[PennySerenade]

'A smile doesn't cost': Ontario Tim Hortons worker shocked community raised over $20K for him



TORONTO -- An Ontario Tim Hortons worker set to receive a large payout thanks to a community crowdfunding effort says he plans on sharing some of the funds with his teammates and donating some to others in need.

Hundreds of people have contributed to a GoFundMe campaign set up in honour of a drive-thru window operator named Vishnugopan (Vishnu) Sothilingam, who works at a Tim Horton’s near Bathurst Street and Rutherford Road in Vaughan, Ont.

“If you’re having a crummy day, just go and get a cup of coffee from him and he’ll make you smile,” Matthew Shulman, the creator of the campaign, told CTV News Toronto.


“He just makes everybody feel happy and it just shows that there are good people out there who go above and beyond.”

Sothilingam’s positive attitude, silly jokes and fist bumps captured the attention of numerous regular Tim Hortons customers, including Shulman, who decided to create the crowdfunding campaign after hearing that Sothilingam supported his family and had to leave school for financial reasons.

The goal for the GoFundMe page was originally set at $10,000, but as of Wednesday more than $21,000 has been raised. Shulman told CTV News Toronto that he posted the website to a community group and quickly about $8,000 in donations poured in.

After that, Shulman said, media reports gave it a bit more exposure.

“All of a sudden, we were getting donations from all over the world,” he said.

Sothilingam, who has worked at Tim Hortons for more than 10 years—or most of his life as he put it—told CTV News Toronto that he was shocked to hear of the community fundraising efforts.

“Honestly, I just do my job,” he said. “I'm pleased and happy to see them every morning and they give me a great vibe and I try to keep that energy back to them.”

“A smile doesn’t cost. It’s pretty free.”

The 28-year-old added that it helps he is doing a job he loves, talking to people he finds inspiring and kind.

“It's nothing extraordinary, just doing my thing and I was enjoying it.”

Sothilingam said that while he doesn’t know what he is going to use all the money for, he hopes to be able to share some with his co-workers.

“My team plays a big role in making me into who I am,” Sothilingam said. “I'm definitely going to share some sort of money and then keep the rest for somebody whose going to be really in need.”

Sothilingam said he would like to help those in his parents’ home country of Sri Lanka get education or contribute in some way to make a difference in people’s lives.


Only after that and helping take care of his parents does Sothilingam say he would consider paying for his own schooling or doing something for himself.

“I have all the things I need here,” he said, adding that he is going to continue to do the job he loves. “A lot of people don't have this.”

As for Shulman, he said he is thrilled that more than 500 people have contributing to the GoFundMe campaign and hopes more will come.

“The more money we raise, the happier it makes me for him,” he said.

[Fivetide]

Identical twins aren’t perfect clones, research shows


In this Saturday, June 18, 2005 file photo, identical twins Alf, left, and Sven Fehnhanhn,
left background, 79, from Kassel, pose along with seven-month-old Luis Carl, right, and
Albert Frank Millgramm, right background, during a twins' meeting in Berlin. According to
research published on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, identical twins are not exactly genetically
the same. (AP Photo/Jockel Finck)

If you’re an identical twin who’s always resisted being called a clone of your sibling, scientists say you have a point.

Identical twins are not exactly genetically the same, new research shows.

Scientists in Iceland sequenced DNA from 387 pairs of identical twins — those derived from a single fertilized egg — as well as from their parents, children and spouses. That allowed them to find “early mutations that separate identical twins,” said Kari Stefansson, a geneticist at the University of Iceland and the company deCODE genetics, and co-author of the paper published Thursday in the journal Nature Genetics.

A mutation means an alteration in a sequence of DNA — a tiny change that is not inherently good or bad, but can influence physical features or susceptibility to certain diseases. They can occur when a cell divides and makes a slight error in replicating DNA.

On average, identical twins have 5.2 of these early genetic differences, the researchers found. But about 15% of identical twin pairs have more genetic differences, some of them up to 100, said Stefansson.

These differences represent a tiny portion of each twin’s genetic code, but they could influence why one twin is taller or why one twin is at greater risk for certain cancers.

Previously, many researchers believed that physical differences between identical twins were related mostly to environmental factors, such as nutrition or lifestyle.

