Monster swallows monster: fossil reveals doubly fatal Triassic encounter

California, US: In a warm shallow sea about 240 million years ago in what is now southwestern China, a large dolphin-like marine reptile attacked and swallowed an almost equally big lizard-like marine reptile in a savage encounter that left both beasts dead.

Scientists on Thursday described a fossil unearthed in China's Guizhou Province that reveals this Triassic Period drama in exceptional detail and changes the understanding of "megapredation" in prehistoric seas. While it long has been presumed that large apex predators preyed upon other big animals - megapredation is defined as feeding on prey of human size or larger - the Chinese fossil represents the first direct evidence of it, as demonstrated by a prehistoric animal's stomach contents.

The fossil shows the skeleton of a 15-foot-long (5 meters) Guizhouichthyosaurus, a type of marine reptile called an ichthyosaur. Its body design married elements of a dolphin and a tiger shark though it lacked a dorsal fin, also boasting four strong flippers and a mouth full of powerful but blunt teeth.

Inside its stomach was the torso of a 12-foot-long (4 meters) Xinpusaurus, a type of marine reptile called an a thalattosaur. Its body design resembled a komodo dragon with four paddling limbs and teeth equipped for crushing shells. The Xinpusaurus was beheaded in the melee and its tail severed.

The Guizhouichthyosaurus literally may have bitten off more than it could chew. "There was a fight between the two and that must have been pretty fierce," said paleobiologist and study co-author Ryosuke Motani of the University of California, Davis.

"This predator is not a snake, so it's not as good as as good at swallowing so you have to use the inertia or maybe use the gravity to push it (prey) down ... when you do that, you don't have total control and could easily explain the damage of the neck," added Motani. The fossil bore evidence of this broken neck. The prey in the stomach showed little signs of digestion, indicating the ichthyosaur died soon after swallowing it.

It is among the more dramatic fossils on record, joining others such as one showing the Cretaceous Period dinosaurs Velociraptor and Protoceratops locked in combat and another of the large Cretaceous fish Xiphactinus that had swallowed whole another sizeable fish.

Guizhouichthyosaurus was the largest-known marine predator of its time, about 10 million years before dinosaurs appeared. Its teeth, however, were not the type thought to be needed for megapredation: blunt rather than having cutting edges for slicing flesh.

Beluga whales released into world's first open sea sanctuary

Heimaey, Iceland: Two former captive beluga whales, Little Grey and Little White, were successfully released into the world's first open water sea sanctuary for beluga whales in Iceland on Friday.

They were transported individually the short distance from the indoor facility to the sanctuary in specially designed padded slings first on a truck and then the harbour's tug boat. After their arrival from an aquarium in China last year, the beluga whales were trained in an indoor pool to adapt to their new life. Trainers were getting them prepared to use rocks to exfoliate, learning recall signals and to get familiarised with the stretchers that were used to move them to the sanctuary.

The two whales also had to acclimatising for their return to a more natural habitat. This has included adding more blubber ready for the cool sub-Arctic water and being introduced to the different flora and fauna they will experience in the bay. The United Kingdom based charity Sea Life Trust said their new open water home was a world first for marine welfare.

Little Grey and Little White will spend the first time in a bayside care pool before being released into the wider bay. The sanctuary is situated in a natural and secluded bay just off the island Heimaey, off the south coast of Iceland. The Klettsvik Bay measures approximately 32,000 square metres with a depth of up to 10 metres.

About 3 billion animals harmed in Australian bushfires: WWF

Sydney, Australia: Nearly 3 billion koalas, kangaroos and other native Australian animals were killed or displaced by bushfires in 2019 and 2020, a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said, triple the group's earlier estimates.

Some 143 million mammals, 2.46 billion reptiles, 180 million birds and 51 million frogs were impacted by the country's worst bushfires in decades, the WWF said on Tuesday, July 28. When the fires were still blazing, the WWF estimated the number of affected animals at 1.25 billion. The fires destroyed more than 11 million hectares (37 million acres) across the Australian southeast, equal to about half the area of the United Kingdom.

The total number included animals which were displaced because of destroyed habitats and now faced lack of food and shelter or the prospect of moving to habitat that was already occupied. 

