Free Republic

Yesterday evening I killed a skunk in my backyard and left it to be picked up this morning. I set my trail camera out because when I killed a skunk previously, it was gone by morning and I was hoping it would happen again.Sure enough, it was gone but no photos on the camera. There was a brief blur but nothing else.This is a mystery to me and the only thing I can think of is that an owl might have swooped in and snatched it up.Any thoughts? I know the camera was working because later last night it captured...

Researchers and filmmakers are exploring the Superior Shoal, an underwater mountain in Lake Superior. (Courtesy of Inspired Planet Productions) ============================================================== * There is an underwater mountain in the middle of Lake Superior * Scientists and filmmakers think it could be a hotbed for aquatic life * They’re using underwater drones to document the volcanic mound * Known to some as the “Freshwater Everest,” if you want to explore this mountain, you don’t go up, you go down. ============================================================= In the middle of Lake Superior, near the boundary between Canadian and US waters, sits the Superior Shoal, a mountain that’s completely...

They might be small but grasshopper mice are top level carnivores. AWWWWOOOOOO! Image Credit: Minden Pictures/Alamy You might think that only werewolves howl at the Moon, but this spooky season, we’re bringing you another creature with a lot to say at nighttime. Meet the grasshopper mouse; it might be small, but it has one heck of a voice. There are three species of grasshopper mouse that are closely related to deer mice: the northern grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster), the southern grasshopper mouse (O. torridus), and Mearns’ grasshopper mouse (O. arenicola). The southern grasshopper mouse is found in northern Mexico and...

World renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died of natural causes at the age of 91 during her tour of the US. The legendary conservationist is widely known for her ground-breaking work with Chimpanzees, which she began when she travelled to the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanazania in 1960. Seventeen years later she founded the Jane Goodall Institute to support research in the Gombe park. The Jane Goodall Institute posted the tragic news on its Facebook page earlier this evening. 'The Jane Goodall Institute learned this morning, Wednesday 1 October 2025, that Dr Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace...

The rare hybrid offspring of a blue jay and a green jay is likely a result of weather-related shifts in the range of two species. A rare hybrid bird identified in a suburb of San Antonio, Texas (center panel, credit: Brian Stokes) is the result of mating between a male blue jay (left, credit: Travis Maher/Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Macaulay Library) and a female green jay (right, credit: Dan O’Brien/Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Macaulay Library). ================================================================== Biologists at The University of Texas at Austin, who have reported discovering a bird that’s the natural result of a green jay and a blue jay’s...

2 Timothy 1:13-14 (King James Version) Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. Captain Jeff and our group have been trying to make this fishing trip happen for a couple of months but things just did not cooperate to make it come together. First the water was too warm so he said they have not gotten into the river and were hanging out at the mouth. Then he...

Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Animal services officers in Texas came to the rescue of a juvenile great horned owl found entangled in a soccer net outside a school. The Leander Police Department said on social media that Leander Animal Services officers responded to a local school on Tuesday on a report of an owl in distress.

Facetotectans (aka y-larvae) have been a mystery since their discovery in the 1800s. Scientists are unsure of what they grow up to become, but we now know where these crustaceans fit in the tree of life. This image shows a cypris larvae, or y-cyprid. Credit: Niklas Dreyer Y-larvae, mysterious crustaceans related to barnacles, may be parasitic and are key to understanding barnacle evolution. When most people think of barnacles, they imagine shell-like organisms clinging to boats, docks, or even whales. Yet some barnacles go far beyond passive attachment — they can actually invade and take over their hosts. “Instead of...

This bizarre resident of the deep sea is certainly one of the most unique creatures we've ever seen. Imagine traveling through the darkest depths of the ocean around 2,000ft down where everything around you is pitch black. You shine your torch into the gloom and something catches your eye. As it gets closer, you realize that this is no ordinary fish - you can see straight through its head! Meet the barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) - a creature so bizarre that if there weren't pictures and videos of it you could almost believe that it was something completely made up....

REDDING, Calif. — A vehicle struck a small mountain lion early Tuesday morning on northbound Interstate 5, just past the Oasis Road exit, according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The crash occurred around 3:15 a.m. and involved a white Mazda SUV. Emergency crews, including Redding Fire Department and CHP units, responded quickly to the scene. A tow truck was called to remove the vehicle from the center divide. No major injuries were reported. The mountain lion, which appeared to be a younger or smaller cougar, was found deceased in the roadway.

