Canadian Arctic Nearly Loses Entire Ice Shelf: Two ice shelves that existed before Canada was settled by Europeans diminished significantly this summer, one nearly disappearing altogether. The loss is an important marker of global climate change, returning the Arctic to conditions that date back thousands of years. The shelf went from being a 16-square mile floating glacier tongue to 9.65 square miles and the second section from 13.51 square miles to 2 square miles. The two losses are significant since the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has always been the biggest, the farthest north, and the one scientists thought might have been the most stable. Between 1906 and 1982 there has been a 90% reduction in the areal extent of ice shelves along the coastline, with mean winter temperatures rising by about one degree per decade for the past 5-6 decades.
Hairy, Crazy Ants Invade From Texas to Mississippi: It sounds like a horror movie: biting ants invade by the millions. A camper’s metal walls bulge from pressure of the ants nesting behind them. A circle of poison stops them for only one day, then a fresh horde shows up, bringing their babies. Stand in the yard and in a second ants cover your shoes. It’s an extreme example of what can happen when the ants go unchecked.
And they’re on the move in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The ants are said to be from somewhere in South America, and like many exotics, tend to have no natural predators when relocated into a new area, thus, they are multiplying by the millions and spreading rapidly.
Massachusetts Cat With 2 Faces Lives 12 Years, Sets Record: Frank and Louie, the cat born with 2 faces, 2 mouths, 2 noses, 3 eyes, and lots of doubt about his future, is now 12 years old–making it into the Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with 2 faces. The exotic blue-eyed rag doll was rescued by Marty Stevens after being brought into the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University for euthanization. Most Janus cats do not survive for more than 1-4 days.
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