Jan Dumanski, a geneticist at Uppsala University in Sweden, who was not involved in the new paper, praised it as “a clear and important contribution” to medical research.

“The implication is that we have to be very careful when we are using twins as a model” for teasing apart the influences of nature and nurture, he said.

Previous studies, including a 2008 paper in The American Journal of Human Genetics, have identified some genetic differences between identical twins.

The new study goes beyond earlier work by including DNA of parents, children and spouses of identical twins. That allowed the researchers to pinpoint when genetic mutations occurred in two different kinds of cells — those present in just one individual and those inherited by that person’s children. They also found mutations that occurred before the developing embryo split into two, setting the stage for twins.

[hija]

Norway made history with electric car surge



Norway is leading the race to drive carbon-belching combustion engines off the roads, it emerged this week. Car sales data revealed that in 2020 it became the first country to sell more electric vehicles (EVs) than petrol or diesel cars.

Of all new cars sold in Norway last year, 54.3 per cent were electric, like the one pictured. The rising popularity of EVs there is thanks to generous tax breaks for zero-emission cars, introduced to help the country achieve its ambitious goal of ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2025.

With road transport accounting for around 21 per cent of the EU’s total emissions, driving combustion engines off the road is vital to tackle the climate crisis. However, EVs come with their own environmental problems, chiefly the sourcing of minerals to make their batteries.

[HogwartsExpress]

Cloudy with a chance of cash: Nanaimo woman found herself in flurry of bills falling from the sky, RCMP say



Pedestrian, who turned windfall in to police, believes it may have come from car that sped past her
RCMP in Nanaimo, B.C., say they're trying to track down a person who might be missing some money after a woman reported seeing a flurry of bills falling from the sky.

The woman, who police are not identifying, made the discovery around midday on Jan. 4 while she was out for a walk in the northern part of the city, according to an RCMP statement Thursday

She reported seeing a car speed past her and, seconds later, she noticed cash falling down all around her, the statement said.

"Being an honest soul, the lady picked up all the money up and promptly called the Nanaimo RCMP to report her find," wrote Const. Gary O'Brien in the statement.

O'Brien said so far no one has claimed the cash. He said it's possible it might have been gained through illegal channels.

Police did not state the dollar amount of the money.

Nanaimo RCMP will hold onto the bundle of bills for 90 days, and if no one comes forward, it will be returned to the woman who found it, the statement said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP emergency line at 250-754-2345.

source
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british- ... -1.5864945

[HogwartsExpress]

'World's unluckiest burglars' arrested after calling police by accident



As pocket dials go, it was a fairly costly one: two suspected burglars have been arrested after accidentally calling the police on themselves, officers have said.

Staffordshire police confirmed they arrested a 49-year-old and a 42-year-old after receiving a call from one of them, who appeared to have unwittingly sat on his phone.

Officers said they listened in to the call as the men carried out the burglary and could even hear their colleagues arrive to make the arrests.

“I think we have just arrested the world’s unluckiest burglars,” said Ch Insp John Owen.

Police said they arrested the two men in the Middleport area of Stoke-on-Trent on suspicion of burglary after receiving the “suspicious call” on Wednesday evening. They were still in custody on Thursday morning.

Poking fun at the unlucky pair, Owen included an image of Marv, the hapless burglar from the Home Alone film series, in a Twitter post on Wednesday evening.

“Whilst committing a burglary one of the bungling burglars has accidentally sat on his phone and dialled 999. We receive a call detailing all of their antics up to the point of hearing our patrols arrive to arrest them,” he wrote.

It is not the first time a set of robbers has managed to shop themselves with an injudiciously placed rear end. In 2013, a pair who were breaking into a car in Fresno, California, managed to call police on themselves.

The call handler on duty was able to track them down as Nathan Teklemariam and Carson Rinehart spent about half an hour discussing their plans. The pair were eventually arrested.

“This stuff just doesn’t happen – where a crime is captured from beginning to end,” Sgt Jaime Rios told Today. “The 911 call was still open at the time of the arrests, and the officer took the phone and ended the call himself.”

While 25-year-old Callum Tumilty managed not to call the police on himself when he broke into Cambois first school near Blyth, in Northumberland, to steal a load of laptops, his mother was less obliging.

