Police in San Sebastian de la Gomera (Canary islands) have cordoned off the abandoned house after neighbours reported large numbers of wasps swarming around the house. So far the Police haven’t been able to contact the owner and are undecided what to do!

Giant Wasp Nest

POLICE in San Sebastián de la Gomera have cordoned off an abandoned house after finding a seven-metre-long wasp nest.

Officers were called out by worried neighbours of the empty home in the island’s capital and say the nest was in an indoor hallway and contained literally millions of wasps.

Close up of Giant Wasp Nest

The unusually large hive was discovered by local police officers after they had received numerous calls from concerned members of the community regarding large numbers of wasps swarming around an uninhabited house in San Sebastián de La Gomera. Measuring no less than 7 meters in size, the gargantuan structure doesn’t seem to have been built by the common type of wasp found in European gardens, but by an invasive species that must have migrated from Africa. The Canary Islands are located less than 100 kilometers from Morocco by water, so that’s a very likely scenario.

Source: Seven-metre wasp nest found in abandoned house and Scary Mother Nature – Giant Wasp Nest Housing Millions of Stingers Found in Abandoned House

The new species of tarantula (Poecilotheria rajaei) was found in northern Sri Lanka and first discovered in 2009 when villagers took a dead spider to experts. After extensive searching, a female and several juveniles were found living in the old doctor’s quarters of a hospital in Mankulam, by researchers from Sri Lanka’s Biodiversity Education and Research organisation.

The female spider (Picture: Ranil Nanayakkara/British Tarantula Society)

Huge spider as big as your Face (Picture: Ranil Nanayakkara/British Tarantula Society)

Distinctive markings on the underside of the tarantula (Picture: Ranil Nanayakkara/British Tarantula Society)

A new species of venomous tarantula has been discovered – and it’s as big as your face.It was tracked down in war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka after villagers took a spider to experts after they had killed it in 2009.The scientists suspected the dead arachnid was a previously unknown type and confirmed the theory after setting off to find its living relatives.

‘Days of extensive searching in every tree hole and bark peel were rewarded with a female and, to our satisfaction, several juveniles too,’ said researcher Ranil Nanayakkara.

The tarantulas – part of the tiger spider genus – have distinctive markings including daffodil-yellow colouring on their legs and a pink band around their stomachs.

Source: Spiders as big as your face discovered in Sri Lanka

Terri Leigh Cox took this photograph of the primate shortly before it scampered up a tree in Dorchester, Dorset (c) Terri Leigh Cox

Terri Leigh Cox, 17, says that she saw something hunched over and bounding around on all fours from her bedroom window in Dorchester, Dorset, and took a photograph of it on her mobile phone. The teenager said that the park’s visitor, which she insisted was not a dog or cat, then ran up a tree and out of sight.

Shaun Bessant, her boyfriend, went out to investigate but found no sign of the “monkey–like” creature.

The park is about 10 miles from the Monkey World attraction in Wool. Miss Cox, who is studying health and social care at college, said the creature “looked about the size of a small gorilla.

Source: Student spots mystery ‘primate’ stalking though park
More info: Monkey on the loose in Dorchester town centre and Is this a monkey on the loose in Dorset?

Scientists estimate that giant squid can grow up to about 60 feet (18 meters) long, including their massive tentacles. CREDIT: Mark Norman

One Big, Happy Family
Though they roam the deep sea around the globe, enigmatic giant squid are all part of the same species, new research finds.

The new study reveals that the genetic diversity of giant squid (Architeuthis) is remarkably low — far lower than that of other marine species examined, said study researcher Tom Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen. The findings suggest that the squid intermingle and mate across the globe.

Squid genes
The researchers extracted DNA from 43 soft-tissue samples from giant squid. Some of the samples came from squid found in whale stomachs or washed ashore, whereas others were frozen samples from giant squid dredged up by fishing trawlers. The scientists analyzed mitochondrial DNA, or mDNA, which is found in tiny cell structures called mitochondria. These structures help cells convert energy into a usable form, and their DNA is separate from the DNA in a cell’s nucleus; mDNA is inherited from the maternal line.

The mDNA sequences were extremely similar among all samples, the researchers found. The samples exhibited more than 20 times less genetic diversity than other local squid populations.

Source: Giant Squid All One Big, Happy Family
Related: Giant Squid Filmed in the Wild!

Bella Coola Bigfoot Print, photographed in Bella Coola in late February

On the morning of Tuesday, February 19, Obie Mack looked out his window and spied several huge footprints outlined in mud crossing the street in front of his house. After closer investigation, he quickly called his son, Lorne, to come and take pictures. The print was clearly visible in the mud with tracks crossing the asphalt. With the length of those strides it could only be a sasquatch! Lorne made a mold of the 17 inches print. (only 100 tracks in North America in plaster are archived; all of which resemble a huge human foot but much bigger.) Coincidentally, our Walk/Run group walked by the spot later that day and were able to take pictures. Thrilling and mystifying!

The Bella Coola Valley is no stranger to the sasquatch; in Nuxalk, named “Buks” or “Sniniq”. The McIlwrath books are filled with Nuxalk legends as are most First Nations cultures. The word “sasquatch” was originally an Native word from California.

Source: Sasquatch tracks sighted in Bella Coola

Researchers in northeastern Spain say they’ve uncovered hundreds of dinosaur egg fossils, including four kinds that had never been found before in the region. The eggs likely were left behind by sauropods millions of years ago.

“Eggshells, eggs and nests were found in abundance and they all belong to dinosaurs, sauropods in particular,” said the study’s leader, Albert García Sellés from the Miquel Crusafont Catalan Palaeontology Institute.

Source: Hundreds of dinosaur egg fossils found

Bright Orange Light, South Africa

UFO (Unidentified Objects!) sightings have increased dramatically over the last few months off the coast of Cape Town. Most are Orange glowing objects (which could just indicate an increase in the use of Chinese lanterns), but some appear to hover and radically change direction.

Gert Jordaan, founder of UFO Research of SA, said that between February 21 and February 27 many people reported seeing bright orange lights and flames in the sky.

He said that while some sightings could be attributed to meteor showers, others could have a more interesting explanation.

“Though meteors do glow orange, some of the sightings reported radical change in direction and speed. Some objects even remained stationary for five minutes or so. There might be some UFO phenomena occurring in areas around Cape Town,” said Jordaan.

Source: UFO sightings on the rise in South Africa.
More info: UFO Research of South Africa.

Thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a Rio de Janeiro tourist attraction, Brazilian authorities said.

A large amount of organic matter that entered the lagoon as a result of two recent large storms consumed oxygen and brought it down to critically low levels, said Carlos Alberto Muniz, the municipal environment secretary.

This situation caused a massive die-off of shad, whose number had risen since mid-February after the fish had entered the lagoon to spawn, Muniz said.

Source: Thousands of dead fish wash up on Brazilian lagoon

A “supervolcano” forming deep below the Earth’s crust north of New Zealand, will have the power to destroy the world, but scientists are urging people not to worry – it could be 100 million years away.

University of Utah seismologist Michael Thorne has been studying seismic waves beating through the Earth’s crust, and says the ingredients are there for a “cataclysmic” eruption.

The study has found that deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, near Samoa, two or more continent-sized piles of rock were colliding as they moved at the bottom of Earth’s thick mantle and atop the thicker core.

Source: ‘Supervolcano’ forming near New Zealand

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