Manatee spotted in Hudson River

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Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby starroute » Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:08 pm

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060802/NEWS01/608020321">www.poughkeepsiejournal.c.../608020321</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Wednesday, August 2, 2006<br>Manatee spotted near NYC<br>Mammal is rarely seen north of Va.<br><br>By Dan Shapley<br>Poughkeepsie Journal<br><br>A manatee has been seen in the Hudson River near Manhattan.<br><br>The gentle behemeth, estimated at 10 feet long and close to 1,000 pounds, is far from home. Most manatees live in Florida and sightings even in Virginia are considered rare.<br><br>Watchers tracked this one last month as it swam north — first near Delaware, then Maryland, then New Jersey. Saturday, it was seen at 23rd Street in Manhattan, then later at 125th Street in Harlem.<br><br>"On both occasions it was observed logging at the surface adjacent to the bulkhead and appeared to be heading farther north up the river," said Kim Durham, rescue program director for the Riverhead Foundation, a nonprofit group devoted to marine mammals.<br><br>Species is endangered<br><br>Manatees are an endangered marine mammal. Florida wildlife experts counted 3,116 individuals in their annual survey in February.<br><br>Gray, pudgy and whiskered, the 60 million-year-old species is a cousin of the elephant. A herbivore, it probably evolved from an animal that waded in water to eat plants.<br><br>A manatee was seen near Montauk, on the eastern tip of Long Island, in 1998, but this may be a first for the Hudson.<br><br>"As far as I know, the first for the river. We did have one migrate up along Long Island last summer but it never moved inshore," said Tom Lake, the editor of the Hudson River Almanac. "Pretty exciting stuff."<br><br>Durham called it a "bona fide" manatee sighting, but there isn't photographic proof. Descriptions by a kayaker and others in the Hudson match grainy video showing a barnacled manatee passing Barnegat, N.J., she said.<br><br>In 1994, "Chessie" grew famous when that manatee found its way to the Chesapeake Bay. He was plucked from a Maryland creek Oct. 1 and air-lifted to Florida to avoid the stress of cold water.<br><br>"We have no plans to do that with this animal," Durham said. "At this point we just want to document it and see if we can tag the animal and learn more about it. It is unique to have an animal move up the Hudson River." <p></p><i></i>
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Giant ocean sunfish seen off Cornish coast

Postby gotnoscript » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:27 pm

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1183882.php/Giant_ocean_sunfish_seen_off_Cornish_coast">science.monstersandcritic...nish_coast</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>FALMOUTH, England (UPI) -- An aerial survey has reportedly detected a sudden influx of the world`s largest bony fish -- the giant ocean sunfish -- into Cornwall`s coastal waters.<br><br>The marine wildlife survey was conducted off the southwestern tip of Cornwall last week by researchers from the University of Exeter`s School of Biosciences, Britain`s Marine Conservation Society, and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, fishupdate.com reported.<br><br>Scientists said they counted 19 sunfish within a two-hour period. A similar survey conducted two weeks earlier found no sunfish.<br><br>The ocean sunfish - called Mola mola -- can grow to more than 10-feet in length and weigh more than 2.4 tons. The sunfish are so named because of their habit of lying on their side on the sea surface as if sunbathing.<br><br>Sunfish are generally believed to be a warm water species, but they have been seen more frequently in British waters during recent years -- a possible indication of climate change, fishupdate.com said.<br><br>The monthly surveys are designed to monitor the different species of marine wildlife visiting Cornwall`s waters, fishupdate.com said. The latest survey also detected basking sharks, porpoises, seals and jellyfish.<br><br>Copyright 2006 by United Press International <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Giant ocean sunfish seen off Cornish coast

Postby FourthBase » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:35 pm

[waits for Hugh's theory that it was intentionally released into the river in order to siphon Google hits away from his message board posts]<br><br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Giant ocean sunfish seen off Cornish coast

