Threatened beetles benefit from forest thinning

MAY 28, 2019

by University of Gothenburg

Wood-living beetles that use oak trees are a species-rich and threatened animal group in modern forestry and agriculture in southern Sweden. New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that management with conservation thinning can be an effective way to promote these beetles in the long term.

When traditional forestry modernized in the 20th century, many of the forests in the southern and middle parts of Sweden became denser and darker than they had been before. For many species in sunlit and open forests with oak trees as their habitat, this has meant an increased risk of extinction.

"These insects represent a large part of the biodiversity that we have committed ourselves to preserving by law and through international agreements. In addition to being beautiful and fascinating, they also play an important role in stabilizing forest ecosystems," says Oskar Gran, at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

Gran conducts research in the Swedish Oak Project at the University of Gothenburg, a long-term research project evaluating management alternatives for overgrown oak forests in southern Sweden.

Read on

Sweedish Zoo Drops 500 Lizards in Liquid Nitrogen – via Herp Digest

But they had to ask permission first

By Neal Colgrass, Newser, 4/14/18 

A helmethead gecko is seen in a screen capture from a YouTube video.   (YouTube)

(NEWSER) – A Swedish zoo that couldn't properly house over 500 reptiles made the hard choice of having them dropped into liquid nitrogen, The Local in Sweden reports. The Tropicarium Rescue Centre at Kolmården Zoo near Norrköping took in the reptiles after Swedish police rescued 760 lizards and other creatures from animal smugglers last month. But housing them was pricey, and other institutions only took 50 of over 550 helmethead geckos off their hands, so the decision was made. 

"We applied for an exemption so we could use a killing method that is not yet approved in Sweden but is used internationally," says a police officer. "That is to kill them in liquid nitrogen." In other European lizard news, a judge ruled last year that children are no longer allowed to swim with crocodiles and alligators at the Crocodile Zoo in Friedberg, The Local in Germany reported.

Rare white moose caught on video in Sweden

AUGUST 14, 2017

by Chuck Bednar

If there’s one thing science enthusiasts love, it’s getting a glimpse of a hard-to-find creature, and a new video that has gone viral this month shows a rare white moose – believed to be just one of an estimated 100 living in Sweden – as it walks through the grass and wades across a stream.

The video, which was posted by BBC News, explained that the white moose – which was spotted in the Varmland province of western Sweden – is not albino. Rather, its white coat is the result of a genetic mutation which causes it to be born with an predominantly unpigmented coat of fur.

This condition is known as piebaldism, and according to the US National Library of Medicine, it occurs a creature lacks the cells that produce melanin (the pigment which produces hair, skin and eye color). Piebaldism can affect humans, as well as horses, dogs, pigs, cats, birds and cattle.

The term piebaldism dates back to the 16th century, and was a combination of the word ‘magpie’ and the older meaning of the term ‘bald’ (‘spotted’ or ‘white’) in reference to the magpie’s black and white colored plumage. Unlike albino creatures, piedbald animals do not have red eyes, and they often have at least some blackish specks or patches of fur mixed into their coats.

Read more at 

Bee McBeeface and Beeyoncé win internet poll to name university's bees

Date: June 14, 2016

Source: KTH The Royal Institute of Technology

A Swedish university conducted a web poll to name the queens of the campus' two new honey bee hives, and the results were perhaps not so surprising: "Bee McBeeface" and "Beeyoncé" were the winning names.

Bee McBeeface and Beeyoncé are the names the internet has chosen for the queens of two honey bee colonies that were recently introduced to the Stockholm campus of KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Like the participants in the online poll that voted to christen a British polar research vessel Boaty McBoatface, the majority of participants in this poll showed a clear preference for the silly names over more earnest nominations -- some of which paid homage to women who broke through gender barriers at KTH and in Sweden.

While the British Antarctic Survey ultimately overturned Boaty McBoatface's victory, KTH accepted the voice of the people without hesitation. "The vote was fair and open, and a solid majority favored these names," says KTH's Environmental Coordinator Lina Häckner. "We received more than 10,000 votes; Bee McBeeface won 69 percent of the votes, and Beeyoncé got 16 percent."

