Why an Escaped Jaguar Went on a Killing Spree at New Orleans Zoo

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | July 16, 2018 03:37pm ET

Nine animals have died since an escaped jaguar attacked them at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans on Saturday (July 14). But the jaguar didn't actually eat the animals — including red foxes, alpacas and an emu — so why did it attack so many?

The answer? The 3-year-old male jaguar likely went into a mode known as "surplus killing," in which a predator kills more prey than it can possibly eat at one time, said Howard Quigley, executive director of the jaguar program at Panthera, a global wildcat-conservation organization, who isn't involved with the jaguar at the Audubon Zoo.

"It just means that they go into a kind of excess killing mode," Quigley told Live Science. "There's evidence of mountain lions getting into sheep pens and killing 20 or 30 sheep. When they get the fight reaction, they go and make the kill, and if there's another accessible prey, they go and make the kill again." [On the Lam: 10 of the Greatest Animal Escape Artists]

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Why 8 Endangered Rhinos Died in Mission to Save Them

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | July 16, 2018 07:34pm ET

A mission meant to save critically endangered rhinoceroses by transferring them to a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya has ended in tragedy, with the deaths of eight of the odd-toed ungulates, according to Kenya's Ministry of Tourism.

But the culprit wasn't poaching. Rather, it was likely salty water, the ministry said.

Preliminary investigations showed that once the black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) arrived at the newly created sanctuary in Tsavo East National Park, they gulped down water with a high salt content. The more salty water the rhinos drank, the thirstier they became, leading to a vicious cycle, the ministry reported on July 13. [Up and Away! Photos of Rhinos in Flight]

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How Did the Massive 'Salty' Crocodile Captured in Australia Get So Freaking Big?

By Rafi Letzter, Staff Writer | July 11, 2018 02:45pm ET

Australian parks and wildlife rangers captured a monster of a crocodile Monday (July 9), according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The beast was 15 feet 5 inches long (4.7 meters) and weighed a whopping 1,300 lbs. (600 kilograms).

If a reptile long enough to block two lanes of traffic sounds big to you, you've got good instincts. Experts told Live Science that this Australian saltwater crocodile (a "salty" in Aussie parlance) was unusually large, even for its hefty species — though it wasn't the biggest size crocodiles like this can reach.

"This animal was very large, but saltwater crocodiles can actually get much bigger," said Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, a paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a reptile expert. "Lolong, a saltwater crocodile from the Philippines, was 6.17 m [20 feet 3 inches] long and holds the Guinness World Record for the largest crocodile ever captured. Other than Lolong, there are records of a saltwater crocodile skin from Papua New Guinea which was 6.2 m [20 feet 4 inches] in length. And, of course, there are always rumors of even bigger animals in the wild." [Photos Comparing Alligators and Crocodiles]

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Two tarantulas may be on loose after babies found in Derbyshire car park

Baby spiders were abandoned in pots and RSPCA says witness saw parents scuttling away

Josh HallidayNorth of England correspondent

Mon 16 Jul 2018 09.40 BSTFirst published on Mon 16 Jul 2018 09.39 BST

Two tarantulas may be on the loose in a village after three of their babies were found abandoned in a car park.

The RSPCA said it had rescued the baby Brazilian bird-eating spiders after they were found discarded in pots in Derbyshire.

Inspectors said the containers were run over by a vehicle in the village of Somercotes but the driver believes he saw two “larger spiders” possibly the parents – scuttling away.

The tarantula is thought to be the Brazilian salmon pink bird-eater, one of the world’s largest of the species with a leg span of up to 25cm.

The spiders are partially pink and usually live on the forest floor in Brazil and eat insects, lizards, mice and the occasional small bird.

Experts said the missing tarantulas may not survive long in English weather. Yet the unseasonably warm climate has led to concerns they may roam for longer than expected.

Kristy Ludlam, an RSPCA inspector, said an “understandably shaken” woman had found the baby spiders in Bateman’s Yard livery stable’s car park in Somercotes last Thursday and contacted the RSPCA as she is terrified of them.

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Berry-gorging bears disperse seeds through scat and feed small mammals

Date:  July 5, 2018

Source:  Oregon State University

Summary:

New research shows that mice and voles scurry to bear scats to forage for seeds, finding nutritional value in the seeds and in some cases further dispersing them.

The study is published in the journal Ecosphere by researchers at Oregon State University and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The research builds on an OSU study that determined that bears are the primary seed dispersers of berry-producing shrubs in Alaska.

In southeastern Alaska, brown and black bears are plentiful because of salmon. Bears frequently supplement their salmon-based diet with fruit as they build their fat stores for winter hibernation. As a result, their seed-filled scats are found throughout the landscape.

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