Hundreds of whales and dolphins stranded on beach

Nearly 200 whales and several dolphins are seen stranded on a beach on Tasmania's King Island.

SYDNEY – Rescuers used jet skis, backhoes and human muscle to save dozens of whales and dolphins stranded on a beach in southern Australia on Monday, officials and news reports said.

The 194 pilot whales and half a dozen bottlenose dolphins became stranded on Naracoopa Beach on Tasmania state’s King Island on Sunday evening — the fourth beaching incident in recent months in Tasmania.

Strandings happen periodically in Tasmania as whales go by during their migration to and from Antarctic waters, but scientists do not know why it happens. It is unusual, however, for whales and dolphins to get stranded together.

Chris Arthur, of Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service, said 54 whales and seven dolphins were still alive when the rescue effort began.        Breaking News

Fourth Sumatran tiger killed in Indonesia in one month

JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesian villagers have trapped and killed a fourth endangered Sumatran tiger amid a spate of tiger attacks blamed on illegal logging, according to environmental group WWF.

Four tigers and six people have been killed on Sumatra island this month, it said.

“We learnt on February 24 that another Sumatran tiger had been trapped and killed by villagers after it attacked two farmers on Sunday,” WWF spokeswoman Syamsidar told AFP.

“This is the fourth tiger killed this month and we are concerned because it is a protected animal and an endangered species.”        Breaking News

Fish with a see through head

In this image, although the barreleye is facing downward, its eyes are still looking straight up. This barreleye is about 6 inches

A bizarre deep-water fish called the barreleye has a transparent head and tubular eyes. Since the fish’s discovery in 1939, biologists have known the eyes were very good at collecting light. But their shape seemed to leave the fish with tunnel vision.

Now scientists say the eyes rotate, allowing the barreleye to see directly forward or look upward through its transparent head .

The barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) is adapted for life in a pitch-black environment of the deep sea , where sunlight does not reach. They use their ultra-sensitive tubular eyes to search for the faint silhouettes of prey overhead.

Scientists had thought the eyes were fixed in an upward gaze, however. This would make it impossible for the fish to see what was directly in front of them, and very difficult for them to capture prey with their small, pointed mouths.       Breaking News

New crawling fish species found

A face-on view of Histiophryne psychedelica, a new species of frogfish

Most fish have eyes on the sides of their heads, but a scientist now has confirmed a new and elusive species of carnivorous frogfish with eyes that face forward, like ours. The creature also has a fleshy chin and cheeks, adding to its strange appearance.

The bizarre new species, Histiophryne psychedelica, made a brief splash a year ago when sport divers about 30 feet offshore of Ambon Island, Indonesia, photographed a shallow-water fish not seen before in 20 years of diving there.

Ichthyologist Ted Pietsch of the University of Washington’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture received pictures of the fish and guessed it belonged to the Histiophryne genus. Now he has confirmed this using genetic and morphological data, and fully described the freaky fish as a new species.        Breaking News

Male whales prefer enormous females

The largest females produce the largest calves, researchers found

While svelte, petite women may attract multiple suitors, bigger is definitely better in the whale world, according to a new study that found male humpback whales favor the largest females.

Big in terms of humpback whales means gigantic, since females are usually larger than males to begin with, measuring up to around 50 feet long and weighing approximately 79,000 pounds.

“While obesity is understandably a serious problem in humans, it is interesting to find that in some of the largest animals ever to exist, bigger is indeed better. Thus size does matter!” said lead author Adam Pack, an assistant professor of psychology and biology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.        Breaking News