400-pound gorilla escapes, bites zookeeper at Buffalo Zoo

400-pound gorilla escapes, bites zookeeper at Buffalo Zoo - A 400-pound adult male gorilla escaped his cage at the Buffalo Zoo on Monday, biting a female zookeeper before being tranquilized and captured in what a SWAT team leader called, "the scariest thing I've ever done."

Zoo officials said Koga, a 24-year-old silverback gorilla, took advantage of an unlocked door in his living quarters on Monday morning and slipped into the space behind it, used by zoo personnel but closed to the public.

A silverback mountain gorilla is seen during a census inside Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, about 550 km (341 miles) west of Uganda's capital Kampala, October 14, 2011. REUTERS/Edward Echwalu

A keeper who has cared for Koga since he arrived in 2007 was bitten on her hand and calf, in what officials said was an act of excitement rather than aggression.

"He was probably just as surprised coming face to face with her as she was with him," Buffalo Zoo President Donna Fernandes said.

The keeper, whose name was not released, took refuge inside the habitat of a female gorilla and her newborn baby, Fernandes said. The keeper had a good relationship with the mother who, like Koga, is a West Lowland gorilla, native to West Africa and the Congo River Basin, she said.

Meanwhile, police sent in the SWAT team to secure the area while a veterinarian used a handheld blow pipe to sedate Koga through a porthole.

Visitors to the zoo were moved indoors and stayed there throughout the roughly 45-minute ordeal -- the zoo's first escape, Fernandes said.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my career," said SWAT team captain Mark Maraschiello.

"It's a 400 pound animal that's capable of who knows what. He could rip your arm out of its socket," Maraschiello said.

The sedated gorilla was dragged by zoo staff back to his habitat once the drugs took hold, about 15 minutes after they were administered.

The keeper's decision to lock herself inside the separate habitat likely kept her from being further harmed, according to officials at the zoo. Several locked doors kept Koga from running amok through the zoo and beyond.

Fernandes promised an investigation into how Koga escaped.

"I'm sure it was very dramatic for (the zoo keeper) and for all the keepers. It was pins and needles," she said.

The wounded zookeeper was undergoing an evaluation at a nearby hospital but her injuries were not considered serious.

Koga was born at the Bronx Zoo in New York City and transferred in 1994 to the Memphis Zoo before landing in Buffalo. Fernandes said he has no history of unusual aggression. ( Reuters )

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New frog species discovered in New York City

New frog species discovered in New York City - Amazed biologists have uncovered a new species of frog in the jungle -- New York's concrete jungle.

The mottled green creature was for years mistaken as belonging to a widespread variety of the leopard frog. But now scientists realize this is new.

This recent photo, released by Rutgers University on March 13, shows a new species of frog in the jungle -- New York's concrete jungle. The mottled green creature was for years mistaken as belonging to a widespread variety of the leopard frog. But now scientists realized this is a new species. (AFP Photo/Brian Curry)

"For a new species to go unrecognized in this area is amazing," UCLA biologist Brad Shaffer said Wednesday.

New York is surrounded by wetlands and other nature-filled areas. But this latest urban creature appears to have chosen one of the grittiest corners as the center of its habitat: Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

In the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Shaffer and other scientists compared the frog's DNA to that of other leopard frog species in the region. That's when they understood they were looking at a leopard frog, but a different kind.

"Many amphibians are secretive and very hard to find, but these frogs are pretty obvious animals," said Shaffer.

"This shows that even in the largest city in the US, there are still new and important species waiting to be discovered."

Lead paper author Cathy Newman, now of Louisiana State University, was studying leopard frogs when her colleague Jeremy Feinberg at Rutgers University asked her to probe some "unusual frogs."

"There are northern and southern leopard frogs in that general area, so I was expecting to find one of those that for some reason had atypical behaviors or that were hybrids of both," Newman said.

"I was really surprised and excited once I started getting data back strongly suggesting it was a new species. It's fascinating in such a heavily urbanized area."

Feinberg said he'd been immediately curious.

This frog gave a repeated croak, not the "long snore" of other leopard frogs.

"When I first heard these frogs calling, it was so different, I knew something was very off," Feinberg said. ( AFP )

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Big Miracle inspired by 'real-life' events is an 'unexpected gem'

Big Miracle inspired by 'real-life' events is an 'unexpected gem' - Did you know that George Bush Sr’s first Presidential bid hinged upon an international effort to rescue three grey whales trapped under Alaskan ice in 1988? Me neither.

Happily, once you have got past the ridiculous but endearing presumption that the ‘real-life’ events which inspired Big Miracle linger in any memories beyond the States, you discover an unexpected gem.