Continued … 

Invasion of the American lobsters: Sweden asks EU for help

Swedish environment ministry says Maine lobster could wipe out European species with deadly diseases

Mark Tran

Friday 18 March 2016 18.14 GMTLast modified on Friday 18 March 201618.32 GMT

Oversexed, overfed and over here: that, in a nutshell, is what the Swedes think of the American lobster from Maine, New England. It may be much sought after in restaurants  but Sweden does not want the American crustacean to darken EU waters in case it spreads diseases and kills off its smaller cousin. 

The Swedish environment ministry on Friday asked the EU to list the Maine lobster as an invasive species and ban the import of the live creatures.

While the more cynical may see the Swedish move as disguised protectionism, such concerns are not entirely misplaced. Wildlife experts say the American lobster, which may also be slightly larger and different in colour to the native European lobster, brings dangers to European lobsters.

“They pose several potential risks for native species, competing for space and resources, they can interbreed with local species and produce hybrid species, which we don’t know will be viable or not,” said Dr Paul Stebbing of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture science.

The Swedish environment ministry says more than 30 American lobsters have been found along Sweden’s west coast in recent years and that they can carry diseases and parasites that could spread to the European lobster and result in extremely high mortality.

Read on …

No fair game: Sweden's multiplying moose pit farmers against powerful hunting lobby

Sweden abounds in moose, cheering the country’s passionate hunters but not its agriculture and forestry sectors which say profits are being munched away

David Crouch in Orust

Monday 28 September 2015 07.15 BST

A mild-mannered monster of the Scandinavian forests is setting Swede against Swede as farmers and hunters bicker over how to coexist with the world’s largest population of moose.

Hunting season will open in the south of Sweden on 12 October, when more than a quarter of a million Swedes will fell about 90,000 moose in a matter of weeks.

But for farmers, whose livelihoods are threatened by moose, this is not enough.

“We need to shoot more moose,” says Bernard Andersson bitterly. For 10 years he has farmed on Orust, an island on Sweden’s picturesque west coast. The moose pillage the fodder he grows for his cattle, trample his crops when they settle down to sleep for the night and break down his fences, allowing his cows to wander.

Farmers complain that as much as half of their crops are eaten or destroyed by the animals, forcing them to buy expensive feedstuffs. Apple trees on the island look like “mutilated bonsai”, they say, thanks to browsing moose.

In the forests, the picture gets worse. It’s not the moss the moose are devouring, but the young pine trees, creating a wasteland of dead and dying saplings. They are literally eating into one of the country’s main exports.

Continued ...

Swedish court stops hotly-contested wolf hunt

Örebro and Värmland regions exceeded their powers by issuing hunting permits for species protected by EU nature legislation, court rules

Friday 9 January 2015 11.09 GMT

A Swedish court has pulled the plug on a wolf hunt due to start Friday, favouring animal rights activists in one of the country’s most hotly disputed environmental issues.

Sweden resumed wolf hunting in 2010 and 2011, which led the European commission to protest the country’s policy of hunting quotas.

Since then environmental advocates have been successful in fighting the government’s decisions to allow culling.

A lower court agreed on Thursday with wildlife activists that the regions of Örebro and Värmland had exceeded their powers by issuing hunting permits for species protected by European nature legislation.

“We are satisfied, but it is sad that we still have to go to court to ask for application of the law,” Tom Arnbom, a wildlife specialist at WWF Sweden, one of the plaintiffs in the western town of Karlstad’s administrative court, told AFP.

Wolf hunting is a sensitive issue in Sweden, as in other European countries where the carnivore was reintroduced in recent decades.

Continued ...

'Drunk' Moose Terrorizing Sweden Probably Not Even Drunk: Scientist

The Huffington Post | By Hilary Hanson

Posted: 09/28/2014 11:22 am EDT Updated: 09/29/2014 10:59 am EDT

We really believed in you, drunk moose.

Year after year, the American media is bombarded with tales of moose throughout Sweden becoming hilariously intoxicated from eating the apples that have fallen to the ground and become rotten and fermented.

These antlered creatures have been known to get tangled in swing sets, stuck in trees and become generally “fearless.”

Continued ...

Sweden: Pygmy hippopotamus born in Parken Zoo

A Swedish zoo has published pictures of its latest addition - a rare baby pygmy hippo that staff have already dubbed "Michelin Man" because of her appearance.