Tumilty left his phone behind at the crime scene and was caught after his mother called it to try to track him down and asked the person who answered if Callum was there. Officers on the scene were quickly able to identify and track down the guilty party.

According to Newcastle’s Chronicle newspaper, Tumilty was later sentenced to 26 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to several charges.

source
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... y-accident

[HogwartsExpress]

The UK's new HG Wells coin features numerous errors -- including a four-legged tripod



Anew British coin commemorating the pioneering science fiction author HG Wells has been criticized for featuring multiple errors -- including the decision to give his famous "tripod" machine from "The War of the Worlds" four legs.
The new £2 ($2.70) coin, issued to mark 75 years since Wells' death, includes imagery from two of his most celebrated books, and was described by the Royal Mint as a "spine-chilling design" when it was unveiled on Monday.
But it was the coin's inaccuracies that terrified fans of the author. Several of Wells' admirers reacted in horror to the sight of a four-legged depiction of the tripod, a war machine used by the Martians in "The War of The Worlds."
"It's honestly heartening to see Wells memorialised! I think most Wellsians feel that way," Adam Roberts, vice-president of the H.G. Wells Society, told CNN.

"It's just, given how famous titles like The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man are, and how influential they've been in science fiction and popular culture more broadly, it's a little surprising the Royal Mint signed off on such elementary errors where this coin is concerned," he added.
As the name suggests, the tripod only had three legs in Wells' novel. "How many people did this have to go through? Did they know how to count? Do they know what the "tri" prefix means??" artist Holly Humphries asked on Twitter.
Fans were also disappointed by the appearance of a top hat, supposedly in homage to Wells' book "The Invisible Man." The scientist Griffin, the titular Invisible Man, "was no gentleman, and did not wear a top hat," Roberts said.
"I suspect the designer has been influenced consciously or otherwise by DC Comics' 'Gentleman Ghost' -- but he had nothing to do with Wells."
And another flaw was spotted by Roberts, who said: "The legend written around the rim of the coin, 'GOOD BOOKS ARE THE WAREHOUSES OF IDEAS', is (though it's sometimes attributed to Wells by various internet quote-sites) not an actual quotation by Wells."

source
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/hg-wells-coin-gbr-scli-intl/index.html

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
FRIDAY JANUARY 8
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You may post One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can enter only once a day
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -6)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them to under a minute, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

Dad attempts to rescue 'lost parrot' in garden before realising hilarious mistake

Stephen Maguire was eating breakfast at his home in Glasgow when he looked outside to see what appeared to be a bird with blue and white plumage perched on the garden fence, noting that the animal "didn't look very well".



The dad-of-three assumed the exotic bird was a lost pet and told his children he would catch it to bring it out of the cold and into the warmth of the house, before posting photos online in a bid to reunite it with its owner.

The 39-year-old approached the animal slowly in fear he may frighten it off as his wife Julie watched from the window - but moments later he rang her in stitches of laughter as he was forced to admit the parrot he had set out to save was in fact a handheld brush.



Julie shared photos of the incident on Facebook, writing: "Something to make you giggle... my husband looks out our window to our garden and says 'someone’s pet parrot is in our garden!'

"'It doesn’t look very well! I’ll go try and catch it and you can put it on a local FB page'."

"Off he goes and my phone rings. All I can hear is hysterical laughing, husband can’t actually speak. I hear... 'It’s a brush. It’s a brush!' This lockdown is affecting us all."

The post went viral, gaining more than 32,000 likes, and people were quick to defend the mistake, as one commented to say: "This is great! You can see a parrot in the first picture though!"

Julie said afterwards: "Stephen noticed the parrot as he was eating breakfast and looking out our window which looks into our back garden.

"He told our kids that someone’s pet parrot was in our garden and that it must have escaped. He thought the bird didn’t look very well and it was freezing out there.

"He then said he would try and catch the bird and you put it on one of those Facebook pages to see if anyone has lost it.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-new ... t-23284412

[BigGlen]

Should Children Watch This? Danish Cartoon Character with Ginormous Penis Sparks Outrage

We want to say this is the weirdest children’s show we’ve ever seen, but that’s a pretty big claim to make.
There have been a lot of weird characters in kids’ cartoons over the years. We have a sponge living in an undersea pineapple, that yellow shapeshifting dog thing from Adventure time, basically everything from Courage the Cowardly Dog… The list goes on.

