Home/Posts Tagged ‘Florida’
Posts Tagged ‘Florida’
Animals, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 23rd, 2012,
If you’re not from Florida, you wouldn’t have thought it, but manatees often make the news in the Sunshine State. For example, did you know that there are professional manatee spotters working in south Florida? They scan waterways in search of the gentle, lumbering sea cows to make sure they aren’t too close to any work sites. If they spot one approaching, all work on the site must stop until the manatee moves on to a safe distance. From the Los Angeles Times: The slow-moving sea cows are vulnerable to heavy equipment like the unforgiving dredging buckets that bite huge…
Tags: Florida, manatees
Animals, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 12th, 2012,
As I’m heading for the Greek islands this week I hope I shall encounter those most intelligent of sea creatures while cooling my soon to be frying skin in clear azure waters. I’m referring, of course, to dolphins. Yes, dolphins – those playful cetaceans we routinely catch inadvertently in our nets when fishing for tuna and on purpose when fishing for dolphins to populate our aquatic parks. We do this despite many scientists’ belief that dolphins and other cetaceans should be afforded ‘human rights’. I probably will not meet any porpoises, whales or any of their cousins since I’ll be…
Tags: dolphins, Florida, Greece, Greek, Malta, Staten Island
Health, Politics, Jan 31st, 2012,
In general, conservatives don’t like social welfare programs. They do claim, however, to value freedom of choice, so long as it has nothing to do with social welfare programs – those are gifts from taxpayers to welfare queens and they have strings attached. So it’s no surprise that Florida Republican state senator Ronda Storms thinks federal food stamps should only be used for healthy foods – but maybe she’s right. A bit of good old-fashioned social engineering is what welfare is all about or at least what it should be about. I mean why should the poor be encouraged (by…
Tags: Florida, food, junk, poor, republican, Senator, stamps
Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 28th, 2011,
If you thought this post would be about the Rupert Murdoch-owned American right wing media outlet, you are mistaken. But now that I’ve lured you in with such a clever pun, why not stay a while and read about what our furry friends – actual foxes – are up to around the globe? Let’s start with the US state of Florida, shall we? On Florida’s Panama City Beach, red foxes are eating up loggerhead turtle eggs, much to the consternation of local egg-guarding environmentalists. Though the foxes aren’t the biggest threat to the turtles, they have been spotted digging up…
Tags: australia, beach, egg, Florida, foxes, loggerhead, red fox, turtles
Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 20th, 2011,
More non-native wild animal news from Florida, the center of weird invasive species for flourishing populations of Burmese Python and Nile Monitor lizard: A suburb in southwestern Miami is becoming home to a growing number of unwanted immigrants. These illegal aliens carry around their own houses, but they also like to eat yours. Giant African Land Snails can grow to a length of 10 inches (25cm) and according to Richard Gaskalla, head of plant industry for Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, these hefty land mollusks are a nuisance not only for their house-eating habits and the messy trails they leave…
Tags: Florida, Giant African Snail, invasive species, Miami
Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, May 6th, 2011,
At least 15 pilot whales have run aground in the Florida Keys. The below raw video from the Associated Press shows a whale struggling in what looks like a mangrove swamp and two more stuck in shallows. According to Ft Lauderdale/Miami local news for station WSVN-TV, a volunteer rescue effort is taking place to help the pilot whales with help from the US Navy.
