Aroma Pets

Monkey sentenced to life after boozy rampage

An alcoholic monkey in northern India has been sentenced to life of solitary confinement in a zoo after injuring 250 pedestrians when his supply of booze ran out.

Liberty Times reports that the six-year-old pet monkey, named Kalua, indiscriminately attacked people across the Mirzapur district.

The authorities said Kalua was formerly owned by an “occultist” who routinely supplied him with booze.

Reference: This Week: Chas Newkey-Burden  1 day ago

New parasitic wasp species discovered in Norway

A new species of parasitic wasp, which lays its eggs in other bee and wasp nests where their larvae hatch and eat their hosts’ developing offspring, has been discovered in Norway.

The species belongs to a group of insects known as cuckoo wasps, due to their underhand child-rearing methods similar to the birds.

They have brightly coloured iridescent carapaces that shine like jewels, and they are also known as emerald wasps, but due to their physical similarities it has been very difficult for etymologists to distinguish some species.

New DNA coding techniques have allowed scientists to definitively tell the insects apart for the first time, helping to lead to the discovery of the species.

Frode Ødegaard, an insect researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), said: “Normally we distinguish insects from each other by their appearance, but cuckoo wasps are so similar to each other that it makes it difficult.”

The research team at the university said the new species is very rare, and that only a single specimen has been found on the Lista peninsula in Agder county in southern Norway.

For more than 200 years, researchers have struggled to sort cuckoo wasps into the right “species boxes” and to determine which characteristics are variations within a species and which are species-specific differences.

But over the last decade DNA barcoding has brought about a major breakthrough by making it possible to distinguish different species of cuckoo wasps from each other by looking at the differences in their genetic material.

"But it’s not always that easy, either,” said Dr Ødegaard. “In this case, we had two cuckoo wasps with microscopic differences in appearance and very small differences in DNA.

“The next step was to look at the language of each of the wasps to find out if they belonged to different species.”

The wasps communicate with each other through pheromones – which the researchers said was like a chemical language.

Very closely related species often have completely different pheromone languages to prevent them from interbreeding.

But the cuckoo wasp has above-average linguistic abilities, which they put to devastating use in order to succeed in getting host species to rear their young.

The parasitic species behaves like cuckoos – laying their eggs in the nests of bees and other wasps. The larvae grow quickly and hatch before the host’s eggs. Then they eat the eggs, the larvae and the food supply that the host has arranged in the nest.

“When you live as a parasite, it’s important not to be discovered, and therefore the cuckoo wasp has also learned the language of its host,” said Dr Ødegaard.

By conducting what the researchers described as “an ever-so-small language study”, the scientists discovered that the two almost identical cuckoo wasps did indeed belong to different species. They use different hosts – and that means that they also speak completely different languages.

“The evolutionary development associated with sponging off another species happens very fast. That’s why you can have two species that are really similar genetically but still belong to different species,” said Dr Ødegaard.

When a new species is described it has to be given a name, and Dr Ødegaard had the good fortune to receive the honour of naming the newcomer.

“A naming competition was announced among researchers in Europe who work with cuckoo wasps, and then the proposals that came in were voted on. It turned out my proposal actually got the most votes!” said Dr Ødegaard.

“As mentioned, the new wasp is very similar to another species called Chrysis brevitarsis, so the new species was named Chrysis parabrevitarsis, which means ‘the one standing next to brevitarsis’.”

Dr Ødegaard was also responsible for giving the species its slightly simpler Norwegian name of sporegullveps. He makes no secret of the fact that he found it great to be able to name a new species.

“In a way, you place yourself in the perspective of eternity, because that species will always have that name,” he said. “There’s something very fundamental about it.”

The only known specimen of this cuckoo wasp has been captured and pinned in an insect collection, the researchers said.

“Even with today’s advanced methods, using live animals for studies like this isn’t possible, but collecting individual specimens fortunately has no impact on the population,” Dr Ødegaard said.

“The insects have enormous reproductive potential, and the size and quality of the habitats are what determine the viability of the population, not whether any specimens are eaten by birds or collected by an insect researcher.”

