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Among the kangaroos and kookaburras, another creature trundled through the Australian bush. Hooves barely visible, eyes mostly covered, the animal was the size of a refrigerator, the color of dirty snow. A concerned hiker spotted the furry specimen days ago and raised the alarm. It was a matter of life and death — and this sheep needed a haircut. News reports say the merino sheep had likely wandered from his flock five or six years ago and had been on the lam(b) in the wild ever since. While merinos are typically sheared every spring, rescuers think the sheep, named Chris,...

"Whoa! Let's hope there's no DEET in that," says Phil Cutti, brewmaster at Headlands Brewing, biting into a paper-thin seed pod with overwhelming notes of bug spray. Scratch that plant off the list. Our group of nine is eating and smelling its way along a forested path to the top of San Francisco's Mt. Sutro, searching for something cool to use in a to-be-determined experimental Headlands beer. As we try everything from minty-sweet hummingbird sage to little tannic dust balls that look misleadingly like blueberries, I keep a close eye on Cutti, trying to figure out where he's going with...

A big blue whale photo bombed a reporter's live television shot. Then the TV host got excited, very excited. The surprise moment was caught during Steve Backshall's live interview on BBC One for "BBC Big Blue Live." Both Backshall and whale expert Dorris Welch paused to take in the glorious moment. "When I started my career, when I started filming wildlife just 16 years ago, if someone said go and film a blue whale I would have said they were crazy," said Backshall. "This is one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen live." The blue whale is...

Kate Upton is living life on the edge, literally. The 23-year-old model visited Toronto this past weekend to support her pro baseballer beau, Justin Verlander, while the Detroit Tigers played against the Blue Jays for a three-game series. During their stay, their pair played tourists and embarked on the "extreme urban adventure" the city has to offer -- the CN Tower Edgewalk. Both Upton and Verlander slipped into orange jumpsuits and harnesses before walking along the edge of the famous tower 1,168 feet above ground. And by the look of it, the couple wasn't afraid -- they even managed to...

As far as hiking buddies go, Barack Obama and Bear Grylls make for an unlikely pairing. Grylls is a TV outdoorsman with a flair for drama and a propensity for drinking his own urine. Obama is cerebral and stolidly even-keeled, and, you know, the president of the United States. Nevertheless, the strange duo is slated for some bonding Tuesday while hiking the Exit Glacier, a south Alaskan river of ice that has shrunk by 1.25 miles in recent decades. They have no plans to drink urine, Grylls has confirmed, and the adventurer’s usually madcap exploits will be scaled down to...

Despite a population of just over 1 million people and just 3 electoral votes, Montana continues to be a hot bed of spending for billionaire’s and their political non-profit groups. (cut, jump) Liberal Swiss billionaire and Center for American Progress board member Hansjorg Wyss has received much attention in recent weeks after The Daily Caller revealed that he had paid $1.5 million to a Colorado woman to settle sex abuse allegations. Money from Wyss’ charitable foundation has proven quite important in Montana’s environmental movement.

By Stephen Elmer Sep 01, 2015 A pickup truck based on the Jeep Wrangler is under development and should arrive on the market by 2017 or 2018. According to Automotive News, production of the Wrangler will stay in Toledo, Ohio, which is also where Jeep will be building a new pickup truck based on the Wrangler. The fate of Wrangler production has been up in the air for nearly a year, but today Jeep execs revealed these plans to plant management. They also revealed that production of the Cherokee will be leaving Ohio for a nearby State, likely Michigan or Illinois.Details on the Jeep Wrangler...

I just figured it out, why Obama went to Alaska to look at the melting glacier in the summer! It is all about halting global warming! You Obama wants Iran to get nuclear weapons sooner rather than later to combat the 2 degree rise in temps predicted 85 years from now. Because when Iran nukes US and Israel it will usher the start a global thermonuclear war that will plunge the entire world into a Nuclear winter that will keep the world nice and cool for the next hundred years or so. Obama is not betraying us, he is saving...

Since when in America is it a right to hit someone's vehicle with a football??? If you move to Hartselle, Alabama it is a right here. Boys playing sports trump any kind of property rights (hitting vehicles and houses, breaking windows, tearing up people's lawns). And don't you dare say anything to the parent as their response is, "Our kids need to get out of the house away from video games and play sports." While I agree with that argument, they don't have to tear up people's property. Last night, I went to the father of a boy who hit...