Olivia only weighed 6kg (13lb) when she was born a month ago in Parken Zoo, Eskilstuna, to female Krakunia and male Anton, the Aftonbladet newspaper reports. "She is the cutest little fatty you can imagine," Jennie Westander, a zoologist at Parken zoo, tells the paper. Olivia was born under an international breeding programme, and after spending two years with her mother, will be sent off to another zoo in Europe.

Pygmy hippos - an endangered species native to West Africa - look like the more well-known hippopotamus amphibius, but common hippos are about twice the size and weigh four times as much as most of their pygmy relatives. There are fewer than 3,000 of the mammals thought to be remaining in the wild.

Read on ...

Much mirth as Sweden 'mourns' its oldest eel

9 August 2014 Last updated at 09:43

A European eel (generic image)

Swedes have flocked to social media to muse at the passing of "the world's oldest European eel", which lived in a well to the age of 155.

It was found dead in the southern town of Brantevik when the well owners removed the lid to show it off to visitors, The Local said on Friday.

A boy dropped it in back in 1859, when it was apparently common to use eels for keeping well water free of insects.

On Twitter, the hash tag "RIPalen" ("RIP eel") has been spawning jokes.

Here is a selection of comments on the death of the famous al (eel in Swedish), whose long life was well documented in Sweden

Continued ...

Not sure why mirth is involved here - but hey, that's humans eh?

Giant rat: Swedes agog at 'Ratzilla' in Stockholm

The appearance of a massive rat in a Stockholm family's kitchen has made headlines in Sweden, where it is being dubbed "Ratzilla".

Measuring 40cm (nearly 16in) plus tail, the creature terrified the family in Solna district.

Pest controllers finally killed the intruder using an oversized trap.

Even the family cat had refused to enter the kitchen while the giant rat was in residence, father Erik Korsas told BBC News.

It appears that it reached the kitchen via a ventilation pipe, having gnawed its way through cement and wood.

After devouring food leftovers under the sink, the creature feasted on a "Swedish smorgasbord" of waste in the bin, according to Mr Korsas.

The women of the house - mother Signe and daughters Dana and Erica, 17 and 15 respectively - took fright but his sons, 13-year-old Justus and six-year-old Laurentius, eventually proved themselves as genuine rat-hunters, he said.

It was the boys who investigated after the trap was sprung and the injured animal crawled away. It was they who brought him tools to help establish that it was well and truly dead.

Justus wielded the iPad which captured his father posing with the dead intruder.

continued

Jellyfish shut down nuclear reactor

A huge cluster of jellyfish has forced one of the world's largest nuclear reactors to shut down.

Operators of the Oskarshamn nuclear plant in Sweden had to scramble reactor number three on Sunday after tons of jellyfish clogged the pipes that bring in cool water to the plant's turbines.

By Tuesday, the pipes had been cleaned of the jellyfish and engineers were preparing to restart the reactor, which at 1,400 megawatts of output is the largest boiling-water reactor in the world.

All three Oskharshamn reactors are boiling-water types, the same technology used at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant which suffered a catastrophic failure in 2011 after a tsunami breached the facility's walls and flooded its equipment.

Jellyfish are not a new problem for nuclear power plants. Last year the California-based Diablo Canyon facility had to shut its reactor two after sea salp - a gelatinous, jellyfish-like organism - clogged intake pipes.

In 2005, the first unit at Oskarshamn was temporarily turned off due to a sudden jellyfish influx.

Nuclear power plants need a constant flow of water to cool their reactor and turbine systems, which is why many such plants are built near large bodies of water.

Marine biologists, meanwhile, say they would not be surprised if more jellyfish shutdowns occur in the future.

Continued

Swede bloodied in surprise beaver attack

Taking advantage of the first truly hot summer weekend in Stockholm, Sofie Adde was blissfully unaware that a casual dip would end in blood and stitches after a beaver mistook her thigh for lunch. 

Sofie Adde from the Gröndal neighbourhood of Stockholm was enjoying her first swim of the summer in the Mälaren Lake when the beaver pounced. 

"I went out for a quiet dip and had swum out a few meters when I noticed something underneath the water. Next thing I felt a pain in my thigh and up came the head of the beaver," Adde, 40, told The Local. 