But now they’re joined by someone who’s unlike pretty much anything we’ve seen before. Enter John Dillermand and his eponymous Danish cartoon. This show doesn’t even attempt subtlety. Case in point, its name translates to “John Dongman,” and that’s about the show’s entire premise.



John Dillermand is a claymation cartoon about a mustachioed man named John Dillermand. He goes about his everyday life with the help of his gigantic genitals. Oh yes, the show’s second main character might as well be John’s incredibly long schlong. This prehensile, extendable meat tube is less of a sex organ and more of a fifth multipurpose limb. Case in point, just watch the first five-minute episode of the show. It might be spoken in Danish, but you don’t need words to understand what’s going on.

Just in those five minutes, John manages to use his dong to light a grill, set it on fire, walk dogs with it, and have those dogs chew it up. In other episodes his penis engages in many heroics and mishaps, like saving a pram from oncoming traffic or propelling John through the air as a grabbling hook. That’s one heck of a wang.



John Dillermand airs on Danish DR TV network’s Ramasjang section, which features content aimed at kids. That’s John’s target audience, as well – it’s primary viewers are between ages 4 and 8. But, as you can probably guess, not everyone is thrilled about the idea of a kid’s show featuring a massive penis. Some parents have been whipped up to a white-hot rage by the show.

“What in the world are you up to, DR Ramasjang!” wrote one parent on DR Ramasjang’s Facebook page. “I am deeply outraged and think it is SO perverse and inappropriate television for young children. This is the last time I let my children see Ramasjang!”

“Remove John Dillermand immediately! My blood is boiling as I write this,” wrote Nicolai Cilleborg, a prison guard, educator, and father of a 4-year-old. “There is a great risk of children seeing something they shouldn’t see on digital media. You perverted pedophile swine.”

But it’s not only parents who are troubled by John’s schlong. Some in academia are concerned that the show could promote gender inequality and empower negative ideals in kids.

“It’s perpetuating the standard idea of a patriarchal society and normalizing ‘locker room culture’ that’s been used to excuse a lot of bad behavior from men,” Christian Goers, an associate professor and gender researcher at Roskilde University, told The Guardian.

“It’s meant to be funny – so it’s seen as harmless. But it’s not. And we’re teaching this to our kids,” he added.

An Exemplary Penis

This penis-shaped coin, however, has another side as well. Although some parents seem to hate everything about John Dillermand, others think it’s educational and a laugh riot.



“John Dillermand has been approved at our house and our 8-year-olds are rolling on the floor laughing,” Morten Kordaard Johansson wrote on Facebook. “Those who see pedophilic problems in John Dillermand have a bigger problem themselves. There’s nothing sexual in the program, only a poor man hanging by his dong from some balloons.”

“Full support for John Dillermand from here! The series is entertaining for both children and adults,” summarized Christian Aakjær Olesen in another post.

Joining the parents who don’t see a problem with John Dillermand is Erla Heinesen Højsted, a clinical children’s psychologist. She thinks that people outraged about the show are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

“John Dillermand talks to children and shares their way of thinking – and kids do find genitals funny,” Højsted told The Guardian. “The show depicts a man who is impulsive and not always in control, who makes mistakes – like kids do, but crucially, Dillermand always makes it right.

Højsted quotes a scene from the show as an example of Dillermand’s accountability. A woman tells John to keep his trouser snake in his pants, and his outrageous appendage immediately retracts into whatever body cavity he houses it in.

She concedes that the show aired at a sensitive time from a gender equality perspective. In that sense, DR Ramasjang could’ve maybe included more diverse characters than just a man and his penis.

“But this is categorically not a show about sex. To pretend it is projects adult ideas on it,” Højsted insisted.

It’s not About Sex

DR – Denmark’s public broadcasting company – is on the same wavelength with Højsted. They argued that the show could’ve just as easily been about “a woman with no control over her vagina,” but that argument is missing the point.

