Nature Is Fuckin Awesome
One of the best silver linings to this whole worldwide shut down the past few months has been the extended breather for mother nature. Our planet, its ecosystems, and wildlife has been the defense that can't get off the field- winded and running on fumes- for a long, long time.
Chilling out on the everyday activities of our work and recreational lives has been huge for the environment.
A few of the cooler examples I've seen over the last few months.
"Superpod" of over 1,000 dolphins put on a show for boater off California coast
ABC - A super pod of dolphins put on quite a show for some lucky boaters off the coast of Orange County, California last weekend.
At least a thousand common dolphins were spotted just before sunset jumping in and out of the water near Laguna Beach.
Newport Coastal Adventures, which conducts whale watching tours for families, posted this video.
They said it’s not unusual to encounter pods of a couple hundred dolphins, but seeing a group this large doesn’t happen often.
Lions Sunbath on Empty Roads in Africa
CNN - A pride of lions residing in South Africa’s Kruger National Park took advantage of the lapse in tourists by napping on an empty road. The lions normally sleep in bushes but appeared to be enjoying their newfound, leisurely freedoms amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Due to the pandemic, Kruger National Park has been closed since the end of March. The park’s media officer, Isaac Phaala, said the lions were napping on the road because it was dry and they don’t like lying on wet grass. “Under normal circumstances, there would be traffic and that pushes them into the bush,”
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Endangered Sea Turtles Making A Comeback on Brazil Beaches
The Guardian - Nearly 100 critically endangered sea turtles have hatched on a deserted beach in Brazil, their first steps going almost unnoticed because of coronavirus restrictions that prohibit people from gathering on the region’s sands.
The 97 hawksbill sea turtles, or tartarugas-de-pente as they are known in Brazil, hatched last Sunday in Paulista, a town in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco.
Photographs taken by government workers, the only people to witness the event, showed the tiny creatures making their way down the beach and into the Atlantic waves.
Coyotes Roaming The Streets in San Fransisco and Chicago
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Peacocks Take Over Mumbai
Wild Turkey's Have Reclaimed Their Throne in The Bay Area
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SF Chronicle - Wild animals all over the Bay Area have been feeling emboldened and entitled as humans have retreated more and more indoors. And one such animal is a turkey who's been given the name Gerald, who has taken to menacing anyone who tries to relax or — how dare they? — picnic in Morcom Rose Garden in Oakland's Grand Lake neighborhood.
"A wild turkey began circling me as I was climbing the stairs,” writes Oaklander Vanessa Graham on NextDoor. “Before I could react, he jumped on my back… but not before he was able to claw my inner thigh."
The Chronicle picked up on these tales of terror on NextDoor and spoke to 76-year-old retired church administrator Jeanne Silver, who was similarly accosted by Gerald in recent days.
"It was traumatic," she says. "All of a sudden it attacked me. It happened so fast. He got me with his talons and his wings. I didn’t know turkeys did things like that."
It's unclear how long Gerald has been strutting around the rose garden acting like he owns the place, but it's clear he's come to play and/or kill someone.
NextDoor users are warning neighbors that they shouldn't expect to quietly picnic in the vicinity "without an escape route."
"He was relentless," writes one woman who says she was trying to have a picnic in the rose garden recently with her fiancé before Gerald attacked. "My fiancé barely warded him off with a stick. People in the park yelled at me to ‘hold my ground.’ He was stalking me and I swear I was getting flashbacks to the velociraptor scenes in Jurassic Park."
Wild turkeys have had a prevalent presence in the East Bay for a number of years, and residents have both complained about and celebrated the fact that the turkey population has been very clearly expanding in their midst. Rafters of wild turkeys — that is the appropriate group moniker, though "flock" also works — were being documented roaming the streets of Berkeley back in 2012. And SFGate covered their anecdotally growing numbers in 2017, speaking to one person who grew up in the Oakland hills and said they never used to see turkeys roaming around, and now they're everywhere.
I love this Gerald Turkey fella. Sounds like my kind of no-nonsense guy. Stay the fuck away from him and his friends and you won't have any problems. Have a nice day. Cross Gerald and pay the price.
They're also in Boston
Wild Boars Taking Over The Streets in Turkey
Ever since I saw The Princess Bride when I was young I've been out on wild boars. They taste excellent but you have to be out of your mind to get close to one. These babies running down the street with their "sounder" (Fun fact - a pack of wild boars is called a sounder) are cute as fuck. So I might be back in.
They're also in Barcelona
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Whales Have Been Communicating More Now That The Seas Are Quiet
The Guardian - Researchers examining real-time underwater sound signals from seabed observatories run by Ocean Networks Canada near the port of Vancouver found a significant drop in low-frequency sound associated with ships.
David Barclay, assistant professor of oceanography at Dalhousie University, the co-author of a paper reviewing the phenomena, examined sound power – a way of measuring “loudness” – in the 100 Hz range from two sites, one inland and one farther offshore. He found a significant drop in noise from both.
“We are facing a moment of truth,” said Michelle Fournet, a marine acoustician at Cornell University, who studies humpback whales in south-east Alaska. “We have an opportunity to listen – and that opportunity to listen will not appear again in our lifetime.”
Goats Are Running Wild In The Streets in Wales
Bears Haven't Had To Worry About Humans at Yosemite National Park
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MNN - In a Yosemite Facebook Live event, Ranger Katie talks about why Yosemite Valley is such a "paradise" for bears, regardless of the presence of humans, but especially in the spring.
There are typically so many humans and cars at this time of year that the bears have to pick their paths carefully to avoid them.
"Navigating that landscape, where there are lots of people, is difficult," she said. But that’s not the case now. "Bears are literally walking down the road to get to where they need to go, which is kind of cool."
For example, the video below shows a bear strolling through a meadow that would typically be filled with human gawkers.
Earth's Atmosphere Is Becoming Cleaner
Pre Corona Nitrogen Dioxide Emissions taken by ESA Satellites for January 2019 EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
Mid Corona Nitrogen Dioxide Emissions taken by ESA Satellites for January 2020 EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
Chicago Tribune - The drop in emissions is global and unprecedented. Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and India’s getting views of sights not visible in decades. Nitrogen dioxide pollution in the northeastern United States is down 30%. Rome air pollution levels from mid-March to mid-April were down 49% from a year ago. Stars seem more visible at night.”
Mountain Lions Roaming Around Boulder Neighborhoods
Show me an animal vs. human video and 99 times out of 100 I'm rooting for the animal. That 1 out of 100 is when the human is defenseless and at no fault, or when a shark is involved. Sharks scare the fuck out of me. How YP has managed to get up close to them in the waters without a cage is beyond me. Worst nightmare. Kid is fearless.
This video below is NOT displaying the beauty of nature. More just keeping in the theme of animal stuff I've come across the last few weeks.
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Can you imagine being that kayaker seeing this video after getting back to land and realizing how close you were to going down like Quint?
To end on a positive note here are some other good ones -
Stags In France -
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How Nature is THRIVING During Covid Lockdown -