Tags: Florida, Gulf, Mexico, pilot, whales
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 4th, 2010,
Earlier this week, it was anticipated that oil from the Gulf Coast spill would soon come upon Florida’s beaches. Today, it was reported that tar balls and oil sheens have, indeed, washed ashore on Florida’s Pensacola Beach. Many beachgoers were picking up the blobs of tar, which ranged from the size of a button to a ping pong ball. Pensacola Beach is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and is known for its white beaches; unfortunately, it’s going to be a long time before they regain their status as a vacation hot-spot again. In order to deal with the…
Tags: blobs of tar, BP, Florida, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, Loop Current, oil slick, oil spill, Pensacola Beach, tar balls, update
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, May 29th, 2010,
Though no oil from the Deepwater Horizon oilrig disaster has reached the Florida Keys – a chain of 17,000 islands, which lies south of Miami and dividing the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico – the looming threat from the spill already casts its shadow. The Keys, a popular tourist destination, are home to rich and diverse ecosystems. If and when oil from the disaster reaches the islands, it is not known exactly what the extent of the damage to the environment might be. However, the tourist industry is already being hit hard due to a perception that the…
Tags: disaster, Florida, Gulf, islands, Keys, oil, spill, threat, tourist
Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 4th, 2010,
It’s not a holiday advertisement for a rugged getaway, but rather a somewhat desperate move by the Florida state government to control what they see as a threat to their state’s fragile eco-system. I guess hunting pythons is sexier than a moratorium on the construction of new McMansions in the Everglades – and less controversial. Half of the state of Florida’s famed subtropical wetlands have been turned into farmland or urban areas according to a 1999 geological survey by the US government. Furthermore, only half of that half is a protected national park. Still, invasive species are leaving their mark…
Tags: Everglades, Florida, hunt, hunting, invasive, national, park, python, pythons, species, US
Nature, Politics, Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 7th, 2010,
Last week, 25 nations met in Florida to discuss ongoing whaling issues. The main focus of the meeting was a compromise that would allow Iceland, Japan and Norway to hunt whales openly (despite a 1986 ban on commercial whaling); but in turn the 3 nations would be required to greatly reduce their quotas over a 10-year period and their whaling activities would also be closely monitored by the IWC. The meeting resulted in absolutely nothing. No compromise was struck and nothing was agreed to, especially between Australia and Japan, who are clashing the most on the issue. Japan basically wants…
Tags: 1986 ban on commercial whaling, australia, compromise, Florida, International Whaling Commission, IWC, japan, meeting, moratorium, whaling
Wildlife & Flora, Feb 25th, 2010,
Living in captivity is not all it’s cracked up to be. Imagine: bright flashing lights, being confined to the same small tank day in and day out, and having to perform ridiculous tricks for the entertainment of others. All you get out of it is some stinking fish. Yeah, I’d feel like I got a pretty raw deal, too. Tilikum the killer whale seems to feel the same way. Yesterday, Tilikum attacked and killed a trainer at the Orlando-based SeaWorld. The attack happened right in front of the audience and the trainer was no beginner. Dawn Brancheau, a leading trainer…
Tags: captivity, dolphin family, Florida, killer whale, killer whale attacks trainer, orca, Orlando, Sea World, SeaWorld, Tilikum the whale
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 17th, 2010,
Unseasonably cold weather in Florida this winter has had deadly consequences for the American state’s wildlife. Chilled iguanas are plummeting from their perches onto the freezing ground. Non-native tropical fish – both wild and kept in outdoor tanks at fish farms – are freezing to death. Burmese and African rock pythons have also been dying off – not an altogether unwelcome side effect of the cold weather for some. An article in the Guardian explains: Most of these invasive species – including pythons, iguanas, Nile monitor lizards and tropical fish – are either house pets or descended from house pets,…
Tags: cold, fish, Florida, iguana, invasive, native, python, sea turtles, snap, species, tropical, weather
Wildlife & Flora, Feb 5th, 2010,
Yet another shark attack happened this week. While previously reported attacks happened near Cape Town and New Zealand, this one happened off the US coast, near Florida. The victim, Stephen Howard Schafer, 38, was kiteboarding off Florida’s Atlantic coast. He became the first person killed by a Florida shark attack after a 5 year period of no fatal attacks. Lifeguard Daniel Lund, spotted Schafer from his lifeguard tower. Schafer was approximately 500 yards (457 m) from the beach, located about 100 miles (approximately 161 km) north of Miami. It took Lund 20 minutes to paddle out to Schafer, on a…
Tags: Atlantic coast, deadly, fatal, Florida, kiteboarding, Miami, shark attack
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Oct 20th, 2009,
For decades, all Florida had to worry about were alligators. Now, it seems they have a bigger problem on their hands; 5 bigger problems, to be precise: snakes. Large, invasive snakes are becoming quite the problem in southern Florida. Most likely, the snakes were set loose by pet owners or escaped from other facilities. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, except they are breeding by the thousands and devouring native species. The snakes also have no issue with traveling long distances, so they may start slithering north at any time. The 302 page report on the snakes—released by the US…
Tags: Florida, invasive species, snakes, US Geological Survey
