Wildlife

Hibernating Indiana Bats. Photo credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service & Ann Froschauer / CC BY 2.0

A Maryland wind farm could be the first in the Northeast to receive an approved habitat conservation plan. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service just released a draft plan, open for comment, for the 70 megawatt facility near Oakland. Conservation concerns include potential danger to the endangered Indiana bat.

Fresh dead mussels in the Tippecanoe River below Oakdale Dam, July 13, 2012. Photo: Georgia Parham, Courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Martin Hamel from the University of Nebraska Lincoln received a text from his airboat mechanic on a Monday morning—there had been a large fish kill on the Platte River, a waterway that winds its way through Nebraska and past towns such as Louisville and Ashland. The next day, Hamel’s fears were confirmed. He and a team of others found the bodies of sturgeon and other fish spread across the muddy bottom of what had once been a flowing river.

The drought that has spread across most of the United States has not only affected crops; it’s also affected wildlife. Fish and other river-dwelling species, some of them listed as endangered, have suffered the most with higher temperatures and lower flow rates.  

Sarah, an 11-year-old cheetah at the Cincinnati Zoo, broke her own world record by running 100m in 5.95 seconds on June 20, 2012. Photo: © Ken Geiger/National Geographic Magazine
 
Move over, Usain Bolt—the world record for fastest 100-meter dash is unbeatable. By a human, that is. Earlier this summer an 11-year-old cheetah named Sarah shattered Bolt’s fastest time. She covered the distance in 5.95 seconds, whereas the Jamaican Olympic champion’s fastest time 9.58 seconds.

Imagine plunging 150 feet down into the ocean in 40 seconds. Cool, right? Now imagine propelling yourself down through the water with wings. New video footage reveals that that is exactly how the imperial cormorant, a South American seabird, hunts for fish.

Photo credit: Tambako The Jaguar / CC BY-ND 2.0

Update: We’ve narrowed down your hilarious caption entries to these three. Now it’s up to you to choose the winner!

Every week we post a funny animal photo that's begging for a caption. Click "Read more" to add your suggestion in the Comments section by 11:59pm (Eastern time) on Sunday. On Monday we'll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

Check out our top choices from last week’s photo of Australasian gannets and all previous weeks.

A pair of bald eagles in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Photo Credit: Len Blumin / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Florida has surpassed Minnesota as the state with the most active bald eagle nests in the lower 48. A 2011 survey counted more than 1,400 active eagle nests, a remarkable comeback since DDT decimated eagle populations just a few decades ago.

A bowhead from the western Arctic population. Photo: Kate Stafford

When University of Washington researchers looking for signs of bowhead whales stuck two recording devices below the frigid waters of the Fram Strait—between Greenland and northern Norway—they didn’t expect to hear much of anything.

They were in for quite the shock.

A view of the Orientation Center from a display about the history of Duke Farms. Image credit: Justine E. Hausheer

A sudden burst of blue flashes above the purple and yellow meadow, and then the six-note call of an indigo bunting trills from high in the trees. Seconds later, a bold wichity wichity wichity sounds from the nearest bramble, where a common yellowthroat is hiding. A red-tailed hawk wings silently overhead.

This is Duke Farms, the rambling estate of the late Doris Duke, newly opened to the public in May. Open meadows, tree snags, lakes, and marshes make Duke Farms a birding hotspot, well worth the short trek from nearby New York City, Philadelphia, or the surrounding suburbs. New Jersey Audubon designated the site an Important Bird Area, and 331 different species have been seen on the property.

Photo credit: Syl H / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Update: We’ve narrowed down your hilarious caption entries to these three. Now it’s up to you to choose the winner!

Every week we post a funny animal photo that's begging for a caption. Click "Read more" to add your suggestion in the Comments section by 11:59pm (Eastern time) on Sunday. On Monday we'll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

Check out our top choices from last week’s photo of otters and all previous weeks.

And elephant killed by poachers. Photo credit: elainedawn / CC BY-ND 2.0

Last Thursday a scene worthy of Law & Order: Special Wildlife Unit played out in New York City. Two midtown Manhattan jewelers pled guilty to the sale of illegal elephant ivory worth more than $2 million.