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Pictures of buildings collapsing and catching fire have been shown on Japanese public television, after a series of powerful earthquakes hit Ishikawa and nearby areas.
Authorities are warning that earthquakes could continue to hit the country and people need to remain vigilant over the coming days.
A tsunami warning is in effect for parts of Japan's west coast, following the country's most powerful earthquake for more than five years. On the other side of the Sea of Japan - Russia's far-east coast, North and South Korea are also on alert.
Some 20 strong earthquakes shook central Japan's western coast - the most intense, with a magnitude of 7-point-6, hit the Ishikawa prefecture.
Authorities have warned people along the coast to move to safety. More than 30-thousand homes are without power, and the Japanese government says no irregularities have been detected at nuclear power facilities.
40 earthquakes M7.6, M6.1, M5.7 occurred in Japan in 2 hours! 300 km tsunami warning
Natural disaster 1 January 2024.
Japan issues tsunami warning following a series of 21 strong earthquakes.
According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, a sequence of 21 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 or higher struck central Japan within just 90 minutes on Monday.
The strongest tremor recorded reached a magnitude of 7.6, causing widespread concern.
Earthquakes triggered tsunami warnings, prompting authorities to urge residents to move to higher ground in the affected region.
A powerful earthquake occurred in the Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan.
Tsunami warnings were declared in Niigata, Toyama, and Ishikawa prefectures along the Sea of Japan coast.
People in these areas are advised to evacuate immediately.
Dangerous tsunami waves were possible within 300 kilometers of the earthquake's epicenter along the Japanese coast.
"Like a hurricane": Moose fight destroys women's yard
CTV News on Youtube has the story.
Two moose wrought havoc at a home in Homer, Alaska, getting into a bloody fight that caused significant damage to a woman’s yard and car.
The so-called animal: "moose" or "elk" is the only species in the genus Alces. The moose is the tallest and second-largest land mammal in North America, only falling short of the American buffalo in terms of mass. It is the largest and heaviest extant species of deer. Most adult male moose have distinctive broad, palmate ("open-hand shaped") antlers; most other members of the deer family have antlers with a dendritic ("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit boreal forests and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Hunting and other human activities have caused a reduction in the size of the moose's range over time. It has been reintroduced to some of its former habitats. Currently, most moose occur in Canada, Alaska, New England (with Maine having the most of the contiguous United States), New York State, Fennoscandia, the Baltic states, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
The moose food diet consists of both terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. Predators of moose include wolves, bears, humans, wolverines (rarely), and (while swimming in the ocean) orcas. Unlike most other deer species, moose do not form herds and are solitary animals, aside from calves who remain with their mother until the cow begins estrus (typically at 18 months after birth of the calf), at which point the cow chases them away. Although generally slow-moving and sedentary, moose can become aggressive, and move quickly if angered or startled. Their mating season in the autumn indeed features energetic fights between males competing for a female.
What are extant animals:
Extant describes species that DO exist. Virtually every creature you hear about on Something Wild is extant. Extinct and extant are opposites, leaving extirpation somewhere in the middle. Biologists use extirpated to describe species that no longer exist in a specific region.
Tom Heap hears about the green revolution that could soon put China’s emissions in decline, and sees how Portsmouth is tackling the issue of dirty air from shipping.
So-called Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the (planet earth's) greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, is one of the most important factors in causing climate change. The largest emitters are China followed by the United States. The United States has higher emissions per capita. The main producers fueling the emissions globally are large oil and gas companies. Emissions from human activities have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 50% over pre-industrial levels. The growing levels of emissions have varied, but have been consistent among all greenhouse gases. Emissions in the 2010s averaged 56 billion tons a year, higher than any decade before. Indeed, total cumulative emissions from 1870 to 2017 were 425±20 GtC (1539 GtCO2) from fossil fuels and industry, and 180±60 GtC (660 GtCO2) from land use change. Land-use change, such as deforestation, caused really about 31% of cumulative emissions over 1870-2017, coal 32%, oil 25%, and gas 10%.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is really the main greenhouse gas resulting from human activities. It accounts for more than half of warming. Methane (CH4) emissions have almost the same short-term impact. Nitrous oxide (N2O) and fluorinated gases (F-gases) play a lesser role in comparison.
Electricity generation, heat and transport are major emitters; overall energy is responsible for around 73% of emissions. Deforestation and other changes in land use also emit carbon dioxide and methane. The largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions is agriculture, closely followed by gas venting and fugitive emissions from the fossil-fuel industry. The largest agricultural methane source is livestock. Agricultural soils emit nitrous oxide partly due to fertilizers. Similarly, fluorinated gases from refrigerants play an outsized role in total human emissions.
The current CO2-equivalent emission rates averaging 6.6 tonnes per person per year, are well over twice the estimated rate 2.3 tons required to stay within the 2030 Paris Agreement increase of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) over pre-industrial levels. Annual per capita emissions in the industrialized countries are typically as much as ten times the average in developing countries.
The important carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) serves as an indicator to compare the amount of greenhouse gases emitted over the entire life cycle from the production of a good or service along the supply chain to its final consumption. Carbon accounting (or greenhouse gas accounting) is a framework of various methods to measure and track how much greenhouse gas an organization emits.
South China Morning Post Channel on Youtube has the story.
More than 70 crocodiles escaped a breeding farm in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on September 12, 2023, when rainfall brought on by Typhoon Haikui caused a lake to overflow, according to authorities. An emergency team has been dispatched but dozens of crocodiles are still missing, as floodwaters pose a challenge to the operation.
A bear that became a social media celebrity after visitors claimed it looked like a “human in disguise” has been filmed appearing to wave at zoo-goers.
Some 20,000 visitors are heading to Hangzhou Zoo in eastern China every day - an increase of almost a third - since the sun bear, known as Angela, went viral.
Footage has now emerged of the bear standing on its hind legs waving its right paw to the people gathered around its enclosure.
The so-called sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus Helarctos) occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly 70 cm (28 in) at the shoulder and weighing 25–65 kg (55–143 lb). It is stockily built, with large paws, strongly curved claws, small, rounded ears and a short snout. The fur is generally jet black, but can vary from grey to red. The sun bear really gets its name from its characteristic colorful orange to cream-coloured chest patch. Its unique morphology—inward-turned front feet, flattened chest, powerful forelimbs with large claws—suggests adaptations for climbing.
The most arboreal (tree-living) of all bears, the sun bear is an excellent climber and sunbathes or sleeps in trees 2 to 7 m (7 to 23 ft) above the ground. It is mainly active during the day, though nocturnality might be more common in areas frequented by humans. Sun bears tend to remain solitary, but sometimes occur in twos (such as a mother and her cub). They do not seem to hibernate, possibly because food resources are available the whole year throughout the range. Being omnivores, sun bears' diet includes ants, bees, beetles, honey, termites, and plant material such as seeds and several kinds of fruits; vertebrates such as certain birds and deer are also eaten occasionally. They breed throughout the year; individuals become sexually mature at two to four years of age. Litters comprise one or two cubs that remain with their mother for around three years.
The range of the sun bear is bounded by northeastern India to the north then south to southeast through Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam in mainland Asia to Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia to the south. These bears are threatened by heavy deforestation and illegal hunting for food and the wildlife trade; they are also harmed in conflicts with various humans when they enter farmlands, plantations, and orchards. The global population is estimated to have declined by 35% since the 1990s. The IUCN has listed this species as vulnerable.