"It gave me quite a surprise," the startled swimmer added.

"I wasn't sure what was going on as the beaver (dived) back down and I got scared and swam away immediately."

Following the attack, Adde had to have stitches and a tetanus shot. She doesn't harbour any ill-feeling towards the beaver, however, whom she claims she has seen before. 

"I've been down to the lake several times and I've seen this beaver in the past. There are a couple of beavers there and it is very unusual for something like this to happen."

Read on

'Extinct' short-haired bumblebees due to be released

4 June 2013 | By Olivia Midgley

AN EXTINCT species of British bumble is set to make a comeback in Kent.

Experts have spent two weeks collecting short-haired bumblebees from farmland in southern Sweden and this week they will be reintroduced to the RSPB’s reserve at Dungeness.

The last confirmed sighting of the species was in 1988.

The project, backed by Natural England, RSPB, Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Hymettus, began last year with an initial pilot reintroduction which followed four years of work with local farmers to create the ideal wildflower habitat for bumblebees across Romney Marsh and Dungeness.

Conservationists said the move is a ‘sign of hope’ for all the UK’s bumblebees.

Of the 25 native species in the UK seven are declining and two are extinct - one of which is the short-haired bumblebee.

Continued

New Excavations in Sweden Indicate Use of Fertilizers 5,000 Years Ago

Apr. 26, 2013 — Researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have spent many years studying the remains of a Stone Age community in Karleby outside the town of Falköping, Sweden. The researchers have for example tried to identify parts of the inhabitants' diet. Right now they are looking for evidence that fertilisers were used already during the Scandinavian Stone Age, and the results of their first analyses may be exactly what they are looking for.

Using remains of grains and other plants and some highly advanced analysis techniques, the two researchers and archaeologists Tony Axelsson and Karl-Göran Sjögren have been able to identify parts of the diet of their Stone Age ancestors. 

'Our first task was to find so-called macrofossils, such as old weed seeds or pieces of grain. By analysing macrofossils, we can learn a lot about Stone Age farming and how important farming was in relation to livestock ranching,' says Axelsson. 

Another aim has been to collect animal bone material -- or simply 5,000 year old food remains. The researchers know that pieces of bones from cattle, pigs and sheep can be found at the site. 

'By studying the levels of isotopes in the bones, we can for example find out where the animals were raised, which in turn can give important information about their role in trade,' says Sjögren. 

The results of the first grain analyses have now been presented, and besides revealing that both barley and wheat were farmed at the site, they point to elevated levels of the isotope N15 (nitrogen 15). The elevated levels may indicate that fertilisers were used in the area of Karleby already 5,000 years ago.

Continued: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130426114853.htm

Baby seal found in forest four miles from sea

A baby seal has been discovered in a forest four miles away from the coast by a perplexed walker.

A member of the public was strolling through Uppsala in Sweden when they made the shock discovery. Officials are baffled as to how the animal got there.

'A somewhat confused person called and said he was out walking in the woods where he had found a seal pup. I thought he was joking at first,' said local policeman Henrik Pederson, according to The Metro.

The pup was released into a nearby river. Robert Sandefors, who made the discovery, said: "He must have gotten separated from his mother and gone in the wrong direction."

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Baby_seal_found_in_forest_four_miles_from_sea

Sweden hunts more wolves 'to help genetic diversity'

Wolves in Europe being targeted again

February 2012. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has authorized the hunting of 16 wolves in what conservationists have described as a surprising U-turn.

According to WWF Sweden "It is a surprising decision that was not included in the management plan for wolves published as recently as last summer.

"This will constitute a complete U-turn compared from what Sweden's Environmental Protection Agency said a few weeks ago when they announced that the hunt would not be allowed. Since no new scientific information has emerged, this U-turn is a mystery, says Håkan Wirtén, Secretary General of WWF.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has announced permission for "selective and targeted hunt of inbred wolves as a step towards reducing inbreeding and having a sustainable, healthy wolf population. A selective and targeted hunt is the only method that can reduce the level of inbreeding in the short term," it said. Wildlife Extra questions how hunting solves an inbreeding problem. If the problem is bad, the wolves won't thrive due to a lack of genetic diversity. There are currently no plans to bring wolves in from Finland or Russia, another way to boost the genetic diversity.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sweden-wolf-hunt013.html

'Angry birds' strike fear in Swedish golfers

A golf club in southern Sweden is planning to hunt the crows on their course after a violent spate of attacks and thieveries have left golfers in fear.