TV reporter Adam Carlson (John Krasinski) unwittingly triggers immense national interest when he reports on the plight of the mammals.

Drew Barrymore in a scene from Big Miracle - about the rescue of a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle

Despite his ambition to move his career beyond the frozen backwater, the scoop of his life proves a potentially poisoned chalice as the media descends and the whale-hunting traditions of the local Inuit community come under scrutiny.

When Carlson’s ex-girlfriend and Greenpeace activist Rachel (Drew Barrymore) gets involved, the situation escalates into a showdown between big business, represented by Ted Danson’s pitch-perfect oil baron J.W. McGraw, and the embryonic environmental lobby.

After they unhappily join forces with each other and the National Guard to cut a path through the ice to open water, an already nuanced and intelligent tale becomes an exciting race against time.

The real triumph of director Ken Kwapis is to keep tension building while also passing subtle comment on everything from media manipulation of public opinion to the most cynical depths of modern politicking.

Bonus points are available for spotting a young Sarah Palin in the archive footage with which proceedings are liberally sprinkled. ( Dailymail.co.uk )

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Do animals commit suicide?

Hairy-Kiri - Do animals commit suicide? - A pod of 61 whales beached themselves at Farewell Spit in New Zealand on Monday. Officials decided to euthanize the 18 that were still alive Wednesday. It’s not clear why whales beach themselves, but one theory holds that when a sick individual heads to shore to die, the others follow. Is suicide a thing in the animal kingdom?

Sort of. There is plenty of evidence that animals engage in self-destructive behavior. In addition to the beached whales, ducks and dogs have been observed drowning themselves, cows have walked off cliffs, and naked mole rats (like some insects) leave the colony to die when infected with a communicable disease. It’s not clear that any of these behaviors are comparable to human suicide, though, because suicide involves a set of higher-order cognitive abilities. It requires an awareness of one’s own existence, an ability to speculate about the future, and the knowledge that an act will result in death. There are indications that certain animals have some of these capacities. Dolphins, many primates, magpies, and elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror, suggesting self-awareness. Some animals know how to pretend during play activities, which indicates an ability to imagine counterfactual worlds. Still, no one really knows which animals, if any, can combine these capacities to perform an act similar to human suicide.

Whales stranded on Opoutere Beach in New Zealand

Victorian scientists were particularly interested in this question, according to historian Edmund Ramsden in a 2010 article. Humane societies were eager to prove that animals experienced humanlike emotions, and animal suicides offered proof. A series of such stories began to appear in periodicals in 1845. One involved a depressed Newfoundland dog that repeatedly leapt into the water, kept its limbs still, and held his “head determinedly under water for a few minutes.” Other dogs drowned or starved themselves after losing their owners. A deer jumped from a precipice to avoid capture by hunting dogs. A duck drowned itself after the death of its mate. Scorpions were thought to sting themselves when surrounded by fire. Researchers engaged in a fierce and ultimately inconclusive debate over whether any of these behaviors should be considered suicide. (Except for the scorpions, which clearly were not attempting suicide—they’re immune to their own venom.)

Even when scientists can explain the neurobiological basis of an animal’s self-destructive behavior, it’s still not always clear whether it’s fair to call the act suicide. The parasite Toxoplasma gondii affects the brains of rodents and causes them to be attracted to their mortal enemy—the cat. It would be easy to dismiss this kind of rat suicide as irrelevant to our own behavior if not for some hints that infection can play a role in human suicides as well. In a 2009 study of patients with recurrent mood disorders, University of Maryland researchers found that those with high levels of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies were more likely to have attempted suicide. This study is preliminary, though, and there’s no sign of a causal connection.

No matter the motivation, self-destruction appears to be something that exists in even the simplest life forms. Single-celled marine algae engage in programmed cell death when exposed to stresses that they’re fully capable of overcoming. Researchers recently discovered that the “suicide” of some cells promoted growth in the survivors. Like infected mole rats or bees that abandon the colony to prevent an epidemic, algae die for the good of the community. ( slate.com )

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Mass. cat with 2 faces lives 12 years, sets record

Mass. cat with 2 faces lives 12 years, sets record — Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes — and lots of doubts about his future.

Now, 12 years after Marty Stevens rescued him from being euthanized because of his condition, the exotic blue-eyed rag doll cat is not only thriving, but has also made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.

"Every day is kind of a blessing; being 12 and normal life expectancy when they have this condition is one to four days," Stevens said, stroking Frank and Louie's soft fur as he sat on her lap purring. "So, he's ahead of the game; every day I just thank God I still have him."

Frank and Louie's breeder had taken him to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, where Stevens was working at the time, to be euthanized when he was just a day old. Stevens offered to take him home, but experts told her not to get her hopes up.

