I am always surprised by how smooth a dolphin’s skin is.
animals
Why Did The Python Cross The Road
This 18ft python should be slithering through the jungle.
But yesterday on a country road in North Yorkshire it was going nowhere fast.
A man out walking his dog got the shock of his life when he stumbled upon its body.
Baffled police are trying to find out how the fully grown reptile wound up in the village of Cloughton near Scarborough, a million miles from its natural habitat.
Ann Tindall, who lives nearby and also spotted the snake, said: “It was a real surprise to see it. You just cannot believe that something like this could be found somewhere like Scarborough.
“We measured it and it came to about 17.7ft.”
Police said the snake had started to decompose by the time it was discovered.
A Whale Of A Story
March 11, 2007 — It’s a whale of a tale. Literally.
That’s what Randy Thornton, an experienced scuba diver from Draper, Utah, exclusively told ABC News.
Two weeks ago, Thornton and more than 12 friends spent a week diving off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. They were swimming with and taking pictures of North Atlantic humpback whales that mate and give birth in the waters off the Caribbean island every year at about this time.
“It was a trip we had planned for a couple of years,” Thornton said. “We wanted to watch the mating and birthing habits of these magnificent creatures.”
Their adventure proceeded without incident until the last hour of the last day. Then it happened.
“The current was pushing the divers into the whale,” said Bridget Server, who videotaped the encounter. “They were basically right on top of the whale.”
In fact, a group of three divers including Thornton had drifted directly above a 40-ton mother whale and her eight-ton baby, which was sleeping on her back.
From his hospital bed, Thornton explained what happened next.
“They both came up under us. The calf got spooked, spooked the mother,” he said. “The mother flipped and threw the group every which way but loose.”
The force was so intense, a videotape recording of the accident shows the actual impact and snapping of Thornton’s femur, or thigh bone. You can hear a loud pop when his leg is broken.
“It was like getting hit by a train,” Thornton said. “You know, it was so hard, it felt like getting hit by car.”
Another diver, Janet Blackwelder, suffered broken ribs and was knocked unconscious.
For the full story click here. When you are dealing with creatures that are that large you have got to be extra careful. It doesn’t take much to get hurt.
Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator
This story is wild.
“MIAMI – The alligator has some foreign competition at the top of the Everglades food chain, and the results of the struggle are horror-movie messy.
A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.
The incident has heightened biologists’ fears that the nonnative snakes could threaten a host of other animal species in the Everglades.
“It means nothing in the Everglades is safe from pythons, a top-down predator,” said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor.
Over the years, many pythons have been abandoned in the Everglades by pet owners.
The gory evidence of the latest gator-python encounter — the fourth documented in the past three years — was discovered and photographed last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife researcher.
The snake was found with the gator’s hindquarters protruding from its midsection. Mazzotti said the alligator may have clawed at the python’s stomach as the snake tried to digest it.
In previous incidents, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.
“There had been some hope that alligators can control Burmese pythons,” Mazzotti said. “This indicates to me it’s going to be an even draw. Sometimes alligators are going to win and sometimes the python will win.”
It is unknown how many pythons are competing with the thousands of alligators in the Everglades, but at least 150 have been captured in the past two years, said Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist and crocodile tracker.
Pythons could threaten many smaller species that conservationists are trying to protect, including other reptiles, otters, squirrels, woodstorks and sparrows, Mazzotti said.
Wasilewski said a 10- or 20-foot python also could pose a risk to an unwary human, especially a child. He added, however, “I don’t think this is an imminent threat. This is not a `Be afraid, be very afraid’ situation.’
For those who are curious this comes from a different story about this event.
“When extracted from the snake, the alligator was largely intact except for two open wounds, one to the top of the skull behind the eyes and one on the shoulder,” he said adding that it was unclear how the python’s gut was ruptured, or how the snake died.