Lightning Kills More Than 300 Reindeer in Rare Mass Death

More than 300 wild reindeer were recently killed by lightning at a Norwegian national park, officials say.

The Norwegian Environment Agency has released haunting images of reindeer—including 70 calves—that seemingly fell over where they stood in the grasses of Hardangervidda, the largest high mountain plateau in northern Europe.

The national park, the largest in Norway with wild reindeer populations, spans some 8,000 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) and is home to 10,000 to 11,000 wild reindeer.

While specifics on the lightning strike are still unknown at this time, it’s likely that the dead reindeer were a herd that huddled together to weather a severe thunderstorm that rolled through the area on Friday.read more

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Holsworthy, New South Wales

Holsworthy is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 31 kilometres south-west of theSydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool and partly in the Sutherland Shire.

Holsworthy is most notable for a large Australian Army reserve, Holsworthy Barracks, where training exercises are frequently carried out. The reserve is adjacent to Heathcote Road, which connects to Bankstown, Liverpool, Lucas Heights, Engadine andHeathcote. Signs on the perimeter warn potential trespassers of the use of laser guided and conventional gunfire.

The residential area is located north of the railway station. Anzac Village is a locality in the northern part of the suburb and the adjacent suburb of Wattle Grove. A new development called 'Mornington' has recently been built in this region. A shopping centre has also been built in this area.The area was named after Holsworthy, Devon, England, where Governor Lachlan Macquarie married Elizabeth Campbell, on 3 November 1807. It was originally spelt as Holdsworthy until after World War II, when the 'd' was dropped.^[2]

Originally the land belonged to the Tharawal people but following the arrival of the First Fleet, indigenous people were pushed back from their traditional lands in the area surrounding Sydney. In 1795, explorers George Bass and Matthew Flinders explored the Georges River and in 1798, grants of land for farming were made in the area. The soil was good and crops of corn, wheat and vegetables were soon being harvested.^[3]

However, tensions developed with the Tharawal. In 1801, Governor King ordered soldiers to fire on the aborigines to keep them from settler's properties. By 1815, Governor Macquarie declared a state of open warfare against aborigines in the Georges River area and forbade them carrying weapons within a mile of any British settlement. Ultimately, the British prevailed.^{[4]-wiki link}

What we know about the Fundraising Preference Service... so far

Q Will all charities be blocked from sending fundraising communications to people on the FPS?

This is still undecided. George Kidd, chair of the working group deciding on the implementation of the FPS, indicated in February that he was not keen on having a model in which people could simply block communications from specific charities they disliked, saying he could not see how such a system would work. But at Third Sector's Fundraising Week conference in April, Stephen Dunmore, interim chief executive of the new Fundraising Regulator, said this was being considered. The regulator will be the body that manages the FPS, although Kidd has said the delivery will probably be taken care of by an external agency with expertise in data security.

Q What about existing supporters who sign up?read more

Large blue butterfly thriving after reintroduction

A rare butterfly once declared extinct in the UK is now being seen in record numbers after being reintroduced.

Conservationists said there was a population of more than 10,000 large blue butterflies on reserves in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

The last large blue butterfly colony was on Dartmoor in Devon and it was declared extinct in 1979.

The population in the UK is now believed to be largest concentration of the species anywhere in the world.

The butterfly, with a wingspan of more than two inches, was brought back from the dead with the reintroduction of stock from Sweden in 1984 and has thrived since then.

The key to the success of the programme was an understanding of the butterfly's bizarre life-cycle which is similar to that of the cuckoo.

The caterpillar tricks red ants into believing it is one of their own grubs and is carried underground.

It feeds on the larvae around it until it emerges 10 months later to live for just a few weeks as a butterfly.

Conservationists said the story of the large blue showed that the decline of globally threatened species could be reversed

european cave bear

a new research has found that the european cave bear became extinct due to vegan diet. wiki link

Smoking cannabis makes you lazy, study suggests

Smoking cannabis could make you lazy, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia gave the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main brain-affecting ingredient in cannabis, to laboratory rats.

They found this made them less willing to carry out a complex task for a large reward, with most opting for an easier one despite a smaller prize.read more