Coffee and Provocation

Locator collars and coffee mug.

Whale Vaginas Are Amazing

A great deal has been written about the other reproductive organ of animals, so it's about time someone covered the other end of the stick, so to speak. And no, I have no personal knowledge. This is from Scientific American, so science. As to "how do you get a whale vagina" in order to examine it, the answer appears to involve either: a) a lot of krill cocktails; or b) Federal Express, or; c) both. 

Fighting Lions One Solar Cell at a Time 

M-KOPA Solar, a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-backed company based out of Nairobi, Kenya, is offering a safer, cleaner, and greener solution to help people and lions: a portable solar-powered lighting system that reportedly wards off the big cats. The problem:  renting the solar package is still more expensive than most poor rural herders can afford. 

Russian Zoos Feel the Pain of Sanctions
Putin invades the Ukraine, but it's zoo animals that are paying the price as a lot of their food is imported.

What Is the Coefficient of Inbreeding of the Greek Gods?

Higher than it should be!  Zeus has (had?) an inbreeding coefficient of 25%, and that's not even the highest.

Helping Ravens and Hurting Hawks

Hawks used to dominate the western sage country of the U.S., but ravens seems to be displacing them. The fulcrum point seems to be human structure, which ravens will readily nest on, but which many hawk species will take pains to stay away from.  Nearly three-quarters of raven nests were found on artificial structures.

The Secret to Weed Reduction on the Farm?
The secret to weed-reduction without chemicals may be to stop planting weeds and start grinding up weed seeds.

Pen Raised Fish Do Better on Downers
A new use for pharmacy products? What could possibly go wrong?

155 Year-old Eel Kicks the (Well) Bucket
It seems that putting an an eel in a well was once a custom in Sweden, as the eel would eat bugs, worms, eggs, algae, and any other number of small critters, as well as carrion (such as dead rats or mice) that slipped into the water. While European eels generally live less than 10 years in the wild, an eel put in the well in the fishing village of Brantevik on the southeastern tip of Sweden by eight-year-old Samuel Nilsson in 1859, and which has been a star attraction for its longevity for over 100 years, has finally died at the age of 155.

Robert Mugabe's Genocide Financed by Hedge Funds
The barbaric cruelty, torture, wanton killing, and genocide that has gone on in Zimbabwe for decades was funded by western hedge-funds and banks, led by Och-Ziff Capital Management, with assistance from Blackrock, GLG Partners, and Credit Suisse, who raised $100 million for Mugabe's weapons and torture-chambers in exchange for a sweetheart deal on the country's platinum mines.

Let's Get This Snake to Bite Mugabe
The venom of the boomslang snake makes you bleed from every orifice until you die.

Largest Alligator Ever?
A 15-foot alligator killed by Mandy Stokes and her family during Alabama's 2014 Alligator hunting season pushed the scale past 1,000 pounds, and may be the largest alligator legally taken by a hunter anywhere.

Another Florida Cat-Killer Caught
This one is a 12-foot, 120-pound Burmese python. Check out the video.

Zero Bike Share Deaths?
The people who use Bike Share in Washington, D.C. wobble when they ride, and many appear to have never been on a bike after the age of 12.  That said, the latest news is that despite over 23 million rides, no one has been killed.  Yet.