Obama killed a fly with his bare hands.

And here we thought he was a friend to the environment, to animals and insects of all kinds.

Shows you what we know.

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Climate change has not only wreaked havoc on the earth, even the waters are witnessing a marked change. Jellies or Jellyfish as we aptly call them are prospering under water thanks to overfishing and climate change. What are supposedly eaten (when small) by sea turtles and other fish (especially the sun fish) are now becoming dangerous feeding on their predators itself.

Giant Echizen Jellyfish

This image reveals another giant jellyfish find — an Echizen jellyfish, which has a body almost 5 feet across. It did not beat the world’s largest jellyfish, Nomura (weighing 440 pounds with a 2 meter (6.6′) diameter) for size, but such regular finds are now becoming a matter of concern.

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Here at Greenpacks, the animals that share our planet are our friends. We not only have a responsibility to care for our planet for those we leave behind, our children and their children, but also for those who have no control over how we abuse it, how we infringe on their habitats, how we make life miserable for them. Besides, animals were here first … at least by a day.

Most of us cannot venture into the wilderness of Alaska or Montana or the Patagonia or the Alps or the Gobi Desert like places. So, we need to rely on zoos and photos to get a glimpse of our animal friends. And, for what it’s worth, the photos might be the better option. I have been to our local Zoo- San Francisco – and the animals there look woefully unhappy.

So, I looked around to see what I can see, find what there is to find, and have come up with my 10 best places to find World Wildlife Photography. Not in order (because they are all good) here they are.

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Greenpacks is not the only folk that love animals.  The Chinese do, too. And since I (Bill) have an interest in China, I thought I’d introduce them here and answer one question.

Canadian polar bears stranded on ice

Here are the 12 New Year/Zodiac animals -

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Morality may not be for humans alone. Scientists studying animal behavior say that they have growing evidence that species ranging from mice to primates are governed by moral codes of conduct in the same way as humans.

Pidgeon and monkey together

If humans were thought to be the only species to experience complex emotions and have a sense of morality, it looks like animals have it, too. And that allows them to tell the difference between right and wrong (unlike many humans).

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I don’t know what you’d expect, but after seeing these pictures, it’s obviously true that elephants get their “nails done”, too.

Boy, a 39 year-old Asian elephant getting a pedicure

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In the early 1800s, the ocean around New Zealand contained about 27,000 southern right whales – that is, about 30 times more than today. This has been revealed in one of several startling reconstructions of ocean life in olden days and presented at the Census of Marine Life conference on May 26-28, 2009, in Denmark.

Night Fishing with a Lamp and a Net, 11th Century

According to British researchers, while large pods of blue whales and orcas, blue sharks and thresher sharks were plentiful in the waters off Cornwall, England, herds of harbour porpoise chased fish upriver, and dolphins played in waters inshore.

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Traditionalist anglers and environmentalists have expressed concern over the obsession of making the fish fat by overfeeding, which will make them too easy to catch.

British Ian Chillcott, a leading coarse angler and a fishing writer, says that “fishery owners are guilty of overfeeding and if you are making the fish more reliant on bait, the fish consider it their natural food source and they will have no fear of diving into a pile of pellets until they find the one with a hook in it.”

Big fat carp

“As things are going now,” Chillcott adds, “it is going to be very easy to catch very big fish, but that is missing the point. People are creating big fish with no regard to the essence of fishing or to the fish’s welfare. It is tearing the heart out of fishing.”

Ian Chillcott and the traditionalist anglers of his ilk are worried about the growing number of fishing lakes that are being heavily stocked with fish, particularly carp, which are becoming increasingly dependent on high-protein pellets.

A study has found that carp fishing is getting very popular in the United Kingdom in recent years and is the fastest growing angling market in country. Anglers are willing to pay huge sums a year to fish at lakes that are known to have fat fish.

Data shows that the size of carp in Britain has increased in the last 30 years – by 30%, from about 50 lbs to 65 lbs.

Chillcott says bitterly about the new, unhealthy trend: “The way some fish are being force-fed is an abomination to the word angling. Carp are like any other wild animal. The least amount of energy they have to expend in meeting their dietary needs, the better. The pellets give them a very easy meal.”

Richard Lee, editor of Angling Times, shares Chillcott’s concern when he says, “angling is becoming a bit like intensive farming and the concerns are where this leaves the romance of fishing.”

Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) have also warned that “feeding young animals an inappropriate diet can be one of the precursors to skeletal deformities and how feeding salmon the wrong kind of protein can cause digestive disorders.”

So what now? Put the fish on a diet?

Source – Image by TimJC513

In an interesting development, a fish that can induce LSD-like hallucinations when consumed has been found in the waters of the United Kingdom.

The fish in question, the sarpa salpa species belonging to bream, is normally found in the Mediterranean and around South Africa.

The sarpa salpa fish that causes LSD-like hallucination

Britain’s DailyMail reported that Andy Giles, a fisherman, has said that he caught a sarpa salpa and right away recognized it by its gold stripes. Giles, 38, said he found the fish near Polperro in Cornwall, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain.

“We were trawling for lemon sole and hauled it up at the end of the day. After taking a photograph, I put it in the fish box and brought it back for experts. Perhaps, I should have taken it into town to sell to some clubbers!”

Experts say that, before this, there have only been three recordings of finding sarpa salpa in Britain’s waters and that the fish might have been attracted towards the north by warmer waters.

The fish is usually served in restaurants in the Mediterranean. However, there is but one catch— if the head of sarpa salpa is eaten, hallucinations, caused by the plankton that the fish eats, can last for many days!

It has been reported that, in 2006, two men in southern France – one of them aged 90 – suffered hallucinations and nightmares for days together after eating sarpa salpa.

LSD (d-lysergic acid diethylamide), one of the most potent mood-changing chemicals, was discovered in 1938. It is made out of lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains.

So anyone for some sarpa salpa?

With 12% of the total bird species listed as critically endangered, it’s no surprise that this year three more joined the list.

Ethiopian Sidamo Lark

The Ethiopian Sidamo Lark could potentially become the first African bird to be declared extinct with the Savanna getting thronged with more bushes. Then there are the medium tree finch from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands and the gorgeted puffleg from the Columbian Islands. All these birds have been categorized as critically endangered in the Red List formulated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Galapagos Tree Finch

What’s funny (in a wrong way) is that the puffleg has only been recently discovered (in 2005), but as a consequence of coca farming in the Columbian mountains, it’s now on the verge of extinction.

Colombian Gorgeted Puffleg

Call it a relief, but there are some bird species where things improved. The Chatham petrel from New Zealand, the Mauritius fody and the Brazilian Lear’s macaw (increased four times in number), all moved from the critically endangered to the endangered bracket. Which is great!

[via dailymail] (Images courtesy of birdlife, stirwise, birdlife)