Postby yesferatu » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:26 am

As for oddities....perhaps along the lines of the jellyfish reports, there is now this:<br><br><<Giant yellow jacket nests turn up in S. Alabama<br><br>By Garry Mitchell<br>Associated Press Writer<br><br>MOBILE — To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.<br><br>Specialists say it could be the result of a mild winter and drought conditions, or multiple queens forcing worker yellow jackets to enlarge their quarters so the queens will be in separate areas. But experts haven't determined exactly what's behind the surprisingly large nests.<br><br>Auburn University entomologists, who say they've never seen the nests so large, have been fielding calls about the huge nests from property owners from Dothan up to Sylacauga and over into west-central Alabama's Black Belt.<br><br>At one site in Barbour County, the nest was as large as a Volkswagen<br><br>Beetle, said Andy McLean, an Orkin pesticide service manager in Dothan who helped remove it from an abandoned barn about a month ago.<br><br>"It was one of the largest ones we've seen," McLean said.<br><br>Attached to two walls and under the slab, the nest had to be removed in sections, McLean said.<br><br>Entomologist Dr. Charles Ray at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in Auburn said he's aware of about 16 of what he described as "super-sized" nests in South Alabama.<br><br>Ray said he's seen 10 of them and cautioned people about going near them because of the yellow jacket's painful sting.<br><br>The largest nest Ray has inspected this year filled the interior of a weathered 1955 Chevrolet parked in a rural Elmore County barn. That nest was about the size of a tire in the rear floor seven weeks ago, but quickly spread to fill the entire vehicle, the property owner, Harry Coker, said. Four satellite nests around it have gotten into the eaves of the barn, about 300 yards from his home.<br><br>"I'm kind of afraid for the grandkids. I had to sneak down there at dark and get my tractor out of the barn," Coker said. "It's been a disruption."<br><br>Coker said he may wait until a winter freeze to try to remove the nest.<br><br>100,000 workers<br><br>In previous years, a yellow jacket nest was no larger than a basketball, Ray said. It would contain about 3,000 workers and one queen. These gigantic nests may have as many as 100,000 workers and multiple queens.<br><br>Without a cold winter to kill them this year, the yellow jackets continued feeding in January and February — and layering their nests made of paper, not wax. They are typically built in shallow underground cavities.<br><br>Yellow jackets, often confused with bees, may visit flowers for sugar, but unlike bees, yellow jackets are carnivorous, eating insects, carrion and picnic food, according to scientists.<br><br>"They were able to find food to colony through the winter," Ray said in a telephone interview.<br><br>He investigated a nest near Pineapple, measuring about 5 feet by 4 feet, that was coming out of the ground on a roadside. A Southwest Pike County house in Goshen had a giant nest spreading into its roof.<br><br>Goshen Mayor G. Malon Johnson said he consulted Ray in removing it because he was concerned that children playing nearby could be attacked.<br><br>A colony has a maximum size in early July and August. The hot, dry conditions could force the yellow jackets out of ground nests.<br><br>"Normally it starts declining in the fall," Ray said.<br><br>He said the "super colonies" appear to have many queens.<br><br>"We're not really sure how this multiple queen thing works," Ray said. "It could be that the daughters of the original queen don't leave the nest or that the queens have developed some way to cooperate."<br><br>Ray examined a collected nest from Macon County to count the queens in it.<br><br>"We found 12 queens so far, so that's definitely a factor," Ray said Thursday.<br><br>Dr. Michael D. Goodisman, a biologist at Georgia Tech who has studied large nests in Australia, said he's heard of some large ones in Georgia and Florida, but not as big as those in Alabama. A 6-foot by 3-foot nest on a pond stump in Bulloch County, Ga., was featured July 12 on CNN.<br><br>"I'm not sure people know what triggers it," he said.<br><br>U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist James H. Cane said he's familiar with a nest in Florida 10 or 15 years ago that engulfed a big easy chair. Cane said the monster nests reported in Alabama are intriguing and agreed with Ray that they could be the product of multiple queens in a single nest.<br><br>The nest usually dies out each year. "All that overwinters is the future queen," he said.>><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060717/nest.shtml">here</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby rain » Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:38 am

