Animals
A cat has caused a major fire at a power plant in southern Iran, according to media reports. According to the report, the animal had entered the power plant on Charg Island on Saturday night and then continued to the area of the safety box. For reasons unknown so far, this led to a short circuit, a cable fire and ultimately to the major fire, it said.
Fire department emergency personnel were able to extinguish the fire, but the power plant had to be shut down for several hours. Accordingly, the more than 10,000 inhabitants of the island had no electricity on Saturday.
What is said to be the 'smallest reptile on earth' - that we know of - has been discovered in Madagascar. The reptile, which is a subspecies of the chameleon, is the size of a seed.
With a body size of 13.5mm, the male version of the aptly named 'micro-chameleon' (or Brookesia nana), was discovered by a German-Madagascan expedition. The size from head to toe is 22mm.
Along with the male, a female was also discovered which is considerably bigger than her mate, at 29mm.
The discovery makes the male the smallest of about 11,500 known species of reptiles, according to the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich.
The killing of millions of male chicks in laying hen farming in Germany will be banned from the beginning of 2022. The German government has passed a draft law by Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU). At the end of the year, this common practice is to be ended. Until now, male chicks have been killed immediately after hatching because raising them is economically unviable.
Gorillas can contract Covid-19. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) today announced confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in three gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in California. These are the first gorillas in the United States to be confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Employees of a forestry authority in India have built a bridge made of jute ropes and bamboo planks over a road in the jungle. This should make the way to the other side safe for small animals.
Further large green bridges are being planned - the first is to be built over the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. A total of five such green bridges are to be built by 2024.
The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has announced that twelve people have been infected with a mutated version of Covid-19 that has been transmitted from mink to human. The mutated Covid-19 version is feared to be a greater public health risk and could cause possible interference with a future vaccine.
The entire Danish herd of 15 million mink will therefore be culled to prevent the mutated Covid-19 version from spreading further.