A batch of (weird) animal news

All from Harper’s — either Findings or Index:

…the Centers for Disease Control warned Americans of the health risks involved with kissing and snuggling chickens.

My comment: ??????

A new study found that a Texas hospital’s efforts to discourage the gathering of birds in nearby trees by installing netting gave rise to a surge in the population of the most venomous caterpillar in North America, the puss moth…

A group of researchers studying the Loch Ness Monster did not rule out the possibility of its existence, but speculated that it is possibly a giant eel…

More about Russian spies:

The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries intercepted a trained beluga whale suspected of working for the Russian military. After the whale retrieved an iPhone that fell from a woman’s pocket into the sea, officials proposed sending it to a sanctuary in Iceland.

Comment: if the Norwegians can’t turn the beluga, they’d better take that phone away from him when they give him sanctuary.

…British hedgehogs are in decline, possibly owing to a loss of hedges.

Percentage of veterinarians who have been asked by patients about cannabis products for pets: 92. Who say they are asked about them weekly:29.

Comment: not entirely clear whether it was the pets themselves who asked about cannabis.

Wallace’s giant bee, unencountered since the early 1980s, was found. Foreign bees are stealing prime resources from native bees in San Diego.

Comment: Glad for Wallace and glad it was him who found his bee. And in San Diego another instance of foreigners stealing something from us, like elections.

Marmosets track melodies, and pilot whales have group dialects.

Cocaine is ubiquitous, and ketamine widespread, among Suffolk river shrimp.

Comment: Who’s their dealer?

 

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