Mass Animal Deaths

Sad and strange list of mass animal deaths worldwide. Mainly sea life, which is chilling, for that's clearly a signal to us all about the quality of our oceans.Mass Animal Death

BBC News - "No evidence of mermaids, says US government"

This may seem to be a fluff piece but I can't help myself, I sense an undercurrent (no pun intended) of disinfo and distraction. No, I don't mean to suggest mer-people literally exist. But in this article: BBC News - No evidence of mermaids, says US government it is made clear the National Ocean Service took the time to respond to supposed public inquires about the existence of mermaids after Animal Planet aired Mermaids: The Body Found. In the BBC news article, we have this quote from NOAA's Carol Kavanagh that the NOAA article (see below) "was written from publicly available sources..." and that is  due to their lack of a  "mermaid science programme."

Here is the official article from NOAA: No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.  It's a very short piece -- three paragraphs and concludes:

But are mermaids real? No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That’s a question best left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists.

I haven't seen Animal Planet's program. According to the press release at their site, they reference the Aquatic Ape Theory:

The Aquatic Ape Theory makes it possible to believe that while we evolved into terrestrial humans, our aquatic relatives turned into something strangely similar to the fabled mermaid. As evidence that humans once evolved into aquatic creatures, the Aquatic Ape Theory cites some of the striking differences between man and other primates and the many features we share with marine mammals, including the following:

• Webbing between fingers (other primates don’t have this) Subcutaneous fat (insulating from cold water)

• Control over breath (humans can hold breath up to 20 minutes, longer than any other terrestrial animal)

• Loss of body hair (hair creates drag in water) Instinctive ability to swim (human babies are able to do this)

• A highly developed brain, which depends on nutrients provided by seafood  Here's a blog about the program from Cryptozooogy the Science of the Unknown, with link kindly provided to the full program on YouTube.  
•  (Image found at Vintage Clip Art.)

On Binnall of America: White Haired Guardian, Animal Ally

My new Trickster's Realm column is now available at Tim Binnall's site:White Haired Guardian, Animal Ally.

Baptizing the Animals

The other night elements in the dream shifted a bit. I’m on a hill and decide to shoot at a bottle on top of a tree stump that’s sticking up out of the river. I aim a rifle, shoot, and hit it right off the first time. I’m pretty surprised I hit it, and even more surprised I wanted to in the first place. I kind of wonder, what am I doing with this gun? I don’t like guns! Then I see a man enter the water and hold down what at first I think is a cat, but becomes a black panther. Beautiful animal, but silent and moving so gracefully. I worry it’s dead, or drowning, yet the man’s intent doesn’t seem to be of harm. More like he’s performing some kind of ritual. Then the black panther turns into a large black and brown dog. Again, very very beautiful, and large, and I worry about it’s safety but the man doesn’t seem to be about harm. It’s some kind of message; some sort of ritual.

Giant red crabs invade the Antarctic abyss

Three years ago, scientists predicted that giant red crabs (King Crabs) would invade the Antarctic within a hundred years. Their prediction was too conservative; the crabs are already in there:

Giant red crabs invade the Antarctic abyss - environment - 07 September 2011 - New Scientist: They are laying waste to the landscape. Video footage taken by the submersible shows how the crabs prod, probe, gash and puncture delicate sediments with the tips of their long legs. "This is likely to alter sediment processes, such as the rate at which organic matter is buried, which will affect the diversity of animal communities living in the sediments," says Craig Smith of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, whose team discovered the scarlet invaders.

Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines - Yahoo! News

They say it's 21 feet in length. Plans for the animal: the "star attraction" in an ecopark.

Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines - Yahoo! News:

Elorde said the crocodile killed a water buffalo in an attack witnessed by villagers last month and was also suspected of having attacked a fisherman who went missing in July.
He said he sought the help of experts at a crocodile farm in western Palawan province.
"We were nervous but it's our duty to deal with a threat to the villagers," Elorde told The Associated Press by telephone. "When I finally stood before it, I couldn't believe my eyes."
After initial sightings at a creek, the hunters set four traps, which the crocodile destroyed. They then used sturdier traps using steel cables, one of which finally caught the enormous reptile late Saturday, he said.

Image source: French Factrice (visit this site, it's full of vintage goodness, including a film clip from the 1940s of a children's alligator farm.)