He said the collected insects are absolutely crucial for researchers to be able to map and describe their diversity and thus take care of viable populations for posterity.

The research is published in the journal Insect Systematics and Diversity.

Dogs who killed great-grandmother ‘humanely destroyed’

Two dogs who killed a great-grandmother in her garden have been “humanely destroyed”.

Lucille Downer, 85, suffered multiple injuries in the horrific incident on Friday afternoon in Boundary Avenue, Rowley Regis.

West Midlands Police said the ownership of the dogs had been voluntarily transferred to police and they were put down as they could “never be rehomed”.

The animals were initially tranquilised and taken to a nearby kennels.

Police said further analysis will be undertaken to determine their breed.

The owner of the two dogs, a 43-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of being the person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control, causing death.

He has been released on conditional bail pending further inquiries.

Police said the animals had escaped a neighbouring property through a hole in the fence before the attack.

Ms Downer’s family said they will “miss her dearly” after she was pronounced dead shortly after the arrival of emergency services.

In a statement, the force said: “The ownership of the dogs was voluntarily transferred to police.

“Following specialist advice it was established the dogs could never be rehomed due to the violent act and should be humanely destroyed.

“This has happened although further analysis will take place to determine what breed they were.”

Family of great-grandmother killed in dog attack will ‘miss her dearly’

The family of a great-grandmother who was killed in a sustained attack by two dogs in her garden have said they will “miss her dearly”.

Lucille Downer, 85, suffered multiple injuries in the “horrific” incident on Friday afternoon on Boundary Avenue in Rowley Regis, West Midlands Police said.

The owner of the two dogs, a 43-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of being the person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control, causing death.

He has been released on conditional bail pending further inquiries.

Police said the animals had escaped a neighbouring property through a hole in the fence before the attack.

In a statement, Ms Downer’s family said: “Lucille was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who spent her working years as a cook at Bromford House Care Home in West Bromwich.

“Lucille was born in Jamaica and emigrated to the UK in her early 20s. Since arriving in the UK, Rowley Regis has always been her home and her family will miss her dearly.”

Shortly after the arrival of police at the scene, the animals were tranquilised and taken to a nearby kennels where they are being tested to determine their breed.

On Saturday morning, floral tributes were left on the victim’s drive, with one displaying the message “RIP Nan”.

The property remains sealed off and a large police van was parked outside the house.

Speaking at a press conference outside West Bromwich Police Station on Saturday, Superintendent Phil Asquith said: “Neighbours called to report that a woman, 85 years of age, was under attack from dogs from a neighbouring property.

“Our officers attended, by which point the dogs had returned through a hole in the fence to the adjacent property and then, unfortunately, despite the best efforts of medical professionals, that lady died at the scene.

“An operation was then under way to secure the dogs. They were tranquilised and transported subsequently to secure kennels where they currently remain and they are being tested to determine their breed.”

Police said Ms Downer suffered dog bite injuries and a post-mortem examination will take place in due course.

“Fortunately, these types of incidents are rare. This presented no wider threat to the public. It was a hole in adjacent premises so they weren’t running in the streets.

“It was contained and the male who owned those dogs was arrested yesterday. He has subsequently been bailed for further inquiries whilst we undertake a forensic post-mortem to determine the cause of death and to determine the breed of the dogs involved.”

Asked what injuries the victim had suffered in the incident, Superintendent Asquith said: “The dogs will have unfortunately carried out a fairly sustained attack so there were multiple injuries, mainly caused as a result of the delay in getting into the garden.

“But the specifics of the injuries I can’t go into.”{youtube}

Speaking about the breed of the dogs, Superintendent Asquith said: “They were two large dogs but we cannot speculate.

“The DNA samples have to be taken to determine the specific breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act (to see if) they are specific breeds that are banned – and I can’t speculate as to whether or not they are banned dogs.”

Superintendent Asquith said neighbours responded “very quickly” to the pensioner being attacked, and family members were able to access the garden quickly as they lived nearby.

He added: “Fortunately, the actual owner returned home and was able to get the dogs back into their area at the adjacent premises.”

Police have urged anyone with information about the incident to come forward. 

Reference: By Josh Payne, PA  6 hrs ago