Nearly 100 pilot whales stranded on a beach in Western Australia on Tuesday. Australian officials said 51 pilot whales had died as of Wednesday.

The 51 long-finned pilot whales were part of a pod of almost 100 spotted off Cheynes Beach near Albany, about 400km south-east of Perth on Tuesday.

Experts from the Western Australia Parks and Wildlife Service and volunteers worked through the night, braving cold temperatures to monitor the whales.

The service said it was working with volunteers to save the remaining 46 whales, with plans to guide them to deeper water during the course of the day.

Footage from the scene showed volunteers, many of them wearing wetsuits, trying to help the thrashing mammals on the beach.

A representative for the Parks and Wildlife Service said it had been “overwhelmed with hundreds of offers of help” but that it had enough volunteers and the public should stay away from the beach for safety reasons.

“The priority focus of the incident management team is to ensure the safety of staff and volunteers and the welfare of the whales,” the service representative said.

“The response zone has a range of hazards, including large, distressed and potentially sick whales, sharks, waves, heavy machinery and vessels.”

Mass strandings of pilot whales – which can grow to more than six metres in length – are not uncommon in Australia and New Zealand.

Last October, about 500 pilot whales died when they beached on the remote Chatham Islands in New Zealand.

Drone footage released by Western Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions showed the whales clustering and forming into a heart shape on Tuesday morning before stranding themselves on the beach.

Macquarie University wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta said the drone footage could suggest the whales had become disoriented.

“The fact that they were in one area, very huddled, and doing really interesting behaviours, and looking around at times, suggests that something else is going on that we just don’t know,” she said.

Scientists do not fully understand why mass strandings occur, but pilot whales are highly sociable, so they may follow pod-mates who stray into danger.

Bec Wellard, a marine mammal scientist at Project Orca, said that because of the pilot whales’ “strong family bonds”, it was important to try to refloat them together.

But she added that, if the surviving whales’ health is compromised, an assessment needs to be made as to whether efforts to refloat them “could just be prolonging their suffering”.

Reece Whitby, Western Australia’s environment minister, said the mass stranding was particularly frustrating because it is not known why the phenomenon occurs.

“What we’re seeing is utterly heartbreaking and distressing,” he said. “It’s just a terrible, terrible tragedy to see these dead pilot whales on the beach.”

– Input from Agencies was used in this article.

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Originally from South America, the Humboldt penguin lives on the coasts of Peru and Chile. Its closest relatives are the African penguin, the Magellanic penguin and the Galpagos penguin. Humboldt penguins are extremely sociable, inquisitive and communicative birds, some would even say they are the friendliest of them all.

These birds are excellent swimmers. Their torpedo-shaped bodies can shoot through the water at speeds of 30 miles an hour. And they can dive up to 500 feet underwater in search of snacks such as fish, shrimp, and squid.

Humboldt penguins form a strong bond and remain with the same partner for their entire lives. Before mating the animals undergo a moulting period, during which they do not go out to sea and have to starve. By the end of the moult, they venture into the sea to forage and then come back to their breeding grounds. Commonly 1-2 eggs are laid and incubated for an estimated 40 days. Both the male and female take turns to incubate their eggs.

Since 1988, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the penguins on its vulnerable list, and Humboldt hunting has been illegal since 1995. Scientists consider the Humboldt penguin to be vulnerable to extinction due to Natural climate variation, human-induced climate change and overfishing of their preferred prey species.

Fun facts about penguins
o The Welsh word for penguin is pengwin. Pen means ‘head’ and gwyn means ‘white’.
o Penguins have waterproof feathers. Their own built-in wetsuit!
o Penguins have a protective lens that covers their eyes when they go underwater. Their own built-in goggles!
o Emperor penguins are the biggest of them all, at nearly four feet tall. Little penguins are the, well, littlest, at just 16 inches.
o Penguins have very distinctive calls and can recognise each other among a whole bunch of noisy penguins.
o A penguin’s tongue is covered with spines, which help it catch and hold onto its prey.

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Six lions have been killed by herders in a national park in southern Kenya, in a blow to conservation efforts and the tourism industry which is a key pillar of the nation’s economy.

The killings, which took place close to the Amboseli National Park, came just days after a wild lion, believed to be one of the world’s oldest, was killed in the same national park by herders.

Male Loonkiito, 19, was speared after preying on livestock in the village of Olkelunyiet in Kenya, which borders Amboseli National Park.

Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Jinaro claimed the lion was frail and wandered from the park in search of food.

Authorities have expressed concern after six other lions from the same national park were speared by herders on Saturday after they killed eleven goats in the Mbirkikani area.

