

“They were suffering attacks from Great Skuas, which are aggressive birds which will dive bomb you if you approach their nests.

“Not only can this be extremely unnerving if you are not used to these animals, they can also cause some fairly serious injuries.”

From Aunty …

Just bees forage some distance away from their hives, so murderers avoid killing near their homes

This “geographic profiling” works so well in bees, the scientists say future experiments on the animals could now be fed back to improve crime-solving.

The scientist is working with colleagues Steve Le Comber and Kim Rossmo, a former detective in the US, to tag bees with tiny coloured numbers and follow them from their nests to flower patches.

The researchers’ analysis describes how bees create a “buffer zone” around their hive where they will not forage, to reduce the risk of predators and parasites locating the nest. It turns out that this pattern of behaviour is similar to the geographic profile of criminals stalking their victims.

“Most murders happen close to the killer’s home, but not in the area directly surrounding a criminal’s house, where crimes are less likely to be committed because of the fear of getting caught by someone they know,”

Understanding the geographic profiles of animals is interesting to biologists as it helps them predict the locations of important feeding grounds, and knowing these areas will inform more effective conservation measures.

This approach works well for very different creatures, from bees and bats to great white sharks.

But what is more unusual is that models used to describe bee foraging can be applied back to human behaviour

Instead of using information about the distribution of flowers visited by bees to explain the insects’ behaviour, criminologists’ models will use details about crime scenes, robbery locations, abandoned cars, even dead bodies, to hone the search for a suspect.

“Bees have much simpler brains and so understanding how bees are recruited to flowers is much easier than understanding the complex thoughts of a serial murderer,”

More broadly, the London-based team hopes its work will lead to a better understanding of how one of the most familiar animals in nature goes about its daily business.

“Bees’ pollination ’services’ account for about one in three mouthfuls of food that we eat as humans. They pollinate a huge diversity of our fruit and vegetable crops.

“If we don’t know how bees forage then we don’t really understand pollination, and that is quite detrimental to how we feed ourselves; which is becoming an increasing problem with bigger populations.”

I appreciate the importance of bees, but I find it a bit of a stretch to think we can derive much about the habits of serial killers from their daily routine, but y’know, whatever brings in the research grant money.

# all we are saying, is give bees a chance #

Gao

Originally uploaded by samh101.

Want.

Aunty …

An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan’s Narita airport has received 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry

A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security.

Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in.

Anyone finding the package has been asked to contact customs officials.

The customs officer conducted the test on a passenger’s bag against regulations. Normally a training suitcase is used.

“I knew that using passengers’ bags is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog’s ability,”

Japan has strict laws against drugs and possession of small amounts of cannabis can lead to a prison sentence.

Two Bear stories for you, first from the AP …

A black bear was shot and killed inside the ransacked home of an Anchorage couple. David and Robin Tisch came home Sunday and discovered the aggressive bear inside the residence on Villages Scenic Parkway, a dirt road near Chugach State Park.

Upon arriving, Robin Tisch noticed a screen door was folded in.

“That’s about the time we heard a drawer being thrown across the room. There was silverware flying,”

Tisch’s brother ran over with a gun and David grabbed a rifle.

When the bear made an aggressive move, someone shot at it and the animal fell dead.

The bear, which found a frozen chicken and some bread before being surprised by the Tisches, left a trail of destruction.

“He pulled the refrigerator away from the wall and was smart enough to pull open the freezer,” David Tisch said. “He pulled open some drawers, and opened the cupboards and just destroyed those. We have a nice leather couch and love seat and he tore holes in the couch. He tore up the table.

Sounds like the bear just wanted to eat a chicken sandwich in peace.

The second story comes from digtriad.com …

Brent Case seems almost nonchalant about it now. “He went into the muscle and right through the arm.”

He has the wounds left by savage attack by a grizzly bear.

