Locked up for his own protection.

Rare condition puts Tweety the yellow-tailed black cockatoo at risk of bird collectors.

A valuable and rare yellow-tailed black cockatoo born completely yellow has been rescued from the side of the road by a Tasmanian wildlife sanctuary.

The cockatoo — named Tweety — is so rare that the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary said offers in the tens of thousands of dollars have been flying in from people wanting to breed or sell it.

Tweety was born with a rare genetic mutation called leucism, which affects the pigmentation of the bird's feathers, causing them to turn completely yellow.

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary director Greg Irons said he has "never seen anything like this before".

"It was a really odd thing to get my head around. It was like a cartoon character, which is where (the name) Tweety came from," he said.....

I hope that he enjoys a long life.

Cheers.

It also looks like another Aussie animal is on the move to places that have never seen them before.

Flying foxes moving west across Australia in search of homes and food.

Flying foxes are slowly moving further west across Australia in search of food and shelter due to habitat loss and the effects of climate change in the country's eastern states.

For the first time in southern Australia, grey-headed flying foxes have been found as far west as the Eyre Peninsula.

There are well-established populations living along the country's east coast and camps have also been spotted in Katherine in the Northern Territory and at Port Augusta and Port Pirie in South Australia.

The native bats are listed under the Commonwealth environment legislation as vulnerable species and are protected nationally........

Cheers.

Well there's a turn up for the record books.

Living Fossil Has 'Largest of All Animal Genomes'—30x the DNA in Humans.

Now that is bizarre.

Cheers.

How to ruin a good shot of booze...
Suburban brewery fined for selling cicada-infused Malört shot

Noon Whistle Brewing garnered headlines for selling the creative drink during the rare overlap of two cicada broods. But it turns out the shot wasn’t just disgusting — it was also illegal.

"[P]lease take note that in Illinois, retailers cannot infuse spirits with cicadas for retail sale,” the Hospitality Business Association of Chicago said in the post.

Illinois’ Liquor Control Act of 1934 has strict rules governing alcoholic infusions.

The law requires that infusions must be mixed and stored on the premises licensed by the state, according to 1818, a Chicago law firm focusing on state regulations. The infusion must be stored in a labeled, sanitary, covered container, and cannot be aged more than 14 days. The infusion must be used or destroyed within 21 days after the aging process.

Odd infusion choice. But what if the infusion material is part of the product container? A barrel adds a lot to the favor of the liquor.

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Sad news about celebratory gay penguin couple.

Penguin from famous same sex couple, Sphen, dies.

..Sydney Aquarium revealed on Thursday Sphen, a famous gentoo penguin who was in a couple with other penguin Magic, had died.

The penguin couple shot to popularity in 2018 after news of their relationship went viral.

The pair had been together for six years when Sphen died and had adopted and raised two chicks, Lara and Clancy.....

.....Mr Dilly added the team will now shift their focus to Magic ahead of his first breeding season without Sphen.

The SEA LIFE team reportedly took Magic to see Sphen after he died so he could understand why his partner couldn’t return.

Magic immediately began singing, with the colony then joining in.

The couple had shared a unique connection, found together outside of breeding season, which is unusual for gentoo penguins.....

It's time to save the worm.

Giant 'gurgling' earthworms living under Gippsland farms the focus of new research.


Cheers.

It's time to save the worm.

Giant 'gurgling' earthworms living under Gippsland farms the focus of new research.


Cheers.

Gurgling Earthworms would be a good name for a rock band.

---

~Sue~

Wow... They look like lugworms...

How'd they get there??


Keep searchin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

It's that time of the year here again, time to have your defenses ready.

Australians are being warned how to avoid “genuinely terrifying” magpie attacks this swooping season.

Australians are being warned how to avoid “genuinely terrifying” magpie attacks as this year’s swooping season gets underway.

