EARTHWEEK: DIARY OF A CHANGING WORLD
Wayward Seabird
The first masked booby ever spotted in Massachusetts was probably blown far north of its usual habitat by high winds swirling around Hurricane Jose last month. The seabird typically breeds on tropical islands, except in the eastern Atlantic. It was found on a beach in Cape Cod. Despite intensive care efforts, it soon died due to its weakened state and exposure to a cooler climate.
Monkey island
Scientists are scrambling after Hurricane Maria to save the more than 1,500 rhesus macaques that live on a small island off Puerto Rico. Maria wiped out Cayo Santiago’s lush vegetation and wrecked the structures that provided fresh water. Scientists have launched a relief effort to rebuild the research infrastructure and assure there is ample food for the monkeys.
Tainted Honey
A new study has found that most of the honey sampled from every continent except Antarctica during a recent five-year period was contaminated with a common class of bee-harming insecticides. Researchers from the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland found that 75 percent of the samples had “quantifiable amounts” of at least one of the neonicotinoids, which have also been linked to reduced colony growth and queen production in bumblebees. The scientists say 86 percent of the samples collected in North America were contaminated, followed by 80 percent in Asia, 79 percent in Europe and 57 percent in South America.
Madagascar Plague
The World Health Organization is warning of a troublesome outbreak of plague that has emerged on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar during the past month. The U.N. agency said 50 of the approximately 500 people who became infected since September have died. While about 400 cases of pneumonic plague are reported on the island each year, mainly in the remote highlands, the recent outbreak has infected many in the capital of Antananarivo and other densely populated communities. Early symptoms are similar to the flu or a common cold, but quickly advance to pneumonia.