On June 21, 2024, Governor DeSantis of Florida signed HB87, restoring the right of people to protect themselves, their pets, and their homes against aggressive black bears. The law went into effect on July 1, 2024.From July to December 2024, FWC recorded four instances where people killed bears, but were not charged because of the new law. There were seven situations where people were charged with illegal kills. In 2021, during the same period, there were 17 illegal kills recorded; in 2022, there were seven illegal kills recorded during the same period. In 2023, there were seven illegal kills recorded...

Wild video shows the moment a hulking mountain lion strolled through the front door of a California home like it owned the place, before coming face-to-face with the terrified man inside. Jeff Tenney was in the kitchen of his mother’s house in La Verne, Los Angeles County, on Saturday afternoon when he found himself locking eyes with the brazen big cat. “Out of the corner of my eye, I hear and see and feel the large presence,” he told KABC. “[I] peeked around the corner of the dining room, and we locked eyes for a moment, and I knew it...

A Texas real estate magnate and trophy hunter was killed by a Cape buffalo during a hunting expedition in South Africa, according to a safari company, which described the incident as "sudden and unprovoked." Asher Watkins had been tracking the bull for a kill when the large horned animal staged an attack first. "Asher was fatally injured in a sudden and unprovoked attack by an unwounded buffalo he was tracking together with one of our professional hunters and one of our trackers," said Hans Vermaak, leader of the safari company Coenraad Vermaak Safaris (CVS), in a statement. "The family and...

The late, great wildlife biologist and expert on animal behavior, Valerius Geist, noted the tremendous benefit that hunters create for other people who use wild country. He calls it “freedom of the woods”. A short version is included in this Wolf Essay. There is a great Public Good that hunters give to society at large, which I may call here the “freedom of the woods.” It is based on the fact that an armed person acts quite differently from an unarmed one when meeting predators, and we have reason to believe that the predators notice the difference via sight, sound...

Key Takeaways Carnivores come in many shapes and sizes, from familiar pets like dogs to exotic creatures like fossas. Each carnivore family has unique traits, like the powerful limbs of eared seals and scent glands of skunks. Some 'carnivores' like raccoons and red pandas are actually omnivores, eating both plants and animals.

Here's a wild one: A 20-foot mink whale made its way into a shallow bay in New Jersey on Saturday, started freaking out, and then this happened: VIDEO AT LINK................. The whale is now dead. A local nonprofit posted on Facebook: Poor whale made its way into this bay and seems to have been freaking out with the shallow water: The boaters weren't antagonizing the whale at all. Rather, the amount of stress put on the whale in that shallow water led to the collision. The person who fell overboard wasn't reported as injured, and as you can see in...

Surprise! Image credit: Han Tian, Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research (2025) (CC BY 4.0) Getting accurate information on animal species can be quite a challenge, especially when they live deep within the sea. One of those animals is the Pacific sleeper shark (Somniosus pacificus), which, despite its widespread distribution, remains quite elusive – so it was a surprise to scientists carrying out an experiment in the South China Sea when eight of them turned up. The scientists were planning to investigate the processes that occur when a whale carcass falls to the sea floor. To simulate this, they dropped a cow carcass at...

A four-year-old was enjoying a hike with family at a popular US national park when a mountain lion suddenly attacked and injured the child. The family was near Victoria Overlook on Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park in Washington state on Sunday when the animal pounced. National Park Service rangers responded around 3.15pm. ‘According to initial reports, a collared mountain lion bit a child walking with their family on a popular trail,’ stated the park service. Park staff and paramedics with Clallam County Fire District 2 rushed to the scene and airlifted the child to a nearby trauma center. The...

Federal wildlife officials approved a plan last year to protect northern spotted owls by shooting other owls, but it has faced pushback from animal rights advocates and lawmakers — including conservatives. Now lawmakers could kill the plan. An unusual alliance of Republican lawmakers and animal rights advocates, together with others, is creating storm clouds for a plan to protect one threatened owl by killing a more common one.

America's first national park and the first and oldest in the world, Yellowstone National Park, is regularly in the headlines. Just recently, Yellowstone visitors shared the grim reality of trying to gain entry to the park while it experiences record-high visitation—on a Tuesday morning of all days, not even on a busy weekend. However, some of the most eyebrow-raising stories coming out of the park typically involve visitors regularly crossing the line; for example, only days ago, a park visitor was spotted actually tasting the thermal water of one of Yellowstone's springs. Naturally, though, accounts of tourists behaving badly also...