http://www.eutimes.net/2011/01/birds-an ... the-world/

http://www.realestateradiousa.com/2011/ ... eal-video/


Is there any explanation yet or any logical scientific theory that may even half explain it? The whole fireworks and being too cold theories seem kind of off but Im curious to your opinions.

From what I've read about this stuff, this kinda thing happens quite often, it's just that people happened to notice it this time. Granted, there could be something that caused this, but large numbers of animals die quite frequently, whether it be by disease, lack of food, or countless other things that can affect a population. Not necessarily something to cry foul about.

THANK YOU! thats exactly what i came to post.

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it's not very frequent.

and there are about four things that cause (fast onset) mass death - disease, anthropogenic infringement on ecosystems, natural life history, or environmental stochasticity (weather events, unbalanced sex in recruited youth).

salmon are an example of natural life history die off. they spawn then die. disease often is tracked and we can watch it happen and it's not a surprise (like tasmanian devil's facial tumor disease). weather events like spring turnover in lentic ecosystems (ponds and lakes) result in increased oxygen demand so you'll see things like turnover kill, which is when stratified water "flips" layers and certain fish die of anoxia. rarely you will see breeding populations suffer from too many males/too few females or vice versa and that can lead to smaller populations.

the blackbirds dying was due to fireworks being lit off. it scared the crap out of these birds and they flew into buildings and stuff and that's why they found physical trauma throughout all of them. some people were claiming the birds just dropped out of the sky dead.

most mass die offs are due to anthropogenic infrigement. it's not as natural as you may be lead to believe...because the natural dieoffs are documented by now. especially for animals that aren't insects or extremely rare.

hey pat, did you see about how they found that wolverine dead?

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yeah, i got your facebook message but I didn't look for an article. they were unusually stingy with that information on that one and the one that is roaming the sierra nevada.

Ya, I'm sure birds and fish have died in mass amounts before, we must have just not noticed their carcasses laying all over last time????????? Right???????????????????? BS

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that actually makes me sad to read it. wolverines are such an incredible mystical animal and they don't get the respect they deserve at all.

I heard a bulldog was responsible.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

Aliens! It's aliens!

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

doubtful



and a bulldog couldn't kill a wolverine if the wolverine was blind and had three legs.

I'm sure they have before, they just didn't get the same media attention. Perhaps, as PatGreen said, it's not as common as I made it seem in my post, but it certainly does happen. Sometimes naturally, sometimes not. However, I think the people freaking out saying "OMGZ THE GOVAMENT IS PUTTIN TOXINZ IN R STUFF AND IZ KILLIN OFF ALL DA ANIMULZ." is quite ridiculous. Certainly, we have a drastic affect on our environment, and there are ways in which we cause these massive deaths, but to think it's some kind of conspiracy? No.

Not saying you're thinking that, but if you look at the comments on these articles, you get mostly get two kind of people: The religious nuts who say its the apocalypse and that this is a sign that Jesus is comin' back for a reunion; and the ones who say this is some sort of government conspiracy that's causing all these animals to die. If that were the case, I'd find it odd that only a singular species would be effected by such a thing, but I'm not a scientist so I guess I wouldn't be able to say for sure. It's just stupid that a lot of people think this is much more than it is, when that isn't necessarily true.

hes talking about the bowl game. i dunno, hes been trying to goad me into confrontations for a while now.

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Yeah I read that they do occur but was confused of why its getting so much attention now and the only answer that I really got was that Chuck Norris got pissed off.

the guy is clutching it like its his family dog. and the sad thing is they just did a piece on it the previous week about how well she was doing. it said in the article, pound for pound, wolverines are the toughest animals on the planet. i think they need to try to re-introduce the animal to our state.

pat, seeing this is your area of expertise, have you considered contacting the people here in the thumb, learning more?

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the only competitor for toughest animal in the world (pound for pound) is the honey badger. there's a lot of argument as to which animal is the king.

it's hard to reintroduce wolverines because they command an INCREDIBLY large home range - much more than 100 square miles. they also don't really live together (males and females) so they would need two or three home ranges. they are also super sensitive to humans so they tend to recede from populations...raccoons get in your dumpster, not wolverines.

wolverines also need snowy dens and rough terrain with carrion in their territory. with the warming trends, that can't be found in most areas in the US anymore.

the bush administration did not list the wolverine as a threatened species under the ESA because they felt because our populations mingled with canada so frequently, they weren't "citizens" and such did not warrant protection. that and the alaskan population is temporarily healthy.

i would try to get in touch with those people, but rarely do they respond. i should try again.

Honey badgers are the animal kingdom's undisputed baddest-ass animal. I saw that video of the honey badger which took on a puff adder and kicked its ass, then snacked on it. A puff adder!

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mechaphil

puff adders are in the UK??

kinda like how a mongoose kills king cobras?

i know badgers can take on bears.

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Honey badgers are primarily native to Africa, where the venomous variety of puff adder is also found.

Lemme find the video...

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mechaphil