Feast on snaps of these adorable meerkat babies - recently born at Woburn Safari Park
Feast on snaps of these adorable meerkat babies - recently born at Woburn Safari Park
you need cheering up this autumnal Monday, how do some adorable baby animals sound?
Two baby meerkats are the latest arrivals at Woburn Safari Park, in Bedfordshire.
The venue’s slender-tailed meerkat mob (yes, that really is the name for a group of meerkats) welcomed two new additions last month – born to proud parents Pansy and Brendan.
Some photos of the babies have been released and it’s safe to say they are swoon-worthy.
The new pups, born just weeks ago and weighing a mere 30g each, have already made a big impression on visitors at the park.
They join their older Harry Potter-themed siblings Albus, Ariana, Aberforth and Argus (born in February) and Bellatrix and Barty (born in May) in the Desert Springs enclosure.
So we have every reason to assume these two will get Potter-inspired names soon, too.
These new pups are part of the third litter born to parents Brendan and Patsy this year and will start to venture out of their den in the coming weeks, as they grow in confidence.
Snaps of the baby animals show them getting familiar with their new home.
Visitors can go and see the meerkat family in action at the Safari Park, which features a drive-through area and a walking trail.
But, for now, you can enjoy more pictures of the sweet creatures below…
Reference: metro: Lizzie Thomson
The Queen's loyal corgis Muick and Sandy 'were with the late monarch at Balmoral'
The Queen's loyal corgis Muick and Sandy 'were with the late monarch at Balmoral'
Two of the late Queen's corgis were by the side of Her Majesty in her final hours, The Mail on Sunday understands.
The beloved pets, Muick and Sandy, were 'with her in the room' at her deathbed on September 8, according to Palace sources.
Muick and Sandy touched people's hearts with their poignant appearance at Windsor Castle during the Queen's last journey on Monday.
Prince Andrew had given Muick, named after Loch Muick on the Balmoral estate, and pronounced 'Mick', to the Queen as a pup, along with another named Fergus. When Fergus died three months later, another corgi, Sandy, was found to replace him with the help of the Queen's granddaughter Princess Beatrice.
Although the Queen adored her corgis, her pets did not always reciprocate her unwavering loyalty. In the 1980s, she was nipped on the hand by a corgi and needed stitches.
After that, she drafted in a behaviour expert, Dr Roger Mugford, to help manage the pack, which had at the time swelled to nine. One was so unruly he was sent to live with the Queen's daughter, Princess Anne.
When Dr Mugford advised the Queen to have fewer dogs, she responded: 'Dr Mugford, Prince Philip has already told me that I have too many dogs. If I wanted advice of that sort, I could have saved your fee.'
Undeterred, the monarch continued to expand her collection of corgis and other dogs, owning 30 in total during her 70-year reign.
The first Pembroke Welsh corgi she owned was Susan, a present on her 18th birthday in 1944. Susan died in 1959 and is buried at the pet cemetery at Sandringham.
In 1971, the Queen was credited with inventing the dorgi, after her corgi Tiny crossed with her sister Princess Margaret's dachshund Pipkin.
Last week, Dr Mugford said that the animals were 'psychologically so important' for the Queen's happiness, adding that he believed they would be happy living in the familiar surroundings of Prince Andrew's home, Royal Lodge, on Windsor Great Park.
The Queen's other dog, Lissy, whose pedigree name is Wolferton Drama, is the current Kennel Club cocker spaniel gundog champion.
While the Queen bred corgis until 2015, she resisted taking on dogs in recent years as she did not want to leave any behind. She accepted Muik and Sandy on the basis that Prince Andrew or Princess Beatrice would have them back.
Just as her family had planned, they were with her until the end.
Reference: Charlotte Griffiths Editor At Large For The Mail On Sunday
Dog owner's leg mangled after being attacked by two mastiffs
Dog owner's leg mangled after being attacked by two mastiffs
Awoman was attacked by dogs which left her leg looking like it had been mangled by a hedge cutter. Sarah Blaylock, 56, was out walking her dog when she was attacked.
She has said the two mastiffs are still on the loose. Police were called and the dogs are still roaming the area. Warning graphic content of the injury below.
