SIDELINES...

HUNGRY FOR POWER

The Asian super ant (or fire ant), which forms colonies of thousands and causes fires because of its fatal attraction to electricity, is spreading across the UK. First identified in Britain in 2009 in Gloucestershire, a colony invaded a house in Hendon, north-west London, last year and more have been found in Buckinghamshire. They occupy plug sockets and power sources, creating a fire hazard. D.Telegraph, 24 July 2014.

PINT OF PALE WHALE

For Iceland’s midwinter festival, microbrewery Stedji produces Hvalur 2, a beer made with the testicles of endangered fin whales, smoked in a “traditional way” using dried sheep dung. The news has angered conservationists. Sun, <i> 13 Jan 2015.

SEALS BEHAVING BADLY

Fur seals have been caught repeatedly screwing king penguins on a remote Antarctic island. This was captured on camera and published in the journal Polar Biology. A similar incident was reported in 2006. Scientists are nonplussed. Meanwhile, grey seals off the UK are mutilating and slaughtering porpoises. Over the past decade, 1,081 severely scarred dead porpoises have washed up on North Sea coastlines, mainly in Holland, and at least 17 per cent are estimated to have been killed by seals. Adelaide Advertiser, Canberra Times, 20 Nov; D.Telegraph, 26 Nov 2014.