The most important thing about the show, says DR, is that children enjoy watching John Dillermand’s misadventures.

“We are very happy with this series. We put a lot of effort into the production, where we have, among other things, had sexual and child psychologists as consultants,” DR Ramarjang’s head administrator Morten Skov Hansen said.

Entertaining and educating children was also the goal of the show’s creator, Jacob Ley. Himself a father of two young girls and a boy, Ley told New York Post that sexual content was the furthest thing from his mind when creating the show.

Instead, he wants to help remove “shame and embarrassment” children – and adults, too – feel about their bodies.

Højsted agrees with Ley’s goal. She feels that children are exposed to much more questionable content on the internet on a daily basis.

“What kind of culture are we creating for our children if it’s OK for them to see ‘perfect’ bodies on Instagram – enhanced, digitally or cosmetically – but not ‘real bodies’?” she asked.

It’s a good question. You could also ask whether a 30-feet-long prehensile penis project a realistic body image, but we’ll leave that for another time.

[HogwartsExpress]

Study Finds That 4-Month-Old Ravens Are as Intelligent as Adult Apes



Ravens are fascinating birds. The sleek black creatures with sharp beaks are mentioned in the Old Testament, Native American historical traditions, and Edgar Allen Poe's famously haunting poem The Raven. One reason ravens have long fascinated is their obvious intelligence. They are known to hoard and use objects as tools, and to work in pairs to find food. However, until recently, avian intelligence received much less scholarly attention than that of the great apes. A new study published in Scientific Reports is seeking to broaden approaches to studying animal cognition by focusing on ravens. Remarkably, the researchers discovered that ravens as young as 4 months old can perform as well on cognitive tests as adult orangutans and gorillas.

Under the lead authorship of Professor Simone Pika, a team from the Osnabrück Research Group for Comparative BioCognition (CBC) set out to conduct the first true comparative evaluation of ravens’ cognitive abilities. Eight young ravens were hand-raised for the study. Each was tested using a version of the Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB) which was adapted from apes (with fingers) to ravens (with beaks). The test was repeated at four, eight, 12, and 16 months for each avian subject. The physical components of the PCTB tested cognitive functions such as the bird's spatial awareness and ability to understand object permanence. The social components measured communication and learning abilities.

The researchers measured the bird's cognitive abilities at each stage, as indicated by the standardized PCTB. After gathering this data, the avian results were compared to those of gorillas and orangutans using the same measure. By 4 months old, the fledgling ravens were already cognitively comparable to adult primates—especially with respect to problem solving abilities. The ravens understood quantities, grasped causation, and showed social learning on par with the formerly studied apes. According to the researchers, this demonstrates social and physical intelligence and “general rather than domain specific intelligence.” The paper suggests that ravens—who achieve early independence from their nests—might require this intelligence for survival at such a young age. There is also the possibility that being raised by humans had socialized the test subjects so that the results of wild young ravens may differ.

The team hopes to continue their research into raven intelligence—particularly by developing metrics to evaluate “true species-specific, rather than human-specific, cognitive skills.” In other words, within the raven's realm of cognition, what does it mean to be smart?

source
https://mymodernmet.com/study-young-ravens-intelligent/

[HogwartsExpress]

'Santa Dollars' circulating in Utah are legal currency




Even though Christmas is in the rear view mirror, some Utahns are still receiving a daily dose of holiday spirit in a most peculiar, and totally legal, way.

A FOX 13 viewer sent in a photo Monday of a dollar bill they had received as change from a Maverik in Salt Lake City. But instead of George Washington gracing the currency, the viewer was looking back at a drawing of Santa Claus.

Because of the appearance of jolly old St. Nicholas, the viewer was concerned they may have received counterfeit money.

However, believe it or not, the $1 bill is actually legal currency and should be accepted wherever U.S. dollars are used.

"Santa Dollars" are worth just a buck, but are sold for a little extra to earn money for charity. The special holiday currency has been around for decades, with most of the bills being collected instead of spent.