In this Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 photo, a cat with two faces, named Frank and Louie, one name for each face, is held by the cats owner, who identified herself only as Marty, at their home in Worcester, Mass. The animal is known as a Janus cat, named for the figure in Roman mythology with two faces on one head. The owner calls the face on the left Frank, while the face on the right is identified as Louie. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Janus cats almost never survive, and most have congenital defects, including a cleft palate that makes it difficult for them to nurse and often causes them to slowly starve or get milk in their lungs and die of pneumonia. The condition is the result of a genetic defect that triggers excessive production of a certain kind of protein.

But Frank and Louie did not suffer from most of the common Janus problems. Stevens used feeding tubes to nourish him for three months, hoping that would also save him from the danger of choking on food going down two mouths.

It turned out she didn't have to worry about him choking, because Frank and Louie used just one of his mouths to eat.

"The condition itself is very rare, and I think that the fact that this cat became an adult, a healthy adult, is remarkable," said Dr. Armelle deLaforcade, an associate professor at Cummings and head of the emergency services section.

Colleagues at the veterinary hospital told Stevens that trying to raise Frank and Louie might not be good for him — or her.

Still, she "stood firm and stood by the cat, and I'm really glad she did because this cat really has fewer problems than many cats that have very normal anatomies," deLaforcade said.

Frank and Louie's two faces have a complicated relationship. Both noses work, but one mouth does not have a lower jaw and isn't connected to his one esophagus, so he can't eat with it. Stevens discovered that only after the cat got an MRI later in life.

The animal can see out of only two of his three eyes. The middle one can't even blink and makes Frank and Louie appear to be staring even when his other eyes are closed.

Frank and Louie does not seem to be bothered by his condition and has developed a friendly personality. The breed is known for its soft and silky fur, docile temperament and penchant for relaxing in a person's arms like a rag doll.

He is "very, very laid back, not afraid of people, very friendly and he's actually more of a dog than a cat," Stevens said. "He walks on a leash, he goes right in the car; he loves car rides."

People often want to touch Frank and Louie's long, luxurious fur while Stevens is out walking him.

"It's funny because people walk up to him thinking it's a nice, fluffy white cat and they're walking up with a big smile on their face to pat him, like, 'Oh, what a beautiful cat' and I see a look of horror come over their faces when they actually see his face," Stevens said, laughing.

Thirty years ago, a cat like Frank and Louie might not have been given a chance to live.

Said deLaforcade: "You can look at a cat like this as either a very strange and bad omen, or you can look at this cat as a miracle." ( Associated Press )

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Borneo toad spotted for 1st time in 87 years

Borneo toad spotted for 1st time in 87 years — Scientists scouring the mountains of Borneo spotted a species of toads last seen by European explorers in 1924, providing the world with the first photographs of the colorful, spindly legged creature, a researcher said Thursday.

In recent years, the Washington-based Conservation International placed the Sambas Stream Toad, also known as the Bornean Rainbow Toad, on a list of the world's "Top 10 Most Wanted Lost Frogs" and voiced fears that it might be extinct.

Researchers found three of the slender-limbed toads living on trees during a night search last month in a remote mountainous region of Malaysia's eastern Sarawak state in Borneo, said Indraneil Das, a conservation professor at the Sarawak Malaysia University who led the expedition.

This photo, taken June 13, 2011 and released by Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, shows an adult female Bornean Rainbow Toad, also referred to as Sambas Stream Toad (Ansonia latidisca) in Penrissen, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Scientists scouring the mountains of Borneo spotted the toads, which were last seen by European explorers in 1924, providing the world with the first photographs of the colorful, spindly-legged creature, a researcher said Thursday, July 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Indraneil Das) NO SALE, MANDATORY CREDIT, ONE TIME USE ONLY, NO ARCHIVES

Only illustrations of the toads previously existed. Das said his team first decided to seek the toad last August, but months of searching proved fruitless until they went higher up the Penrissen mountain range, which has rarely been explored in the past century.

"It is good to know that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planet's escalating extinction crisis," Robin Moore, a specialist on amphibians at Conservation International, said in a statement announcing the discovery.

The toads found on three separate trees measured up to 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) in size and comprised an adult male, an adult female and a juvenile, the statement said.

Das declined to reveal the exact site of his team's discovery because of fears of illegal poaching due to strong demand for bright-hued amphibians. Researchers will continue work to find out more about the Borneo Rainbow Toad and other amphibians in Penrissen.