On Sunday and Monday, foreign ministers and other international leaders met in Anchorage, Alaska to attend the Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic. As a sign of the importance the United States placed on the Alaska forum, President Barack Obama attended. He used the conference as a platform for urging swifter action to combat climate change. After the conference, the representatives of the Arctic Council members signed a joint statement affirming “our commitment to take urgent action to slow the pace of warming in the Arctic.”

Russia has opened a laboratory in Siberia devoted to the study of extinct animal DNA in the hope of creating clones, it's reported. The new lab in Yakutsk - often called the world's coldest city - will "seek out live cells with a view to cloning", says Semen Grigoryev, director of the Mammoth Museum at the city's Northeastern Federal University. He tells Ogonek magazine that "the priority is to look into bringing back the mammoth", adding that the Beijing Institute of Genomics and South Korea's Sooam Biotech company, which has pioneered dog cloning, will be involved in the study.

A close call between a small motor boat (Snekke-bat), with a dead engine, and the Oslo to Kiel Ferry near Drøbak. http://www.vgtv.no/#!/video/116648/snekke-faar-motorstopp-saa-kommer-ferga

Alabama fishermen haul in the catch of a lifetime: 2 cute kittens "Catfishing" on the Warrior River | They were stunned to see two tiny kittens swimming towards their boat. Warning: your heart may not be able to handle this.Alabama fishermen rescue kittens from Warrior River

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday will officially restore Denali as the name of North America's tallest mountain, ending a 40-year battle over what to call the peak that has been known as Mount McKinley.

A 13-year-old put his Boy Scout training to the test and helped rescue his father after he was hit by a refrigerator-sized boulder during a backpacking trip in Idaho last Monday. A week into what was supposed to be a 12-day trip at Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, a large boulder fell on David Finlayson, 52, knocking him down 20 or 30 feet, NBC affiliate KTVB reported. The elder Finlayson broke his left arm and leg. He also started to lose blood because of gash in his shin. “At first I was freaking out a little bit, but after...

I want to know what is best to use for a long hike, the I-Phone or the I-pad. I have NOT owned or used either. I want to be able to make and receive phone calls, access the internet, shoot video, edit video, and load video. I'd prefer the larger screen in the I-Pad Mini over the I-Phone, but I also need to be able to make and receive calls, and I'm not sure if the I-Pad Mini can receive calls. If you have experience with both, please let me know the advantages and disadvantages of each. I also...

Dempsey was later reunited with her board, which had a 14-by-8 inch piece chomped out of it.

Hikers in Big Basin Redwoods State Park are sharing the trails this week with volunteers wearing 40 pounds of Google mapping equipment on their backs. With 15 cameras fitted on a metal sphere reaching above their heads, a team from Sempervirens Fund, a nonprofit land-preservation group based in Los Altos, is traversing the park while capturing 360-degree panoramas stitched together. And in a few months, you will be able to explore Big Basin from the comfort of your own browser on Google Map’s Street View feature. The high-tech imagery is part of an effort by Sempervirens Fund to draw more...

The storied Appalachian Trail, which begins 2,190 miles away in Georgia, ends here, with a final scramble up Maine’s highest peak — some of it nearly vertical, much of it blocked by boulders. For those who have trekked five or six months, Katahdin’s iconic summit is an exhausting challenge with a rewarding end.“It takes your breath away,” said Chuck Wood, 64, a hiker from Norristown, Pa. “Just to be there, it’s like an audience with the Lord.”But that experience is now in jeopardy. Faced with increasing crowds and partylike behavior by a few — including an ultramarathon runner who celebrated...

University of Florida scientists warn against letting your dog swim in warm water bodies after they found several lakes with a pathogen that can make canines sick. Animals, including dogs and horses, can contract pythiosis from swimming spores, said Erica Goss, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of plant pathology. About 10 cases of humans getting sick from this disease have also been reported in the U.S. In addition to keeping their animals out of lakes, people should avoid ponds and other standing water that contains grass and aquatic vegetation, particularly in the hot months, Goss said.