Despite the Santa Dollars being legal, the image of Santa Claus must be removed before they are used used. And unlike presents under the Christmas tree, there's no mystery about what's under the sticker... it's just the regular old drawing of the "Father of our Country."

source
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-new ... l-currency

[HogwartsExpress]

Man arrested for forging prized popsicle sticks to win Pokemon cards



A man was arrested Wednesday in eastern Japan near Tokyo for allegedly forging and sending out dozens of special popsicle sticks to an ice cream manufacturer so they could be redeemed for popular Pokemon cards by the company.

Takashi Ono, 43, is suspected of attempting fraud after he sent 25 fake popsicle sticks in November last year to confectioners Akagi Nyugyo Co. in Saitama Prefecture, according to local police.

The company ran a competition between June and July last year in which people could send in rare "lucky" sticks from its popular popsicle brand "Garigarikun" in exchange for Pokemon game cards created for the event.

The limited sticks were engraved with the words "You win a Gari-Pokemon card," which could only be seen after consuming the ice cream.

Akagi Nyugyo contacted the police after receiving multiple "lucky" popsicle sticks from what was believed to be one person, local police said.

The ice cream manufacturer has warned consumers of the possibility that "fake lucky popsicle sticks are being sold" online.

source
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021 ... cards.html

Rare video showing jaguar killing ocelot at watering hole
Fight for water leading to unusual behaviour in wildlife, researchers say



The climate crisis is being blamed for an astonishing predator-on-predator animal attack that took place in the Guatemalan rainforest, and was captured on camera.

The footage shows a male jaguar attacking and killing an ocelot, which researchers say is a rare occurrence and is likely due to the abnormally fierce - and growing - competition for water.

So rare is it that while researchers have previously noted signs of ocelot in jaguar faeces, this is the first direct evidence of a jaguar killing an ocelot - and the fact it was caught on film makes it all the more intriguing to experts.

The strike took place in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in March 2019, when northern Guatemala was experiencing a severe drought, the Mail reports, with researchers left stunned that the jaguar was shown allowing other prey to pass by unscathed before pouncing on the ocelot as soon as it stopped to take a drink of water.

Daniel Thornton, a professor at Washington State University's School of Environment, told the Mail that “over-competition” for water, as a consequence of climate change, could make a jaguar attack another cat.

“People don’t often think of tropical systems as being dry, but in many parts of the world, tropical rains are quite seasonal,” said Mr Thornton, co-author of a report on the attack which was published in the journal Biotropica.

He said that, because of climate change, “some tropical ecosystems are expected to become even more seasonal”.

“The more isolated and rare water resources become, the more they’re going to become hotspots of activity,” he added.

While jaguars tend to travel on their own, stalking and ambushing smaller prey like wild pigs, deer, tapir and caiman, ocelots dine on rodents, birds, reptiles and insects.

“These dramatic camera trap images clearly show the fierce competition wildlife faces for precious resources like water,” co-author Rony García-Anleu, of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Guatemala Programme, said.

The kill was recorded as part of a larger project aimed at monitoring human impact on animals in northern Guatemala.

Researchers had cameras at more than 40 watering holes in the region but in the 2019 dry season, during which the attack was captured, only half the holes had water in them and none were within six miles of the spot where the attack occurred.

As such, the space became a popular and much-disputed location for jaguars to stalk prey. While the large cats characteristically avoid places their peers frequent, footage captured by the researchers showed seven different jaguars at the location - and even a fight between two of them.

“In these beautiful, green forests, we may not be aware that water flow is a serious issue,” said lead author Lucy Perera-Romero, a Washington State University doctoral student.

“It could be another source of mortality — apart from deforestation, from hunting, and from everything else that we do,” she added.

The Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Petén region of northern Guatemala, which accounts for a fifth of the country's total land mass, has been managed by Guatemala's National Council of Protected Areas since 1990.

However, the animals that live there remain under threat by human activities, including poaching and illegal ranching, logging and farming in restricted areas. And now, climate change too.

Mr García-Anleu, the co-author, said the area’s future is bleak. “Unfortunately,” he said, “climate change and associated droughts are predicted to worsen, which means tough times are ahead for wildlife that depend on watering holes for their survival.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/environme ... 83599.html

[HogwartsExpress]

FAA notified after large blue UFO seen above Oahu appeared to drop into ocean



An unidentified flying object spotted in the evening sky over Leeward Oahu prompted witnesses to call 911 on Tuesday.