Sarah, who says she was lucky, hopes the appeal will help others avoid what she went through. She said: "It’s ruined our summer but it could have been so much worse, WalesOnline.
Explaining what happened, Sarah said: “It all happened so quickly. I imagine the woman screamed because the dogs had got loose and were running at me.
"Later, the police told me I shouldn’t have run, but that was my instinct, and looking back now, I wish I hadn’t. The dogs seemed to circle us. I stopped running when I saw one had pinned Wilf on his back. I hadn’t realised but the other had gone behind me. It attacked me but I can’t actually remember being bitten.
“A centimetre or two to the left, or a little bit deeper, and the dog could have hit an artery and I would have bled out. I just hope the police are able to find the dogs and their owners. You hear that once a dog has a taste of blood, they will do it again, and I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer like I did.”
NWP Wrexham Rural police team said: “The dogs were with a male and female. The female is described as about 5ft 5ins with brown hair tied back, and the male is described as a similar height with dark hair.
"The pair walked off with the dogs before the male returned and picked up a pink phone.” Anyone who can help the investigation is being urged to contact the police via 101 or via the NWP live webchat facility. The crime reference number is 22000533629.
Reference: Leicestshire Live: Tom Kershaw
Australia’s giant thunderbirds likely went extinct 40,000 years ago due to climate change, study finds
Australia’s giant thunderbirds likely went extinct 40,000 years ago due to climate change, study finds
low breeding patterns coupled with a changing climate led to the extinction of the iconic Australian “thunderbird” over 40,000 years ago, a new study has suggested.
The research, published recently in the journal The Anatomical Record, assessed big bones from the extinct giant thunderbird or dromornithid, excavated in the northern reaches of the Flinders Ranges and near Alice Springs in Australia.
Scientists, including those from Flinders University, say the size and breeding cycle of these birds gradually changed over millennia, but they couldn’t keep pace with the climate and environmental changes happening around them.
“Sadly for these amazing animals, which already faced rising challenges of climate change as the interior of Australia became hotter and dryer, their breeding biology and size couldn’t match the more rapid breeding cycle of modern-day (smaller) emus to keep pace with these more demanding environmental conditions,” said professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa.
“We studied thin sections of the fossilised bones of these thunder birds under the microscope so that we could identify the biological signals recorded within. The microscopic structure of their bones gives us information about how long they took to reach adult size, when they reached sexual maturity, and we can even tell when the females were ovulating,” Dr Chinsamy-Turan said.
Scientists assessed the bones of the oldest and largest mihirung – the Aboriginal name for the bird – Dromornis stirtoni, which lived seven million years ago, stood up to 3m tall, and had a mass of up to 600kg.
They compared it with that of other mihirungs, through to be the smallest of flightless birds, Genyornis newtoni – the last species that lived alongside early emus.
Based on the research, they say Dromornis stirtoni – likely the largest bird ever to live on Earth – took a long time – possibly up to 15 years – to grow to its full size and to become sexually mature.
By the later era when Genyornis newtoni lived, scientists say the climate became much drier with increasing seasonal variation and unpredictable droughts.
These birds, they say, grew six times larger than modern-day emus with a body mass of about 240kg.
They grew to adult size faster than the first mihirung, “likely within 1-2 years and started breeding soon thereafter”, researchers say, adding that these birds needed several more years to reach adult body size and their growth strategy was still relatively slow.
Scientists say dromornithids were contemporary with emus “for a very long time” before the final mihirung went extinct.
“The differing breeding strategies displayed by emus and dromornithids gave the emu a key advantage when the paths of these birds crossed with humans about 50 thousand years ago, with the last of the dromornithids goings extinct about 40 thousand years ago,” study co-author Trevor Worthy from Flinders University said.
While fossil evidence of dromornithids suggests that their reproductive biology responded to ever-changing climate pressures and that they were breeding sooner than their ancestors did, researchers say the strategy of these birds did not approach the efficiency shown by large birds like emus living today.
Citing an example, scientists say emus grow to full adult size and breed within one to two years – a breeding strategy that allows their populations to rebound when favourable conditions return after periods of drought or food shortages.
“In the end, the mihirungs lost the evolutionary race, and an entire order of birds was lost from Australia, and the world,” Dr Worthy added.
Reference: Vishwam Sankaran
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