Golfers at the Rya Golf Club in Rydebäck, southern Sweden, have been subjected to a swarm of attacks from angry birds which are both hungry and breeding.

“This year, they actually attacked our guests for the first time,” the club’s receptionist, Annika Hermansson, told The Local.

“The crows have always come down looking for people’s food, but they are getting vicious this year.”

Hermansson claims that around 10 people have complained of attacks, one of whom compared his ordeal to a horror film.

“I was just about to swing when two big crows started attacking and biting me. They flew at my head from two different angles and when I hit back they started attacking one another,” Gry Nilsson told the local Helsingblad Dagbladet newspaper.

“It was nasty; I was completely alone and thought that even more would come. It was as if we were in Hitchcock’s 'The Birds'.”

However, the birds are not only attacking avid golfers – they’re also commiting a new and irritating feathered felony.

“They’re taking people’s lunch - but it doesn’t stop at that! Some people have lost their keys, glasses – even their telephones,” Hermansson told The Local.

“We’ve had to warn guests to keep their bags tightly closed at all times and we’re even considering introducing hats for the players with big eyes on them to frighten off the crows.”

However, if simply scaring the birds away doesn’t work, the club is prepared to look into more drastic measures, as it has in previous years.

“We’re planning to have the birds professionally hunted. Such measures can be taken when animals are causing trouble like this, especially when they are hurting people,” Hermansson told The Local.

Oliver Gee
http://www.thelocal.se/41854/20120705/

Zookeeper killed by wolves in Sweden - via D R Shoop

A female zookeeper died Sunday morning when she was attacked by wolves in an enclosure at the Kolmarden Zoo in Sweden.

The zookeeper was a longtime employee at the wildlife park and had worked with the group of wolves since they were born, the zoo said in a statement on its website.

The attack happened during a routine visit to the wolves' enclosure, designed to "maintain contact with the wolves."

The keeper, who was not identified, followed procedure and informed her colleagues before entering the enclosure.

"When the co-worker did not respond when called, her colleagues realized something was wrong and went to the wolves' area," the zoo statement said. "There they found her dead."

It's not known what preceded the attack.

Mats Olson, the zoo's chief executive, said the staff is "shocked" by the incident and an investigation is under way.

On its website, Kolmarden -- billed as Scandinavia's largest wildlife park, and located about 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) southwest of Stockholm -- touts visitors' ability to have "wild encounters" with its animals, including petting wolves. The statement Sunday said the particular enclosure involved in the attack "lies beyond the public areas of Kolmarden."

Mats Hoggren, the zoological chief, said all procedures at the zoo will be reviewed.


http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/17/world/europe/sweden-zookeeper-killed/index.html?iref=storysearch

Men hatch Swedish chicks from organic eggs

Lucas and Lars Lund from Hällnäs, near Umeå in northern Sweden, bought a carton of 24 eggs from their local Coop supermarket, the local Västerbottens-Kuriren (VK) newspaper reported.

"It's really exciting for us. It all started as a hobby, and when I read online that organic eggs could yield chicks, I knew I had to buy an incubator," Lucas Lund told The Local.

“I bought the freshest eggs in the store, then I came straight home and put them in the incubator.”

After a time in the incubator, the Lunds saw a surprising result as the eggs started to crack.


“We have a total of five now and they are as cute as anything. And we think there's another one on the way,” Lund said.

Of the 24 eggs purchased, Lund claims that 10 were fertilized.

“There is already a small crack in one of the other eggs, so we’re expecting another one very soon,” he said.

Lund explained that the little chicks must stay in the incubators for a while after birth, but that four have already "moved out" to their own patch.

"We'll be doing the same thing next year when the chickens have matured," he told The Local

Lund confessed that he and his brother tried the same experiment last year, however, this resulted in “just one crazy cock”.

Oliver Gee



http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4348728589329576621#editor/target=post;postID=2964588303700339255