The sighting happened about 8:30 p.m.

There are multiple videos of what appears to be a glowing‚ oblong mass — both in the sky and in the water.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration say there were no aircraft incidents or accidents in this area at the time. But multiple witnesses reported seeing a large blue object fall out of the sky and into the ocean.

In a one video a woman can be heard saying, “Something is in the sky. What is that?”

Misitina Sape told Hawaii News Now she captured the image at 8:26 p.m. near Haleakala Avenue in Nanakuli.

Not long after, a woman named Moriah spotted what looked like the same object passing over Princess Kahanu Estates.

“I look up and then I was like oh s***!,” she said. “I started calling my husband and them because they were all in the garage. I was like hey. Come look up there. See if you see what I see. They all said yea!”

The 38-year-old says she’s never really been a believer in UFOs, but the bright blue object had them so intrigued they jumped in the car and started following it.

“I don’t know what it was,” she said. “This one was going so fast.”

The journey ended less than three miles from where it began. She says they stopped the car on Farrington Highway in front of the Board of Water Supply building after the object appeared to drop into the ocean.

In one of Moriah’s videos you can hear her say, “(It) went land in the water. Whatever it is.”

She described it as being larger than a telephone pole and says she never heard it make any sound.

“We called 911,” Moriah said, “For have like one cop or somebody for come out and come check em out.”

While officers were on scene Moriah says they spotted a second light.

“My husband went look up and he seen the white one coming,” she said. “The white one was smaller. Was coming in the same direction as the blue one.”

They lost sight of the object after it passed over a nearby mountain.

Thursday morning we asked Honolulu police if investigators figured out what fell in the water. A spokesperson told us they didn’t have any information.

Meanwhile, FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor said the agency received a report from police Tuesday night about a possible plane down in the area “but had no aircraft disappear off radars. And no reports of overdue or missing aircraft.”

Although Moriah’s had a couple days to think about it, she says she’s still baffled by what she saw.

“To this day I don’t know,” she said laughing. “If you guys can find out what it was, I like know, you know?”

source
https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/01/02/ ... nto-ocean/

[Fatima99]

New Species, Devil-eyed Frog, and Satyr Butterfly Not Seen For a Century Found in Forests 30 Miles From the Capital

The devil-eyed frog and satyr butterfly, species that had not been seen for 30 and 100 years, join a plethora of never-before-seen creatures for field guides in a recent expedition into the Bolivian jungles.




At a time when most journals are writing about the number of species disappearing, a sort of rapid-response team for biodiversity assessment found the trove of new creatures only 30 miles from the capital city of La Paz.

High in the Andean cloud forest, researchers from Conservation International began a Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) to scout for new insect species. However, the two-week expedition uncovered far more, including the 10mm-long lilliputian frog, two metalmark butterflies, the adder’s mouth orchid, and even a new species of pit viper which thankfully no-one on the team stepped on.



Their search took them up the slopes which flank the Zongo Valley, where steep mountains and pristine forests conceal small ecosystems shrouded in mist which locals are said to refer to as “sky islands.”

Arizona contains features described in the same words, micro-mountain chains where the drastic difference in conditions and the inability to easily relocate creates specially adapted animals.

The RAP, co-led by Trond Larsen from Conservation International, noted to the Guardian that they had not imagined finding new vertebrate species at all, but that the frog and viper were both tremendously exciting.

“What’s so amazing is that you could hear the distinctive call of the little frog throughout the forest, but you get close and they stop calling,” Trond said. “Trying to spot it when it’s not making a sound and is hidden in the moss was a tremendous task.”

Among the other rarities were a new species of bamboo and cup orchid, as well as a snake whose body sported the green, yellow, and red colors of the Bolivian flag. A species of arrowroot logged but one time in 125 years was also recorded. It closed its petals at night, which the scientists described as “like hands in prayer.”



This truly beautiful and diverse landscape has become a safe haven for amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, and plants that haven’t been found anywhere else on Earth,” said Larsen.

All this biodiversity is a sign that there is no reason to give up trying to save species, and the RAP in the Zongo Valley was actually aimed at underpinning a new conservation area that will protect not only wildlife, but forest resources like timber and Indigenous food sources, as well as waterways.