Researchers said the destruction will see some species become extinct before their existence is even recorded. The main reason for raising the number of animal casualties was that researchers had now assessed the total affected area, rather than focusing on the most affected states, they said.

After years of drought made the Australian bush unusually dry, the country battled one of its worst bushfire seasons ever from September 2019 to March 2020, resulting in 34 human deaths and nearly 3,000 homes lost.

California: drones are helping experts better understand shark behavior

California, US:The great white shark is one of the most feared predators underwater. Now drones from high above are helping experts analyze their behavior when they encounter humans.

In a nutshell: we're not on their menu, according to Shark Lab Director Chris Lowe. Scientists from the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach are in the middle of a two-year study using drones and other technology such as underwater robots, ultrasonic transmitters and buoys to tag and monitor sharks off southern California beaches. "Despite the fact that shark populations are going up and more people are using the water than ever before, we're not really seeing more people actually being bitten by sharks, In fact, in some years, the rate has gone down," Lowe told Reuters.

From Santa Barbara to San Diego, the Shark Lab team has been flying drones along the coastline and counting the number of sharks and people and looking at other factors, such as weather, wave lengths and the distance sharks and people are from each other and shore. The Shark Lab team also tag the sharks using a spear that fits the animal with a transmitter.

"Well, we use the drones to find the animal. The drone pilot relays the position to us and essentially we just start following the drone around and then when we can get close enough, it's simply a case of using a pole spear like this, which has a modified adapter to take these anchor fittings, so that would fit into there and then you just have to shoot the tag into the dorsal musculature on the on the back of the animal," explained Shark Lab's James Anderson, as he attached a transmitter to spear before taking to the water to search sharks.

Lowe hopes the Shark Lab's research will help lifeguards protect the public by better understanding how sharks behave and whether some species are more aggressive than others. "The goal is to better understand shark biology and behavior and to not just give that information to lifeguards who have to make public safety decisions, but to the public who have to decide where that risk is and when is it most appropriate to exercise caution versus when they don't need to," he says.

The coastal community of Del Mar, north of San Diego, plays host to a busy white shark nursery. Lifeguard Chief Jon Edelbrock says the Shark Lab's work has been invaluable for his team. "We've learned a lot more about behaviors, you know, different patterns of migration here in southern California. And so it's been tremendous for us as far as learning experience that we can then return that back to the public. 

We can answer questions better, we can advise people on what the true (shark) activity is in this area," he said. The great white shark was the star of the 1975 Hollywood blockbuster "Jaws" and multiple sequels. It prefers cool coastal waters and can reach 20 feet (6 meters) in length, weigh 7,000 pounds (3.18 tonnes) and dive to nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) deep.

Wild life: Rare footage of new tiger captured in Thailand, rekindling hope for species

Bangkok, Thailand: Wild life conservationist groups unveiled rare videos and photos of three new male Indochinese tigers taken in Thailand's western forest region, rekindling hopes of recovery for the endangered species just ahead of Wednesday's July 29 Global Tiger Day.

The footage and photos were captured by camera traps and mostly show the animals roaming at night. According to the conservationist groups, this is the first time the species has been seen in the this region of Thailand in four years. Kritsana Kaewplang, director of wild cat conservationist group Panthera's Thailand chapter, said the recent findings meant that the country's conservation efforts to preserve the species and its prey are on the right track.

"We are excited about this discovery, especially during this time around - all three tigers at once," said Kritsana, who works closely with the Thai government and other NGOs. Nang Ram Wildlife Research Center, which has a database of the tiger population for the entire country, said that they had confirmed that two of the new tigers captured on camera had travelled from the northern part of the forest region to the south, while the third tiger has never before been documented.

Kritsana still warned of a remaining active threat from poachers in the area. "They are not the typical local hunters in the area, they work as a network for the online market, as well as internationally - a poacher had travelled from neighbouring countries, catering to various orders. Therefore, we have to strengthen our conservation work because poaching and trading remain the tigers' main threat," said Kritsana.

According to Kritsana, there are currently only about 3,900 wild tigers in the world, with around 160 of them residing in Thailand.

The Indochinese Tiger is native to the region and can be found in Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and southwestern China.