Most Australians are no doubt familiar with the dreaded sound of flapping wings right before a nasty peck to the head while unknowingly walking by a magpie nest.

There have been more than 980 magpie attacks reported to Magpie Alert in 2024 as of Monday as well as more than 100 injuries.

With swooping season under way, Bird Life Australia national public affairs manager Sean Dooley revealed that he’d been swooped many times despite being a bird expert......

It's that time of the year here again, time to have your defenses ready.

Australians are being warned how to avoid “genuinely terrifying” magpie attacks this swooping season.

Australians are being warned how to avoid “genuinely terrifying” magpie attacks as this year’s swooping season gets underway.

Most Australians are no doubt familiar with the dreaded sound of flapping wings right before a nasty peck to the head while unknowingly walking by a magpie nest.

There have been more than 980 magpie attacks reported to Magpie Alert in 2024 as of Monday as well as more than 100 injuries.

With swooping season under way, Bird Life Australia national public affairs manager Sean Dooley revealed that he’d been swooped many times despite being a bird expert......

If it happens often you'd think you ozzies would learn to wear a hat.

---

~Sue~

If it happens often you'd think you ozzies would learn to wear a hat.

Us Aussies learnt long ago that hats just don't stay on your head Suzie, but strapping a plastic ice cream container with eyes on it works if you don't want to wear an old style stack hat or a motorcycle helmet. ;-)

Cheers.

If it happens often you'd think you ozzies would learn to wear a hat.

Us Aussies learnt long ago that hats just don't stay on your head Suzie, but strapping a plastic ice cream container with eyes on it works if you don't want to wear an old style stack hat or a motorcycle helmet. ;-)

Cheers.

Surely you can figure out how to keep a hat on your head. LOL!!!!

---

~Sue~

Human cases of raccoon parasite may be your best excuse to buy a flamethrower

If you were looking for a reason to keep a flamethrower around the house, you may have just found one.

This week, the Los Angeles County health department reported that two people were infected with a raccoon parasite that causes severe, frequently fatal, infections of the eyes, organs, and central nervous system. Those who survive are often left with severe neurological outcomes, including blindness, paralysis, loss of coordination, seizures, cognitive impairments, and brain atrophy.

The parasitic roundworm behind the infection, called Baylisascaris procyonis, spreads via eggs in raccoons feces. Adult worms live in the intestines of the masked trash scavengers, and each female worm can produce nearly 200,000 eggs per day. Once in the environment, those eggs can remain infectious for years. They can survive drying out as well as most chemical treatments and disinfectants, including bleach.

Scientists looking into whether T. Rex could run take a look at our big running bird for clues.

Emu simulations show birds that run while keeping a foot on the ground save energy.

......Mr van Bijlert was working on his PhD on whether Tyrannosaurus rex could run, and what it would look like, when he veered into emu movement.

To simulate how the dinosaur may have moved, he needed to try out the software on a present-day animal somewhat related to the T. rex to use as a comparison species.

"One of the most logical choices is either an emu or an ostrich," Mr van Bijlert said.

"Emus have three toes, so that's maybe slightly more like a T. rex [which also had three toes]."

Emus are one of the fastest bipedal animals on the planet. They can run at about 48 kilometres per hour for more than a kilometre, based off an observation from 1963.

Before finding out whether T. rex could run, Mr van Bijlert and his colleagues thought questions about emus needed to be solved first, such as: why were they grounded runners?.......

Cheers.

The pigeons down in Melbourne have more problems to look forward too.

It's a big day for 'bird nerds' as Melbourne's famous peregrine falcon chicks seen hatching in real-time.

Melbourne's famous peregrine falcons are giving their live stream followers something to squawk about, with two tiny chicks hatching and another on the way.

The daily antics of the raptors, which live on a ledge on the 35th floor of 367 Collins Street, have become a prime attraction for thousands of avid online followers — many who commentate every fluffy development via a 50,000-person strong dedicated Facebook group......

Cheers.