Conservationists say many endangered animals in Borneo are threatened by hunting and habitat loss sparked by logging, plantations and other human development. ( Associated Press )

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Mustang is American wild horses

Mustang is American wild horses. Millions of wild horses, known as mustangs, once roamed North America. Today, just a fraction of that number are left, most in the American Southwest. In her new book Mustang, Deanne Stillman celebrates wild horses and warns that they are threatened by human activity.

American wild horses (mustangs)

The wild horse, or mustang, from the Spanish word for stray animal, is a symbol of freedom for many Americans.

The mustang has become an icon. The name and imagery were even used to market a classic American car.

In the 1800s, millions were rounded up and shipped to the western U.S. states.

Deanne Stillman has chronicled their story in her book Mustang.

"They were shipped back to Europe in tin cans," she noted. "There is a demand there for horse meat, and also at the beginning of the 20th century, there were a number of wars being fought all over the world, and the horses were shipped to the front lines in all of those wars, including our own, [during] World War I."

Today, there are just 36,000 wild horses and burros on U.S. government lands. Others have been rounded up in response to complaints from ranchers, angry that the animals graze on their land.

There also have been random shootings, illegal acts that spurred Stillman to get involved in the issue.

The horse came from North America, where it thrived in the last Ice Age. Stillman notes that ancient horse remains have been found at the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles.

Deanne Stillman author of Mustang

"During that period, those horses were living right here at the famous tar pits, along with the mastodon and sloth and many other mammals of that period," she added.

Horses died out in the Americas, but were reintroduced by the 16th century Spanish, and became part of the Western lore of the American cowboy.

"Those horses opened up the New World, really," she explained. "Without them and without the horse, we have no America."

In 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon signed a law protecting wild horses and burros, but the animals' advocates, including Deanne Stillman, say they still are under threat, and that the animal needs protection.

In July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to restore protections for the wild mustang. The measure is called the ROAM Act, which stands for Restoring Our American Mustangs. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate. If it passes, the two bills need to be reconciled before being sent to the president to sign into law.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has urged Congress to create new preserves for the wild horses. ( voanews.com )

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The bat lady

The bat lady. Americans and many other people around the world are celebrating Halloween on Saturday. Part of the fun is watching scary movies in which bats often play a big role. But their defenders say bats are actually shy and gentle animals that provide many benefits to mankind.

The bat lady

Leslie Sturges

Leslie Sturges loves bats.

So much so that she has converted her house into a shelter for bats in need of care. With the help of her husband, Rich, and a team of volunteers, Leslie operates Bat World NOVA, the Northern Virginia chapter of Bat World Sanctuary, a U.S. group dedicated to ending the unnecessary killing of bats.

"We have a tendency to treat them very badly because they're small, dark and nocturnal and we don't understand them," Leslie says, "So I think if people understood them more, there'd be a lot more tolerance for bats. They do so much for us."

Sherry Keen is Leslie's apprentice and a volunteer at Bat World NOVA. She helps Leslie nurse and rehabilitate injured bats. Sherry says that a typical rescue situation starts with a desperate phone call from someone who discovers a bat in the house. She says, like any other injured or wild animal, a bat may react unpredictably in a rescue effort, and the safety of the rescuer is of paramount importance.

"We reiterate over and over again: never touch it with bare hands," Sherry said.

Their bad reputation and myths about bats

Bat

Leslie thinks that the bat's bad reputation is due in part to their depiction in Hollywood movies. "You know they land on people and they bite them and they suck all their blood out -- and that's just an impossibility and it doesn't happen," Leslie asserts, "and it's never happened but it's sort of cemented in the public mind that this is what bats do and it's totally wrong."

In addition to her rehabilitation work, Leslie also conducts education programs, aimed at teaching people, particularly children, about the many benefits that bats have to offer.

A colony of 150 big brown bats can protect farmers from up to 33 million or more corn rootworms each summer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and a single little brown bat can catch more than 1,200 insects in one hour. Sherry believes teaching children about bats is the best way to spread the good news about them.

The benefits of educating people about bats

"If we can start them young, a lot of times the kids can start educating their parents," Sherry said.

Teaching them, among other things, that bats are not blind. Most can see as well as humans. Nor are bats flying mice. In fact there is evidence that bats may be more closely related to humans than to mice.

"Another myth is that all bats carry disease. Bats are actually very clean animals," Leslie says, "They groom constantly. They groom each other. They're very gentle animals."

Leslie believes that it's important that people get involved with bat rescue on a global scale but advises those who are interested to first check local wildlife regulations. Further information can be found at the Bat World Sanctuary web site. Leslie stresses, however, that the number one thing that people can do for bats is to leave them alone.

And Sherry offers this bit of advice. "Help us save them," she says, "Don't kill them. Be good to them.". voanews.com

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