Wild lions robbed by people
July 27th, 2009Hungry villagers in the Bénoué National Park, Cameroon are stealing meat from wild lions. Kleptoparasitism, the stealing of food from another, is well known between top predators such as lions, hyenas and cheetahs, but people seem to be doing it more and more. Researchers suspect the practice may be much more common than thought, and are concerned that it could put under even more stress the dwindling numbers of lions in Cameroon. They state that “lions have to spent an enormous energy effort to capture the same amount of prey, if their prey gets stolen,… This may have a serious impact on a lion population which is already under serious stress by human encroachment and may eventually contribute to more rapid extinction.” BBC
With breathtaking views of the Himalayas, you can soar alongside Egyptian Vultures and Black Kites who will approach to take food out of your hand. They are specially trained rescue birds who can’t be returned to the wild. Among them is Kevin the young Egyptian Vulture, famous for his scrapes with Steppe Eagles. The ultimate aim of the venture is to draw attention to the serious decline of Asian vultures, being poisoned to extinction by vet-prescribed drug Diclofenac. Visit 
This year breeding conditions have been exceptionally good for budgerigars in Queensland, Australia. Heavy rain and river flooding revived the land, providing plenty of grass seeds for the birds to feast on. When all the available trees with the best nesting sites had been taken, budgerigars were laying their eggs on the ground. And now local people are marvelling at the unprecedented size of the flocks, turning the sky green. 
Customs officials first suspected the 22-year old Norwegian, who’d just stepped off a ferry from Denmark, when they spotted a tarantula scuttling inside his bag. They then noticed “his whole body was in constant motion”. The wriggling movement was due to the 14 baby royal pythons tucked away in socks strapped to the man’s torso. That wasn’t all: when the officials made him drop his trousers they found 10 cans taped to his legs, each containing an albino leopard gecko. As Norway bans the import of reptiles, including unendangered species like these, he has been fined 12,500 Norwegian crowns (£1,800). 
