Melted habitat

An aerial survey off the northwest coast of Alaska in mid-August found at least nine polar bears swimming in open waters, with one foundering at least 60 miles from shore. The discovery came just before U.S. scientists announced that Arctic sea ice has shrunk to its second-lowest coverage on record.

“To find so many polar bears at sea at one time is extremely worrisome because it could be an indication that as the sea ice on which they live and hunt continues to melt, many more bears may be out there facing similar risk,” said Geoff York, polar bear coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Arctic program. The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center says some of the most dramatic melting occurred this summer in the Chukchi Sea, where WWF discovered the nine bears.

Wind farm deaths

The growing construction of wind turbines poses a greater danger to bats than birds, according to a new study by Canadian researchers. Their findings may explain why bats have accounted for 60 percent of winged animals found dead around some wind farms, exhibiting no apparent injuries. Writing in the journal Current Biology, Erin Baerwald of the University of Calgary said she found that a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure around the spinning turbines causes the bats’ lungs to burst. The researchers discovered that about 90 percent of bats found dead at wind farms had suffered from internal hemorrhaging caused by the effect. Researcher Robert Barclay added that the slow reproductive rates of bats means that the mounting losses at wind farms could bring the insect eaters to the verge of extinction.

Earthquakes

About 4,000 residents in a remote area of Tibet were evacuated to safer housing after a 6.8 magnitude quake damaged homes near the China-Nepal border.

The ground shifted nearly 20 feet at one location.

- Residents on New Zealand’s North Island picked up items knocked off shelves and tables by a sharp earthquake centered near the city of Hastings. No injuries were reported.

Record Whale Sightings

Tourists and marine mammal researchers say they have been delighted at the record number of whales in the Great Australian Bight off South Australia this southern winter.

Tourist officer Margie Stott told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that 166 different whales have been spotted — 23 more than in the previous record year of 2005.

Researchers have documented the births of more than 40 southern right whale calves since the season began in May.

They join 56 adult whales, which have been visible from viewing platforms.

Tropical Cyclones

At least 11 people perished in Florida from Tropical Storm Fay’s six-day trek across the state, mainly due to flooding and traffic accidents.

- One soldier was killed and roads were washed out across southern Baja California by flash flooding unleashed by Tropical Storm Julio.

- Hurricane Gustav slammed the Dominican Republic and Haiti, killing at least 22 people before taking aim on far western Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico late in the week.

Wolves Rebound

A westward migration of wolves from Eastern Europe has brought them into areas of Germany where the wild canines have not been seen in centuries. Wildlife officials say the wolves are increasingly being found in residential areas, even on the outskirts of Berlin. The trend follows earlier increases in the number of red foxes, which the wolves feed on. Wolves and foxes are only the start of a resurgence of wildlife not seen since the Middle Ages, according to biologist Josef Reichholf of the University of Munich. “Weasels and otters and raccoons are already well re-establishing themselves,” he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “And the European moose elk is poised to move westward,” he added.

A new study has found that grazing animals like deer and cattle tend to align their bodies to Earth’s magnetic field lines. Researcher Sabine Begall and her colleagues at Germany’s University of Duisburg-Essen examined Google Earth images of 8,510 cattle in 308 pastures around the world, and made direct observations of 2,974 wild deer at 225 locations in the Czech Republic. They found that whether grazing or resting, the animals tended to face magnetic north or south. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Begall notes that because the direction of wind and sunlight varied widely at the observed pastures, the only common factor that could have influenced the animals’ positioning was the magnetic field.