Two giant tortoises at an Austrian zoo named, Bibi (female) and Poldi (male) have finished their relationship as a couple. The turtles started their romance -115 years- at Basel zoo in Switzerland when they were young.

The world’s oldest animal marriage was about to hit rocky water, after two turtles, living together for over 115 years refused to share their cages. Both tortoises were born around 1887 according to the Austrian zoo.

According to the Austrian Times, the turtles were getting a “divorce”, after Bibi, bit off part of the male turtle, Poldi´s shell. Other attacks from Bibi against her life-long mate were also testified by the zoo. Bibi and Poldi weigh over 200 pounds each, and with horn-rimmed mouths and powerful jaws are capable to harm each other if they wanted to.

Now both turtles are living in different cages despite zoo staff’s efforts trying to reunite Poldi and Bibi with aphrodisiacs and interactive games. Zoo staff told the newspaper Austrian Times that the couple reached the point where “they could not stand each other”.

The idea of long-term relationships and break-ups in the animal kingdom appears bizarre because most reptiles are polygamous. Giant turtles find difficult getting a partner due to the shortage number of these species. Tortoises need 20-25 years in captivity and up to 40 in the wild to reach sexual maturity.

Male turtles show in the wild their power by stretching their necks at the highest point while they open their mouths. Unsuccessful males have been seen in the wild trying to have sex with other males, or even rocks. Coupling may last several hours and after mating, the female digs a deep cylindrical hole with her hind legs, into which she lays up to 16 billiard ball-sized eggs.

Monogamy is completely infrequent for reptiles. For instance, research in 2009 reported that “most female crocodilians prefer to mate over and over with the same male, despite encountering a vast array of eligible alligator each year,” Wired Magazine reported. Studies have shown that some birds who bred successfully with a partner one year have ·divorced” and moved on with another partner in following years.

Giant tortoises are the animals in the world with the longest life spans. The life expectancy of captive giant turtles is over 100 years, compared to a shorter span for those in the wild. For instance, a Galápagos tortoise named Harriet passed away at the age of 175 in 2006. Harriet´s death was associated with a heart failure. In the same year, an Aldabra tortoise called Adwaita died too. It was believed that Adwaita was 250 years old.

The article Two Giant Turtles Break Up After 115 Years Together appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Hidden-camera video secretly shot at a North Carolina Butterball factory farm by an undercover investigator with the animal protection organization Mercy For Animals (MFA) has led to felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges of five Butterball employees by state authorities.

Additionally, Dr. Sarah Jean Mason, the director of Animal Health Programs (Poultry Division) with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, has pled guilty to obstruction of justice after admitting to leaking confidential information to Butterball about the criminal cruelty investigation by state law enforcement officials.

MFA’s Executive Director Nathan Runkle will reveal details of the investigation and the organization’s reaction to the animal cruelty charges against Butterball employees tomorrow morning at a news conference.

Date: Thursday, February 16, 2012
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: Hilton North Raleigh-Midtown, Sandalwood Room, 3415 Wake Forest Rd., Raleigh, NC

The names of the Butterball employees charged with criminal activity that have been released so far include Ruben Mendoza, Terry Bernard Johnson, and Jose Garcia. The charges stem from an MFA undercover investigation at a Butterball turkey semen collection facility in Shannon, North Carolina between November and December of 2011. The shocking undercover footage reveals:

• Workers violently kicking and stomping on birds, dragging them by their fragile wings and necks, and maliciously throwing turkeys onto the ground or into transport trucks in full view of company management;
• Employees bashing in the heads of live birds with metal bars, leaving many to slowly suffer and die from their injuries;
• Turkeys covered in flies, living in their own waste, unable to access food or water and suffering from severe feather loss and necrotic (dead) muscles and skin;
• Birds suffering from serious untreated illnesses and injuries, including open sores, infections, rotting eyes, and broken bones; and
• Severely injured turkeys, unable to stand up or walk, left to die without any veterinary care, because treating sick or injured birds was too costly and time consuming, as the farm manager explained to MFA’s investigator.

Mercy For Animals’ undercover video shows that the lives of turkeys in Butterball’s factory farms are brutal and filled with fear, violence and prolonged suffering. Butterball’s turkeys have been selectively bred to grow so large, so quickly, that many of them suffer from painful bone defects, hip joint lesions, crippling foot and leg deformities, and fatal heart attacks.

Due to the company’s lack of meaningful animal welfare policies, training or procedures, Butterball subjects countless turkeys to immeasurable cruelty and neglect each year. ”We commend law enforcement for taking swift and decisive action in bringing these animal abusers to justice,” said Runkle. “These arrests should send a clear message to the meat industry that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated.”

The article Butterball Employees Arrested for Cruelty to Animals appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

“Bluebirds are early nesters, so now is the time to put up new nest boxes, as well as to clean and repair existing boxes,” said Dan Brauning, Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Division chief.  “These bluebird boxes enable Pennsylvanians to help wildlife in a natural way.

“Also, building nesting boxes is a great project for individuals, families or civic organizations interested in connecting with wildlife.  These box designs are proven to attract bluebirds and other native species, such as tree swallows and house wrens.”

Bluebirds live in open country, and are a beautiful songbird native to Pennsylvania. Bluebirds are cavity nesters and have become less common due to a lack of suitable nest sites.  Many nest sites have been lost through changing land-use practices, as well as to urban and suburban sprawl.  But the introductions of house sparrows and starlings in 1851 and 1890 have been the primary reasons for the bluebirds’ decline, as these non-native species took over native bluebird nesting cavities.

The bluebird boxes offered by the Game Commission include an opening that is the prescribed one-and-one-half inches in diameter.  This precludes starlings from being able to enter.  However, house sparrows still may be able to enter the boxes.  If this occurs, the house sparrow nests should be removed immediately.

Boxes should be erected on a free-standing pole three to five feet above the ground – facing south, if possible – and facing a nearby tree or fence where young birds can safely land on their initial flights from the box.  To reduce predation and competition from other species, no perch should be placed on the box; bluebirds do not need one.  Boxes placed in pairs, about 20 feet apart, may help reduce competition from swallows.

The Game Commission’s Howard Nursery has been manufacturing bluebird nest boxes and box kits for more than a quarter century. Each year, about 9,000 boxes are manufactured there and sold or provided to Pennsylvanians to help bluebirds. That annual influx of new nest boxes helps ensure Pennsylvania remains a “keystone state” in bluebird conservation.

The article Bluebird Nest Boxes Connect Pennsylvanians with Wildlife appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.