Tourism minister Peninah Malonza met locals in Mbirikani area on Sunday and urged them not to spear wandering lions and to instead reach out to the wildlife service.

The government and conservation groups have a compensation program for herders whose livestock is killed by wild animals.

But herders have become more protective after losing livestock to a drought that is one of the worst in decades in the East Africa region.

Conservation group Big Life Foundation’s Craig Miller said the killing of Loonkiito “was unfortunate” as he was the oldest lion in the Amboseli national park.

Wild lions rarely live past 15 years, according to conservationists.

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A wild male lion believed to be one of the world’s oldest has died after being speared by herders, authorities in Kenya have said.

The 19-year-old lion had lived in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, but died when he went alone to a nearby village in search of food and attacked livestock.

According to The National, the old lion was speared to death by herders in the village of Olkelunyiet after Loonkito attacked their livestock.

The outlet reports that Loonkito ruled a large pride of lions until 2017 when he was badly injured in a territorial fight and his brother Ambogga (also a lion) was killed.

Since then the aging and wounded lion had found it more difficult to defend his pride and territory, and grew weaker due to old age.

At around 9pm local time on Wednesday (10 May) the 19-year-old lion went into the village cowshed to kill and eat some of the livestock there but was fought off and killed by herders armed with spears.

Spear wounds to the head killed the elderly lion, with no human or livestock injury in the fight, with Loonkito described as ‘weak due to old age’.

The lion’s body was collected by Kenya Wildlife Services, and Daniel Sampu, senior coordinator of predator compensation at Big Life Foundation said Loonkito’s killing was a sign of conflict between humans and wildlife in the area.

He said: “This is purely a human-wildlife conflict. The local people have been living with wildlife for ages.

“The pastoralists are on high alert to protect the few animals left by the recent severe drought. Such incidents must be discouraged.”

The killing of Loonkito has been condemned by conservationists who have urged local residents to avoid killing lions if at all possible, as they are a vulnerable species with an estimated fewer than 25,000 still alive.

There are over 100 lions in Amboseli National Park and they can sometimes be seen near the roads.

Locals killing lions that attack their livestock is not new and there have been cases where big cats have been tracked down and killed for attacking other animals.

While Loonkito was thought to be the oldest lion living in the wild at 19 there are many lions in captivity who are able to live longer than that.

Of course lions in captivity can still be dangerous whether it be towards their own zookeepers or to people daft enough to climb into their enclosures and attempt to steal their cubs.

Then sometimes there’s lion-on-lion violence as big cats don’t always get along well in captivity.

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The number of tigers in the Sundarbans is expected to increase due to successful conservation efforts in the world’s largest mangrove forest, officials said.

Forest Department officials involved in the ongoing tiger census said they found evidence of tigers using camera traps in areas where a previous investigation found none.

According to the preliminary data obtained from the cameras installed inside the forest, the number of tigers in the Khulna and Satkhira ranges has increased, they said.

However, they could not provide specific numbers.

The result of the census is expected to be published in 2024.

Surveys conducted in 2015 and 2018 did not find any tigers in parts of the Khulna range.

But the camera traps this time captured adult tigers with cubs. Locals and forest rangers also reported frequent tiger sightings.

There has also been a flurry of incidents in which tourists saw tigers in the Sundarbans.

On March 12, four tigers were spotted in a tourist area in the Mongla end of the Sundarbans.

Besides, tiger attacks on fishermen have also increased, according to officials.

Under the current tiger census, camera traps had been set up in Khulna and Satkhira ranges between January 1 and April 30.

The traps will be installed in the Chandpai and Sharankhola ranges between November 1 and February 29, 2024.

In total, 665 cameras will be installed.

Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, divisional forest officer of Khulna, told The Daily Star that the information obtained from the traps has not been verified yet.

“It is not possible to say how many tigers are present in the two ranges. After collecting and analysing all the data from all ranges surveyed, the tiger census result will be published in 2024,” said the DFO, also the director of Sundarbans Tiger Conservation Project.

Like the fingerprints of humans, the stripes on tigers are unique, said the forest official. The number of tigers will be determined by analysing their stripes, he added.

He said the expected increase in the number of tigers might be attributed to the forest department’s increased vigilance against poachers and locals’ change of attitude towards the big cat.

“Besides, deer and wild boar numbers have also increased in the forest, providing enough food for tigers,” he said.

He said the government’s decision to compensate families of tiger victims has also helped change locals’ attitudes towards the tigers.

