These large, invasive spiders could spread throughout the eastern U.S.

New research suggests colorful jor? spiders are hardier than thought, but there’s no evidence they’re a danger to humans or ecosystems.
... The long-legged, teal-striped females weave webs several feet wide across trees and porches, which, combined with their four-inch-wide bodies, make them hard to miss.

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Who wuda thunk?

acrobats of Northwest forestsJumping slugs: the tiny slimy

https://www.kuow.org/stories/northwest-wildlife-you-ve-never-heard-of-jumping-slugs

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With all the wet here down under a lot of dangerous visitors are wanting to get into our houses.

Deadly snakes.

The terrifying moment a massive brown snake “knocked” on the door of his home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has been captured in a video.

Deadly spiders.

A deadly creepy-crawly surge is unfolding in Queensland and NSW following torrential rain and major flooding.

Even the mozzies have been deadly of late.

Japanese encephalitis likely entered NSW via migrating water birds.

Thankfully our dangerous water dwellers are happy where they are ATM. ;-)

Cheers.

The experts get outsmarted.

Magpies outsmart the scientists studying them.

...After spending half a year designing harnesses for the black-and-white birds that would hold tracking devices, the scientists fitted them on the magpies - with surprising results.

"The first tracker was off half an hour after we put it on," Dominique Potvin of University of the Sunshine Coast, told the Times. Potvin also detailed the experience in a study for Birdlife Australia.

As the scientists watched, tracker-wearing magpies stood stock still while a fellow magpie searched out the harness's one weak point - a small clasp - and opened it with its beak. Within three days, all of the magpies Potvin's team had harnessed were free and untraceable, the Times reported.

"At first it was heartbreaking," Potvin told the Times, noting that they soon realized they had stumbled on an exciting new cognitive behavior....

Cheers.

"The first tracker was off half an hour after we put it on,"
....

"At first it was heartbreaking," Potvin told the Times, noting that they soon realized they had stumbled on an exciting new cognitive behavior....

Magpies apparently are as smart or possibly smarter than their cousins the Crow.

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Crows around here are pretty stupid when compared to the Maggies.

Cheers.

Tremendous swarm of bugs crawls across the Outback

A wild video from near Quilpie, Australia, a town in Eastern Australia about 600 miles west of Brisbane, caught thousands of slater bugs moving across red dirt in the middle of the Australian Outback. The sheer number of creepy crawlies moving across the dirt almost made it look like the surface of the Earth itself was moving.

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Tremendous swarm of bugs crawls across the Outback

A wild video from near Quilpie, Australia, a town in Eastern Australia about 600 miles west of Brisbane, caught thousands of slater bugs moving across red dirt in the middle of the Australian Outback. The sheer number of creepy crawlies moving across the dirt almost made it look like the surface of the Earth itself was moving.

Those things are everywhere here down under and I reckon that recent inland flooding events have proved beneficial for their breeding, but there isn't enough damp rotten wood out there to keep them all happy so they're on migration to find better pastures now.

Cheers.

...and provide the local bug eating birds and critters with a moving feast.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

A weather induced follow-on Biblical feast-and-famine?...

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

While our east coast here down under is flooded out by rain it's beaches are also being attacked by a Bluebottle (aka: Pacific man o' war & Portuguese man o' war) invasion. :-(

Horror pic shows bluebottle influx danger on Australian beaches.

And remember, if it comes from the water and is blue then leave it alone. ;-)

Cheers.

A large mako tried to bite a shark researcher’s camera off North Carolina, and the resulting photo is giving people the willies on social media.
BEST QUOTE ON SOCIAL MEDIA “That’s a face only two people could love, it’s mother & orthodontist,”
Avalanche of razor blades.’ Shark’s gaping mouth caught in stark photo off NC coast

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I've been seeing posts on Facebook* that say that opossums don't bite. A couple of nights ago my dogs were harassing an opossum so I picked it up. It didn't bite me. I put it over the fence and let it go.

*Usually originating from somewhere else.

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~Sue~

True... according to reliable web search / sites results.

Opossums *won't bite* - but if provoked, or feels threatened it WILL BITE, just like any other wild animal.

They generally aren't aggressive- hence the phrase "playing Opossum".

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I wouldn't try that with our possums here (yes, that without the "o") as they bite and claw like a mean old feral cat. ;-)

Cheers.

From PBS/NOVA
‘Talking’ seals mimic sounds from human speech, and validate a Boston legend

In the late 1970s, a harbor seal named Hoover began catcalling passersby at the New England Aquarium in a thick Maine accent. A new study confirms seals’ uncanny ability to copy human speech.

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Modern day Sirens?...

One up from the "meow" of 'domesticated' cats mimicking the sounds of hungry human babies?...


Keep searchin',
Martin

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

News flash from Berkeley's Chancellor:

Grinnell, the male peregrine falcon who has lived atop the Campanile since 2016, was found dead last Thursday in downtown Berkeley days after his longtime mate Annie had laid two eggs. The news devastated the pair’s fans, amplifying what has already been a dramatic season. But to our surprise and delight, a new male has arrived and is displaying bonding behaviors with Annie, giving us hope that the eggs — now numbering three — may survive.

No word from the fox on how it plans to vote on upcoming bills...
Fox captured after Rep. Ami Bera, others attacked near Capitol Hill

Animal control officers captured a wild fox Tuesday afternoon after US Capitol Police said that multiple people were followed or attacked by the beast near the chambers of Congress.

... “There are possibly several fox dens on Capitol Grounds,” the House sergeant at arms office said. “Animal Control is currently on the grounds seeking to trap and relocate any foxes they find.”

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Animal control officers captured a wild fox Tuesday afternoon after US Capitol Police said that multiple people were followed or attacked by the beast near the chambers of Congress.

Apparently their intelligence is a threat to members of congress ...