Baja California is an incredible place, dotted with desert islands and teeming with wilderness. The problem is that attracts a lot of fishermen who’ve managed to decimate the population. Baja jumped on the problem and established the Cabo Pulmo marine reserve. There’s been a push for these kinds of marine sanctuaries lately. While at least some of the earth is covered by national parks, almost none of the ocean is protected in this way. Do they work? Well, is a 460% increase over one ten years good? I suspect so.

via Moldy Chum

Commercial fishermen in Baja hooked a large bull shark and pulled it to shore, and while gutting it they pulled out a three-foot-long fetus of this freakish, one-eyed albino shark. The bull shark was dead when they retrieved it from a line tied to the bottom of the buoy, and with sharks on the decline harvesting one packed with pups is less than ideal. Especially when one of those pups was sent from outer space on a mission to friend the Earthlings and solve their planet’s energy crisis. Get more details at Adventure Journal.

Rolling through singletrack at top speed or paddling an intense rapids takes a Zen-like focus that leaves little time to consider the wildness around us while we get outside. Sure, you remember it soon enough when you get a flat tire and get swarmed by mosquitoes while trying to pump up your tube or you get smashed in the face with a jumping Asian carp, but that doesn’t always happen. This brief and, frankly, somewhat creepy video focuses on the wildlife around us. (If we live in the Amazon.)

via Wend

Residents of East Missoula were without power for a few hours while NorthWestern Energy fixed a downed power line. Meanwhile a woman who sees eagles in the neighborhood all the time was out shooting photos of one that had perched in a tree above her house. She waved down the power crew to ask what the problem was, and they pointed out the rare, flying dead baby deer that had perched on the power lines near her house.

A 48-year-old Australian ultra swimmer made it over 67 miles from Little Cayman to Grand Cayman, setting a world record for distance swam by about 4 miles. It took over 40 hours, and when she climbed out of the water her face was so puffy she was unrecognizable. How’d she do it? With the help of a local fisherman in an inflatable boat. She encountered three sharks on the way, but rather than disqualify herself from the world record by hopping out of the water and waiting, her support team lured the sharks away with dead fish and then killed them with machetes. This is kind of like how I set a speed record in the bike lane by driving my Hummer on it at 100mph and running over every cyclist in my path.

via Adventure Journal