Last week, the 53-year old surveyor was alone in the bush, east of Bella Coola. He was taking photos for an engineering job, when he realized he wasn’t alone.

“I had a feeling somebody or something was watching me. The hair on this side of my head started to go up. That doesn’t happen very often.”

The next thing he knew he was on the ground — a 900 pound beast was stomping on his body.

“I said, this is not happening, this is not happening. I put my head down cause he was coming at me,” recalls Case. “I had my axe, but I couldn’t hit him cause he was too close And he has an agenda. I threw my axe down and I said the best thing I can do is play dead.”

He believes that is maybe what saved his life. It still didn’t stop the grizzly from biting him numerous times and gnawing the scalp on the back of his head.

“I thought he’s eating my brains. I knew it was happening. I just thought God, I hope he gets it over with. I was down there shakin’ so bad. I was bleeding and the sounds & everything, and I just thought, ‘I’m too young to die.”

Case’s will to live took over. As he played dead, the bear lost interest and lumbered away. Case got out of their as quick as he could. Though covered with blood, he was able to drive 25 kilometers to the closest gas station to get help.

Aunty …

Sloth’s lazy image ‘a myth’

ok

The sloth’s popular image as a lazy creature that sleeps for most of the day has been called into question.

Rather than snoozing for more than 16 hours a day, as observed in captivity, sloths in the wild doze for less than 10 hours

Wish I could sleep ten hours a day, lazy sloths

The findings, published in a Royal Society journal, may help shed light on human sleep disorders

like what ? if humans lived in captivity we’d spend more time sleeping ?

“I think this finding is really going to open the door to a whole new age of sleep research on animals sleeping in their natural habitat.”

you hope so, because your grant cheque depends on it

Animals vary in the amount of sleep they need. Pythons, for example, sleep for 18 hours a day, while giraffes survive on just two hours.

lazy pythons

Despite many years of research into the function of sleep, there are still many unresolved questions.

It is known that sleep plays an important role in maintaining normal mental functions, but the precise mechanisms are unclear.

I saw this story last week, but could not remember the details with which to look it up.

From the Beeb …

A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish.

The bird, which died in Thursday’s collision, ripped a gash in Debbie Shoemaker’s face as she bathed near the city of St Petersburg.

The city fire chief said he had never heard of a diving pelican hit a person.

Pelicans grow to up to 30lb (13kg) and can dive from heights of 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres).

Ms Shoemaker, 50, returned home on Friday

From The Press Association …

A nanny pulled a two-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote when the animal attacked the toddler and tried to carry her away in its mouth.

The girl was playing in a sandbox at Alterra Park in Chino Hills in San Bernardino County, California. The caretaker heard screaming and saw a coyote trying to carry the child off in its mouth

The babysitter grabbed the child and pulled her from the coyote’s grasp

The coyote then ran off into nearby brush.

The child suffered wounds to her buttocks and was taken to Chino Valley Medical Centre and was later released

She was later transported to Loma Linda University Medical Centre to receive the rabies vaccine.

San Bernardino County Animal Control and the State Department of Fish and Game were searching for the animal

there was another attack in the area in October when a coyote bit a three-year-old girl playing in a cul-de-sac. The girl needed treatment for puncture wounds to the head and thigh

From Despertar de la Costa …

El turista estadunidense Adrián Ruiz, de 24 años, fue atacado por un tiburón tigre frente al hotel Mi Casa es su Casa, de Troncones, cuando surfeaba a unos trescientos metros de la orilla; el animal le mordió el muslo derecho y le casuó la muerte por pérdida de sangre.

De acuerdo con la información recabada afuera del hospital naval militar de Ixtapa, el técnico de Teléfonos de México Arturo Zepeda Villalvazo explicó que cerca de las 7:30 de la tarde comía en el área del restaurante de Mi Casa es su Casa, donde efectúa trabajos de su empresa, cuando unos surfistas sacaron del mar a la víctima con una mordedura de tiburón en su pierna derecha.

