Here is the first part (of two) of my favorite things to do in the beautiful state of Colorado. This article features Mesa Verde National Park, Pikes Peak, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Four Corners NM, and Aztec Ruins NM. The photos are from our roadtrip in 2004. More »
This week the city of Wageningen has introduced two tunnels under a busy road that allows ringed snakes and salamanders to cross safely. These passageways have been around for toads, but are new for snakes and salamanders. More »
A giant squid of 8.62m (28ft), nicknamed Archie after its Latin name Architeuthis dux, is on display at the Darwin Centre of London’s Natural History Museum. It is one of the biggest and most complete giant squids every found! More »
This morning at 1:16am CET, Earth’s population hit 6.5 billion people. The next benchmark will be six years from now; the Earth will be home to 7 billion people on 18 October 2012. More »
Dutch bird hobbyists, who keep chickens, geese and ducks as pets, are giving their birds to local petting zoos and children’s farms out of fear of bird flu. At farms and petting zoos in cities like the Hague, Apeldoorn and Leideschendam, the pet birds have been tossed into the yard by their owners!
Dutch cars will get a sticker that says how much they pollute. Towns will be able to use this information to change their parking policies; dirtier cars will pay more. More »
Three weeks after Coca-Cola introduced new bottles here in the Netherlands, the soft drink giant raised prices of bottles this week with 40%, while many consumers have complained about the flimsiness of the new one-time-use bottles. More »
This year the Dutch organization for mammal study and protection (VZZ) placed twelve ‘bunkers’ in the natural area Slot Haamstede in the province Zeeland to provide winter shelters for bats. Five bunkers which were placed there earlier are now filled with dozens of bats. The twelve new bat shelters also have some new residents overwintering there, and the VZZ expects the number of bats in all of the bunkers to increase in coming years. In total there are 45 bat shelters at Slot Haamstede, and 26 are hosting bats this winter. More »
Last night a Liberian cargo ship off the coast of the island of Terschelling lost dozens of containers in a heavy storm. The Dutch island’s beaches are now littered with stuff; the lost containers reportedly contained shoes, hammers, corned beef, aluminum suitcases, toys and … hamburgers. The police of the mainland town of Harlingen has sent a ‘mobile unit’ to the island to assist the island’s police force in preventing people from stealing the Liberian hamburgers. More »
Otters are rare in the Netherlands; the last native one was killed in a road accident in 1988. Since 1992 Staatsbosbeheer (National Forest Preservation) has been trying to reintroduce the otter in Dutch waters. Today five new ones were introduced in the Overijssel nature park De Wieden. More »