Jan Tait and the Bear

SHOPPING SHEEP news!

Hightailing along high streets and raiding ponds: otters’ revival in Britain Still rare only 20 years ago, the charismatic animals are in almost every UK river and a conservation success story

URBAN OTTER news! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Doughnut-stealing raccoon is Toronto's response to #Pizzarat | CBC News After a pizza-carrying rat in New York City’s subway system found fame earlier this year, a Toronto critter is having its own moment in the spotlight after stealthily descending from a coffee-shop cei...

DONUT-THIEF RACCOON news! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Are raccoons – AKA trash pandas – really evolving into cute pets? One theory says yes | Helen Pilcher Known for bold raids on urban bins, raccoons are becoming more domesticated – so how they look will gradually change, says science writer Helen Pilcher

(future) PET RACCOON news! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘You’re going about your day and suddenly see a little Godzilla’: Bangkok reckons with a giant lizard boom Viral videos have shifted public opinion about water monitors, long held in contempt in Thai culture, even as rising numbers of the reptiles pose problems for residents

GIANT LIZARD news! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Doorbell prankster that tormented residents of German apartments turns out to be a slug People suspected teenagers playing ding dong ditch and called police, who found animal crawling on the door panel

PRANKSTER SLUG news! www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

GANNET and WHALE FABLES!

The Gannet and the Whale (May 24, 2025, Rethinking Fables) YouTube video by Kaori Nagai

A collaboration between me, @amsouth.bsky.social & Lesley Harrison, performed at @rethinkingfable.bsky.social (www.rethinking-fables.org.uk). Lesley & Alex weave together pieces by me and Alex and a poem by Lesley to create a new fable, "The Gannet and the Whale". www.youtube.com/watch?v=r55d...

A Fish Falls From the Sky and Sparks a Brush Fire in British Columbia

FIERY FISH NEWS! www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/w...

Rogue bears' honey supply replenished by community in Devon The boss of a wildlife park where two bears escaped and gorged on honey thanks people for donations.

BEARS AND HONEY NEWS! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Yorkshire mega-rat: a 22-inch rodent and the great global rat crisis of 2025 This latest specimen is even bigger than the Dorset mega-rat of 2018 – and just one sign of a problem that keeps growing ...

GIANT RAT news! www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees in Australia The 40cm-long insect, named Acrophylla alta, weighs slightly less than a golf ball and may be the heaviest insect in Australia

GIANT STICK INSECT news! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

London library forced to briefly close after fox 'made itself comfortable' inside Foxes have been known to live everywhere in London from back gardens to the top of the Shard

LITERARY FOX news! www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Giant prehistoric kangaroos preferred to ‘chill at home’ and didn’t like to go out much, scientists say Fossil teeth show species of protemnodon that roamed Australia between 5m and 40,000 years ago lived and died near Queensland caves

GIANT PREHISTORIC KANGAROO news! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I just love people who have wild, zany ideas *and carry them through!*

Man sets off on Nidderdale walk dressed as a curlew Matt Trevelyan made the Eurasian curlew costume out of polystyrene and bamboo.

GIANT CURLEW COSTUME news! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Boris Johnson yells 'f***ing hell' after ostrich attacks him on family holiday The former PM yelped: 'Christ! F***ing hell!'

BITEY OSTRICH news! metro.co.uk/2025/04/07/b...

Flamstead hawk takes 91-year-old's hat twice in a week A bird that has been terrorising Hertfordshire villagers claims two hats from a 91-year-old's head.

HAT-STEALING HAWK news! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Scientists aiming to bring back woolly mammoth create woolly mice Genetically modified mice have traits geared towards cold tolerance, in step towards modifying elephants

WOOLLY MOUSE news! www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

MEDIAEVAL RECORDER-PLAYING DRAGON art!

I’m obsessed with fish that clean other fish: they remember their clients, much like a hairdresser I’m campaigning for legal protection for cleaner fish, because no one has done a proper assessment of the impact of removing them from Scottish reefs

CLEANER FISH news! "they remember their clients, much like a hairdresser"!
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Seal seeks sanctuary in New Haven streets New Haven Police found a male grey seal in Mill River on Sunday and transported it to the Mystic Aquarium.

MYSTERY SEAL news (the seal is ok): yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/02...

Aesculapian snake: Britain has a new snake species – should it be allowed to stay? If follows two cases of accidental introductions

SNAKE news! www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Badger admiring art wins wildlife photographer of the year public vote Ian Wood wins Natural History Museum’s people’s choice award with photo taken in St Leonards-on-Sea

ARTISTIC BADGER news! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

MUSICAL ANIMAL news!

How pointy shoes created a moral panic in medieval London Shoes seen as demonic and vain were blamed for making men

Medieval BUNION-CAUSING-SHOES news! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Beeston: 'Why does a plate of bananas keep appearing on our street?' A plate of bananas is placed in a street on the same day every month - but no-one knows why.

MYSTERY BANANA news! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How polar bears stop ice from freezing on their fur Indigenous peoples of the Arctic traditionally use polar bear fur for its ice-resistant properties, but the science behind the bears’ natural antifreeze hasn't been studied until now

POLAR BEAR news! www.newscientist.com/article/2466...

NOISY FROG news!

Decade-long pine martens conservation project reaches milestone The project marks bringing100 animals from Scotland to Gloucestershire, Devon and Wales.

PINE MARTEN news! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...