Recent Animal News

Rare dolphins foundIt was mainly a good week for our animal friends as the Wildlife Conservation Society announced that about 6,000 rare Irrawaddy dolphins were recently discovered deep in Bangladesh's Sundarbans mangrove forest and the adjacent freshwater of the Bay of Bengal. However, the population of these animals are still in danger because of climate change and fishing nets.

 
The dolphins can grow up to eight feet long and they like to live in large rivers, estuaries, and freshwater lagoons in south and southeast Asia. They are related toorca whales, but before this discovery, the largest known populations of the species numbered in the low hundreds. This find gives hope that there are more of the animals out there.

The Wildlife Conservation Society has asked Bangladeshi authorities to open a sanctuary for the species in the Sundarbans mangrove forest.

 

Brullie took his surgery bravelyMeanwhile, in Johannesburg, South Africa, a giant bullfrog named Brullie must have a good medical plan as his broken leg has been surgically repaired with a steel pin.

The frog was under for two hours during the operation that saw an inch-long metal pin inserted into his lower leg, which was shattered after being chewed on by a neighbour's dog last month. 

Brullie’s owner Anne Mearns said people thought she was crazy to have the frog fixed, but she couldn’t stand to see him in so much pain so she begged her veterinarian to perform the operation onBrullie rather than put him to sleep. She said the vet was accustomed to saving cats and dogs and was hesitant to operate on the 25-year-old frog at first, but eventually agreed to do it for free.

Some watered-down dog anaesthetic was rubbed into Brullie's skin to knock him out for the procedure then the vet placed the tiny steel rod over the broken right leg bone and sewed him up with nine stitches after the successful operation.Brullie is now hopping down the road to recovery and x-rays indicate he'll be just as good as new in no time.
 
It’s a good thing that Brullie didn’t croak (pun intended) as he is one of a shrinking species of bullfrogs which is found only in wetlands across southern Africa. Anne said whenBrullie is healed, she will release him into his natural habitat.

 

On the creepier side of things, it is believed that one of the most deadly spiders in the world was found in the produce section of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, grocery store.

An employee came across a spider crawling around in a bunch of bananas from Honduras on March 29th and caught it in a container.

 

The spider was sent to the University of Tulsa animal facilities and was identified as a Brazilian wandering spider, one of the most lethal in the world as it can possibly kill a person in about 25 minutes if there is no antidote available.

 

However, a Tulsa Zoo official said after viewing video and photos, he believed it was a harmless Huntsman spider. Unfortunately, the spider was destroyed for safety reasons before it could be positively identified.