Oh, that manatee.<br><br>I just thought that Hugh had probably gone for a dip and the paparazzi were out.<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby Seamus OBlimey » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:53 pm

Can I just stick my oar in here for the Huge Manatee? It speaks more truth here than most and I know I wouldn't want to argue with it. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby FourthBase » Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:25 pm

I love Hugh, too. I just keed, I keed. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:26 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>It speaks more truth here than most and I know I wouldn't want to argue with it.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>It puts the lotion in the basket.. <p>____________________<br>Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.</p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby NewKid » Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:31 pm

Oh, the Hugh Manatee!<br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://home.ripway.com/2003-11/38102/Studiolo/Gumb/gumb5.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:14 pm

This should be interesting..<br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_hihi.gif" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--> <p>____________________<br>Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.</p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby starroute » Fri Aug 04, 2006 6:31 pm

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.wigantoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?sectionid=66&articleid=1674513">www.wigantoday.net/ViewAr...id=1674513</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Jellyfish found in Wigan<br>First it was Bitterns, rucks of roe deer, then an occasional wild boar.<br>Now thousands of tiny, transparent exotic visitors have travelled half way around the world to sample life here in Wigan!<br><br>An astonished angler was gazing whistfully at his float bobbing in the canal next to Pennington Flash when he noticed the waters were looking opaque.<br><br>Closer examination revealed that the cut was alive with a bloom of thousands of jellyfish!<br><br>The amazing 10p-sized creatures are Amazonian freshwater jellyfish – a familiar sight pulsating in the world's biggest river system winding through South America – but rarer than rocking-horse molars in Britain.<br><br>Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust countryside manager Graham Workman and Pennington ranger Tony Whittle, who identified the unlikely tourists, say that there have only been half-a-dozen sightings of the creatures here.<br><br>All are believed to have originated from "parents" originally accidentally bought over from Amazonia in 1828 by Victorian explorers who collected the giant 3ft wide water lillies now thriving at Kew's Royal Botanical Gardens<br><br>The jellyfish nymphs could have been brought to Wigan from other parts of Britain on the feet or feathers of water birds.<br><br>Huge bird flocks use Pennington Flash as a major feeding point – and many enjoy a dip in the canal on route.<br><br>The jellyfish are also known to thrive near clumps of Canadian Pond Weed which is also common in the cut.<br><br>Mr Workman said: "This is a tremendous wildlife coup for Wigan.<br><br>"We are very proud of the success of our bio-diversity plan – but we never counted on it making the borough such an attractive habitat for creatures that it would start attracting animals from the Amazon as well!<br><br>"The angler who saw them was totally mystified and called in Tony. I was a bit sceptical at first but, with the help of some specialist books, we had soon made a positive ID.<br><br>"There's no doubt that the very warm weather is a big factor because, by all accounts, they need still water with a temperature approaching 25 degrees centigrade to feed and grow, but soon die off, possibly unseen, when it drops much below this.<br><br>"They are very rarely seen in the wild here in the UK – maybe only six or seven times outside Kew in all this time."<br><br>The international trade in tropical fish and plants from the Amazon has led to the Amazonian freshwater jellyfish being accidentally liberated through temperate regions of the world now including Australia, Bavaria, Brazil, Canada, Guam, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Portugal, and most states in the USA.<br><br>Wigan Amazonian tropical fish importer and expert Neil Woodward, of Pier Aquatics in Wallgate, has explored the mighty Amazon and its tributeries four times – describing more than a dozen types of fish new to science in the process.<br><br>He admitted: "I have heard of these things but never actually seen them at home in the Amazon, possibly because I have been to faster flowing water which suits fish but doesn't suit them.<br><br>"Maybe I should have been looking in the canal near Pennington instead!"<br><br>04 August 2006 <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Manatee spotted in Hudson River

Postby Joe Hillshoist » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:58 am

couldn't resist<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>A manatee was seen near Montauk<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>They are on to you hugh. this is the beginning of the insertion of meme's to discredit you.<br><br><br><br><br><br>Actually I am with seamus on this too, but i'll argue with anyone. <p></p><i></i>
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