A sick beaver was found clinging to the rocks a few weeks ago in New York, and after treatment it was released back into the “wild,” the wild in this case being the Bronx River. The animal had an intestinal blockage. What blocks a beaver’s intestines? “It was like wood and stuff,” Ms. Horvath said. [ more... ]

In Oregon the Department of Fish and Wildlife has decided to kill some cormorants to see if they’re feeding on young salmon. The young salmon are protected; and so are the cormorants under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Around 4,000 nest along the Oregon Coast, which is where sport fishermen have been pressuring the department [ more... ]

Did you know that deer have slap fights? Here two whitetails battle it out on a playground in Sioux Falls, South Dakota until one of them backs into the bleachers. Throw some cheerleading uniforms on them and no one would be able to tell that they aren’t middle schoolers. The deer are two bucks, and they use their hooves to fight when they don’t have antlers. This kind of antlerless fight is pretty rare to see, but it’s the same reason they fight in fall, mainly establishing dominance in the herd.

While a humpback whale lingered near the shore at Redondo Beach several people took it upon themselves to go take a look up close aboard their kayaks, personal boats, and stand up paddleboards. And while this video of that humpback whale breaching is rather dull (skip to :14), it could have been very exciting if someone had been kayaking right next to it. Now, I believe that there are some cases where it’s perfectly acceptable to get close to these curious cetaceans. But it should be done with an experience pro, not on the back of your cousin’s jetski.

A bill before the Wyoming legislature would allow people to take home roadkill and eat it. And, no, you’re not reading The Onion. House Bill 144 would allow people to take the food “if they’re going to eat it or process it,” said Representative Dan Zwonitzer. The bill would also allow the collection of carcasses [ more... ]

For the first time ever, a live, giant squid was caught on film. A Japanese research vessel shot the footage and snapped stills about 2,066 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean. For reference, the submarine in the photo holds 3 researchers and is 31 feet long. We’ll have to wait for the video. The release [ more... ]

A study by the University of Alberta placed GPS tags on 100 male and female elk and then classified them based on their habits. There were bold elk that would graze on the most nutritious grasses in the center of meadows and run when they heard noise. Then there were the shy elk that would [ more... ]

Do you let your cat run around the neighborhood unattended? If so, you are an accomplice to mass songbird killing. A study conducted by the University of Georgia and Greg Marshall, who created the National Geographic Crittercam (Kittycam, in this case) has found that about one-third of household cats are competent hunters and those cats [ more... ]

Some people in Ukraine have very interesting ideas about bears. Many bars keep “vodka bears,” or bears they feed moonshine and vodka for their amusement. One activist has started a campaign to rehab the bears and let them loose in the woods of a nearby church-going town. “If a foreigner comes here and sees a [ more... ]

An Everglades airboat captain made a series of bad decisions. The first was feeding an alligator a fish by hanging it over the side of the boat. The second was patting the water after the nine-foot alligator took the fish to try to rile the alligator to return. The water-patting incident ended with him one-handed-dialing [ more... ]