(Photo credit: AP/NOAA/Holly Fearnbach)
A white killer whale was spotted by US scientists aboard NOAA research ship Oscar Dyson who were conducting an acoustic survey of pollock near Steller sea lion haulout sites in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The whale appeared to be a healthy, adult male about 25 to 30 feet long and weighing upward of 10,000 pounds. Link
Read also, Migaloo, World's only completely white humpback whale.
I hope that the next way to curb the pollution in China is to ban burning coals!
China launched a surprise crackdown on plastic bags on Tuesday, banning production of ultra-thin bags and forbidding its supermarkets and shops from handing out free carriers from June 1.
The move brings China in line with a growing international trend to cut back use of plastic bags. From Ireland to Uganda and South Africa governments have experimented with heavy taxes, outright bans or eliminating the thinnest bags.
Source: Retuers #Tags: china, ban, plastic bag, environment
An Australian Government sponsored project to build a permanent runway in Antarctic has reached a new era after an Airbus A319 passenger jet made a historic landing on the continent's first ever blue ice runway--Wilkins Runway on December 10.
The runway situated 70km from Australia’s Casey research station is named after the country's adventurer and aviator Sir Hubert Wilkins [wikipedia], who made the first flight in Antarctica in the year of 1928.
Starting since 2005, Australian engineers constructed the runway by using laser levelling technology to grade and shave the ice flat.
The runway, which will be only open for scientists and research staff only but not tourists, is 4km long, 700m thick and moves about 12m southwest a year because of glacial drift. It costs A$10mn, or US$8.7mn.
Source: Gulf Times Click here to watch the video of Airbus A319's historical landing in Antarctic.
Naja ashei, World's Largest Spitting Cobra
Conservationists from WildlifeDirect found a new spitting cobra species, Naja ashei, which is named after late James Ashe, a cobra expert who founded Bio-Ken snake farm in Watamu on Kenya's tropical coast. Growing up to nine feet (2.74m) and possessing enough venom to kill 20 people with one bite, Naja ashei, also known as a large brown spitting cobra, is the world's largest spitting cobra (king cobra is the world's largest venomous snake.
According to Herpetologist Wolfgang Wuster and Donald G. Bradley, this unique snake can be found in the dry lowlands of northern and eastern Kenya, northeastern Uganda, southern Ethiopia and southern Somalia. So whenever you or your friends travel to this area, please do pay attention to the risk of encountering such deadly cobra.
More pictures after jump: