UNNATURAL NATURE NEWS

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CREATURE FEATURES OF A DISTURBING VARIETY

DON'T GO OUTSIDE THERE'S RATS & BATS & BUGS & STUFF

Oh, yeah, and SNAKES!!!

Scary Monsters All Around

Today we learned that however nasty our houses and apartments are, the great outdoors is even worse. That's why we keep it outside. So, just don't go out there, and you'll be fine. Unless they come inside.


ULSTER STAR
"LISBURN MEN FIND GIANT SNAKE IN THE AMAZON"
This snake eats Volkswagons! With the top down!!!

' A leviathan of the jungle, which reports say reaches 40 metres [120 feet] in length and two metres [6 feet] in diameter, it dwarfs any snake known to science. This anaconda is not green but dark brown and is known by the locals as the 'black boa' or 'Yacumama'. "Yacumama is translated as Mother of the Water and reports of this giant snake abound throughout the Amazon basin and history." Mike, who is partially sighted, has spent 23 years researching the beast but it was only six months ago when his son discovered his research documents and they decided to take part in the incredble journey. Cryptozooologist Mike of Hillhall spent his life savings setting up the expedition with Greg to find out more about the snake, which reports say can engorge water then shoot a monkey out of a tree like a water canon. "The data is immense and will take months to fully appreciate but already it supports our theories of 'channels' created by these giants as they make their way through the dense jungle knocking down trees 90 feet tall, but more importantly we managed to catch one of these reclusive giants on camera as it made its way through one of its watery channels." There was an amazing postscript to their trip when an anaconda, believed to be the one they located in March, is thought to have been responsbile for smashing the house of an elderly couple in a small village in Peru earlier this week. '

THE BALTIMORE SUN
"Science sheds light on Baltimore rats"
Now if they could only do something about those DC rats.

' "Most rats are like people in Baltimore," said Glass, who after 25 years in the city has had occasion to observe both. "They marry someone next door or down the block at most, and are happy to live in the neighborhood they grew up in." '

NY TIMES
"A Human Language Gene Changes the Sound of Mouse Squeaks"
Won't this confuse the bats?

' People have a deep desire to communicate with animals, as is evident from the way they converse with their dogs, enjoy myths about talking animals or devote lifetimes to teaching chimpanzees how to speak. A delicate, if tiny, step has now been taken toward the real thing: the creation of a mouse with a human gene for language. '

LIVE SCIENCE.COM
"Bats Recognize Individual Voices"
Good news, bat news.

' Scientists have not known how bats recognize their buddies, in order to stay together, and also avoid creating interference between their echolocation calls. The screech of a bat is louder than a rock concert. A study last year found that bats actually shut their traps for microseconds so they can hear the leader and take direction. Now researchers say greater mouse-eared bats can recognize individual bat voices. '

MCCLATCHY
"Deadly bat disease spreading fast, scientists warn lawmakers"
More bat news, same bat channel.

' "Never in my wildest imagination would I have dreamed of anything that could pose this serious a threat to America's bats," Merlin Tuttle , a biologist with Bat Conservation International who's studied the creatures for 50 years, told two House of Representatives subcommittees. He called the bat-killing disease, which could threaten eight species with extinction, "the most serious threat to American wildlife in the past century." According to the Agriculture Department , bats eat pests that otherwise would cost farmers up to $1 billion a year in damages. The disease, called "white-nose syndrome," makes bats awaken from hibernation prematurely and leave their caves. Freezing, unable to find insects to eat, they fall from the sky and die. About 95 percent of infected bats perish, and the disease appears to spread from bat to bat, infecting entire caves, officials said. The main clue to their deaths is fungus-encrusted noses and wings. Whether the fungus causes their deaths or is merely a symptom of a failing immune symptom is unknown. '

UPI
"Insomniac flies resemble insomniac humans"
Yes, I've seen them late nights at the diner. In my soup. Doing the backstroke, according to the waiter.

' U.S. scientists have created a line of fruit flies that they hope might someday help shed light on the mechanisms that cause insomnia in humans. The flies created by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis only get a small fraction of the sleep of normal flies and resemble insomniac humans in several ways. For example, if researchers turned on a light at night, insomniac flies awakened and stayed up the rest of the night, while healthy flies went back to sleep. '

LA TIMES
"Heidi Pratt used to eat ants? Watch your back, Spencer"
Now we know why they call them "Speidi."

' "I know she's gonna win," says Holly Montag at the MTV Movie Awards about her sister, Heidi Montag, letting it slip that Heidi and her new hubby Spencer Pratt are actually competing against each other in the "I'm a Celebrity ... Get me Out of Here" reality show. But they have formed something "like an alliance." Are we surprised? "I have seen my sister build fires and eat ants ... that was growing up, for fun. She has a much better chance than anyone is giving her credit for," Holly says. '

FIRST COAST NEWS.COM
"Chickens Help Jacksonville Fight Mosquitos"
Who you callin' chicken?

' Meet Red, on the front line of Jacksonville's fight against mosquitos. He's a sentinel chicken, monitoring mosquito diseases in Jacksonville. "This is early in the year to have this significant of an increase in mosquitos and it was prompted by that large storm we had," Richard Smith of Jacksonville Mosquito Control told First Coast News' Erich Spivey. "We couldn't even sit on the patio because we were fighting mosquitos," says Jacksonville resident Jane Entenza. '

LIVE SCIENCE.COM
"Deer Disoriented by Power Lines"
Happens to the best of us.

' Last year, a team led by Hynek Burda and Sabine Begall discovered that free-ranging cattle and deer tend to align their bodies in a north-south direction. The animals sure seemed to be responding to the geomagnetic field. If so, the zoologists reasoned, they should lose their orientation when they graze or rest near power lines, because the current passing in the lines distorts Earth's magnetic field. If not, and the animals are reacting instead to the sun or some other cue, power lines should have no effect. By observing wild roe deer and studying aerial images from Google Earth of cattle in European fields, Burda, Begall and three colleagues confirmed their hypothesis. In general, the animals faced every which way near the lines. (East-west power lines were an intriguing exception; cattle tended to align with them, for reasons still unclear.) What's more, cattle gradually regained their north-south body orientation the farther they moved away from the lines. The study is the first strong demonstration of magnetic alignment in mammals other than rodents or bats. An internal compass could well be handy equipment in the roaming lifestyle of grazing animals. '

YAHOO NEWS
"NY man arrested buying drugs with slaughtered pig"
See? They were disoriented by power lines.

' Syracuse police say a 45-year-old man offered a slaughtered pig as partial payment for a bag of crack cocaine. They say two men were spotted making the deal on a street corner just before 8 p.m. Thursday. Angelo Colon of Fulton was arrested on a misdemeanor drug possession charge and 42-year-old Omar Veliz faces a felony drug sale charge. Police say Colon paid half a pig and $10 for a $50 bag of crack. Veliz told police the pig was for a celebration for a relative being released from jail. While officers were arresting the suspects, someone took the pig. '

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