The government’s “Sundarbans Tiger Conservation Project” is expected to be completed by March 2025. However, the tiger census programme will end in 2024.

In the first tiger census conducted in 1982, at least 453 tigers were found in the Sundarbans. Only 106 tigers were found in 2013 and 114 in 2018.

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A zebra foal was born at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Gazipur in the middle of the month.

With the latest one, the number of the Zebra stands at 26, our Gazipur correspondent reports quoting the park’s in-charge Assistant Conservator of Forest Rafiqul Islam.

However, the sex of the baby zebra could not be ascertained yet, according to the authorities.

The official said that the mother zebra was kept in a relatively cool place inside the park for the last few weeks during the birth. The foal is believed to have been born in the middle of this month, he added.

But the matter was kept secret for the security reasons, the official said.

The other zebras of the herd also take care of the baby zebra, he added.

According to park sources, the zebras have been brought in several phases since 2013 through Falcon Traders, a livestock importer, from South Africa.

Anisur Rahman, wildlife supervisor of the safari park, said zebra foals take breast milk for seven to eight months. The baby zebras like to live in the herd. Also, other members of the flock ensure the safety of new members, he added.

The life expectancy of the animal usually is 20 years. But there is a record of the animal’s survival of up to 40 years in the restricted area, Anisur Rahman said.

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News Desk : dhakamirror.com

An American archaeological mission has unearthed over 2,000 mummified ram heads, at the temple of Ramses II in the ancient city of Abydos in southern Egypt. In addition to this remarkable find, the team also uncovered a much older palatial structure, dating back approximately 4,000 years.

The temple is one of several across the country that are dedicated to Rameses II, whose reign from 1279BC to 1213BC is regarded by many as the height of Egypt’s power and glory.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of Egypt’s antiquities council, which conducts and oversees archaeological digs, said the discoveries were quite important because they “lift the veil off important details about the life and history of Rameses II’s temple at Abydos and the surrounding area.”

“The find contributes greatly to our understanding of the temple and all the life it witnessed over 2,000 years from the time of the sixth dynasty to Ptolemaic Egypt,” he said.

The building that the mission uncovered predates the reign of Ramses II by about 1,000 years to the final epoch of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, and is architecturally quite different from the temple structure, with particularly thick walls about five metres in depth.

It is expected to shed some much needed light on the architectural traditions of the Old Kingdom, which is the least understood era of ancient Egypt.

The pyramids of Giza are among only a handful of relics that remain from the Old Kingdom.

The ram heads, which date back to the Ptolemaic period from 305-30BC, were found in a recently discovered storage room in the northern portion of the temple, along with the remains of other mummified animals, including ewes — which were differentiated from the rams by their lack of horns — dogs, wild goats, cows, gazelles and mongooses.

The ram heads are believed to have been laid there as votive offerings to a god, a common practice in ancient Egypt, according to Dr Sameh Iskandar, the head of the American mission. He said using rams in worship rituals was relatively unheard of during the Ptolemaic period.

He suggested the heads could have been used as a reverence to Rameses II, which would suggest the legendary pharaoh remained exalted even 1,000 years after his death.

Fragments of statues, papyruses and the remains of ancient trees were also uncovered by the mission, which will continue its excavation at the temple in coming months.

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News Desk: dhakamirror.com

In last December, Portuguese scientists learned that fishermen and boaters noticed a dead sunfish in the central North Atlantic. When researchers saw the carcass near Faial Island in the Azores, they nearly couldn’t believe it.

Scientists say the bump-head sunfish (Mola alexandrini) is the biggest bony fish ever found. The fish weighed 6,050 pounds, 882 pounds more than the previous record-holder, a 5,070 pound sunfish off the coast of Japan in 1996.

A new publication in the Journal of Fish Biology provides more facts about the enormous sunfish found in the Azores last year.

Bony fish are the 29,000 aquatic species with skeletons comprised at least partially of bone, not cartilage.These swimmers range in size from pygmy goby to sunfish. More than 90% of fish are bony, excluding rays, sharks, and other cartilaginous fish.

Sunfish have spherical bodies, dorsal and anal fins, and a peculiar circular rudder called a clavus, says National Geographic. Their rough, gray skin attracts parasites.

Sunfish are clumsy swimmers and can’t fully seal their mouths, which are tiny compared to their bodies. Sunfish eat jellyfish, algae, zooplankton, and small fish.

Massive sunfish near the ocean’s surface are commonly mistaken for sharks. Sunfish are harmless, yet curious.

In 2018, bump-head sunfish became a separate species. They’re connected to Mola mola but twice as heavy.