Ante esta situación de emergencia el empleado de Telmex no dudo en dar auxilio al turista extranjero, ante la carencia de cuerpos de socorro en esta zona turística, y trasladó al estadunidense en su agonía a bordo de la camioneta Ford de modelo reciente, de color blanco, con placas GZ-23-767 de Guerrero, marcada con el numero económico 505414, a recibir atención médica.

Adrián Ruiz ayer había llegado a este destino turístico del municipio de La Unión para disfrutar de placenteras vacaciones en compañía de seis amigos norteamericanos. Sin embargo, el destino lo alcanzó al ser atacado por un tiburón tigre que, a decir de algunos buzos de este balneario, merodea la costa de Troncones.

El médico del hospital naval que recibió al turista originario de San Francisco, California, pudo establecer a los pocos minutos de su ingreso a la institución que la víctima falleció en el trayecto al hospital, por lo que se procedió a dar aviso al Ministerio Publico en Atención al Turista para que se hiciera cargo de las diligencias de la defunción.

La habitante de Troncones Julieta Altamirano manifestó su consternación por este lamentable hecho y reprochó a las autoridades municipales que no se preocupan por este destino turístico, pues las playas no cuentan con señalamientos ni mucho menos salvavidas ni instituciones de auxilio, por lo que coincidió con varias personas que en esta costa constantemente hay turistas apunto de ahogarse.

Entrevistado al respecto, el segundo oficial de resguardo marítimo federal de la Capitanía de Puerto, José Ángel Lara Magaña, El Angel del Mar, sostuvo que luego de conocer del ataque de este animal reconoció que algunos buzos han mencionado la presencia de un tiburón tigre, pero en toda la costa del Pacífico no se había registrado un ataque de esta naturaleza.

Al respecto, aseguró que este día comenzarán acciones con palangres para extinguir al escualo en coordinación con la Armada de México. Indicó que estos animales se encuentran en zonas de aguas frías y turbias, entre el oleaje de mediana profundidad, a una distancia de lo por lo menos 300 metros de la orilla. Explicó que este hecho no representa amenaza para los bañistas.

Por su parte, su compañero de viaje Brant Helms y un vecino de Troncones, que dijo llamarse Osman Altamirano, auxiliaron al Adrián Ruiz para sacarlo del agua y trasportarlo en la camioneta de Telmex al hospital naval militar de Ixtapa, quienes no daban crédito a lo ocurrido en su primer día de vacaciones.

La víctima presentaba una herida de 38 centímetros de largo, desde su cadera hasta cerca de su rodilla; la mordedura le desprendió piel, tejido celular, subcutáneo y músculos.

Conocedores estiman que este animal podría tener un peso aproximado de entre doscientos y trescientos kilos, y podría derivarse haber comido carne humana con la pérdida de un turista que se ahogó en esta misma zona hace unos 15 días, pues su cuerpo no ha sido recuperado.

From Reuters via SMH …

A shark has killed an American tourist surfing in western Mexico, police say, the second fatal attack along North America’s Pacific coast in four days.

A shark bit 24-year-old San Francisco resident Adrian Ruiz in the leg, opening a 38cm wound from his hip to his knee and exposing his femur

Ruiz, who was surfing near the beach town of Troncones, 35km north of the Ixtapa holiday resort, was pulled to the beach by a friend.

“He was rushed in a bystander’s vehicle to the military naval hospital, where he died soon after from blood loss,”

On Friday, a 66-year-old man was attacked and killed by a shark in the ocean near San Diego in the United States, the first person to die in a shark encounter off Southern California in nearly 50 years.

Fatal shark attacks in Mexico are also uncommon. The last one was in the Caribbean in 1997

No one has been killed by a shark on Mexico’s Pacific coast in over 30 years

Attacks on the Atlantic coast are more frequent, especially in Florida, which has about 25 to 30 a year.