Scientists in the Azores hauled the giant sunfish to shore and forklifted it. Once the fish was airborne, they weighed it with a crane-suspended cargo scale. They also took measurements and DNA samples.

Scientists couldn’t determine if the huge creature was male or female, but it was 10.67 feet long, 11.78 feet tall, and 2.82 feet wide in the middle.Researchers think the fish is at least 20 years old but can’t be sure.

“It must have been a ruler of the open ocean,” says study author José Nuno Gomes-Pereira.

Scientists buried the fish at Faial Island’s Natural Park after examining it. Scientists found a wound containing red boat paint on the dead animal. A vessel accident may have contributed to the sunfish’s demise, but it may have happened after it died.

The giant fish proves that the oceans can still support such a behemoth. Human activities like climate change may change that.

“Big fish are rare due to overfishing and habitat destruction,” says Kory Evans, a fish biologist at Rice University who wasn’t involved in the study.

– Input from Smithsonian was used in this article

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The oldest human fossils ever discovered on the European continent are 1.4-million-year-old facial bones, which could change the course of human prehistory, according to the researchers involved in the historic discovery.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Aurora Martin, the archaeologist and general coordinator of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, said: “We do not yet know to which first human species the fragments found belonged”.

The bones, found at the end of June at the caves of the Sierra de Atapuerca excavation site near Burgos, constitute “a breakthrough that will help rewrite the history of human evolution,” she added.

“Until 1994, it was known that there were no ancient human species in Europe until 500,000 years ago. Now we’re talking about 1.4 million years ago. In other words, we pushed back the evolution of humans in Europe 1 million years,” she explained.

“The new invention, which is the facial parts of a species, unearthed in the summer of 2022, belongs to 1.4 million years ago. This opens new doors for us and makes us ask a lot of new questions. We will try to find answers to these, but they will all be after research. We can’t give an answer right now,” added the archaeologist.

The Atapuerca site was discovered towards the end of the 19th century while railroad construction was taking place, and the first excavations started in 1976.

In this area, in 2007, archaeologists discovered the 1.2 million-year-old human fossils that had previously never been discovered on the European continent.

The Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos has ancient Stone Age human and animal fossils on display that were discovered at Atapuerca, a World Heritage Site.

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Elephants are skilled communicators with memories that could give humans a run for their money. But culling and habitat loss is making it harder for them to pass on this expertise.

They’re known as gentle giants. Elephants, found across Africa and Asia, are the largest mammals on land. And their massive bodies — from their sensitive feet to their complicated brains — are perfectly attuned to these regions’ savannas and forests.

Though elephants walk on their toes, they are still able to cover long distances. That is because they have wedge-like fat pads that give them flat feet. Hidden in those fat pads are also large false toes called predigits, which further give them support by spreading the load from the sole up the limbs.

Their feet have another surprising function: communication. Elephants can pick up on low-frequency rumblings or stomping from up to 20 miles (about 32 kilometers) away. These sounds create seismic vibrations on the Earth’s surface that the animals can sense with their feet. Researchers believe those vibrations travel all the way up their ears via their skeletons. This skill allows elephants to detect danger from far away.

What language is this?
But the colossal mammals aren’t only well-versed in their own communication. A 2014 study found they can also distinguish between human languages — and whether the voice comes from a man, woman or child. This is especially useful when they gauge how much of a threat humans pose to them.

Researchers played different voice recordings to wild elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya to watch how defensive they got. Between recordings of Masai men and Kamba men, the animals reacted more strongly to the sound of the Masai, who had killed elephants on occasion. The herd also retreated less when it heard the sounds of Masai women or young boys who generally don’t threaten elephants.

An elephant never forgets
Their ability to distinguish languages is a testament to elephants’ renowned memories. Not only do they have the largest brains of any land mammal, but they even have more pyramidal neurons than humans. These neurons are thought to be important for cognitive functions, meaning elephants might have more advanced memory skills than us. It’s no surprise that they can remember the shortest distance to watering holes, even if they are 31 miles (50 kilometers) away.

They also need these cognitive abilities to live in their complex societies. But traumatic experiences, like losing relatives to poachers or being separated from the herd, can hinder neurological development, making elephants aggressive and fearful. These types of disruptions also mean younger elephants miss out on vital social information that adults would have passed down to them.

Elephants are especially endangered in Asia, where their population has declined by at least 50% in the last three generations, or around 75 years. That is mostly because humans continue to infringe on their habitat. But they are also under threat of poaching in parts of Africa.

Edited by: Sarah Steffen

– Article originally published on dw.com

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