Subject: Wildlife

• Flipper Rules OK

  Scientists testing/messing with dolphins at Disney EPCOT have taught them to sing the Batman theme song: "The dolphin was reinforced for producing a specific rhythm to a specific object," says Harley. "For example, when we presented him with a Batman doll, he received a fish for producing a specific rhythm, in this case, a short sound and then a long one." "If you recall the original Batman TV series musical intro you'll probably remember the way they sang 'Bat-maaaaaaaan'," she adds. The

  November 13, 2006

• Uncommonly Effective Cougar Repellant

  The 241 toll road is exceeding all expectations for its ability to exterminate wildlife. As Scott Giffin revealed back in 1994 (Kill The Cougar, 6.10.04), toll roads through key animal habitat make for more roadkill than the Basra Turnpike. Yesterday's Register supported this observation when Erin Uy noted that a 200-pound female mountain lion was struck and killed in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. "It's not very common for mountain lions to be killed by cars", according to Dept. of Fish

  April 20, 2006

• TV is Stupid

  "More bars in more places. That's what people have come to expect from Cingular." Bullshit. That's what my parents have come to expect from ME. Shame on Cingular for appealing to alcoholics. Sorry, but I just hate commercials these days. If it's not ambiguous word usage, it's terrifying paranoia-inducing rhetoric. "Midas. Who's counting on your brakes?" Those Midas commercials are priceless. A kid crosses the street in front of a woman at a stop sign. Suddenly, he turns around - he's droppe

  September 9, 2006

• Saturday's Headlines & Surprises: 'Stinky' White House

  777: The Gabrielino-Tongva tribe is coming to Garden Grove with a huge bag of Halloween goodies. What's the treat? $78 million-a-year to city coffers, 10,000 permanent new jobs and college scholarships to every graduating high school student in the city. The trick? Let the tribe--and some guys named Guido, Sal and Vito--build two Las Vegas-style casinos, 7,500 slot machines, two luxury hotels and a 10,000-seat stadium near Disneyland. Reporter Dave McKibben write in today's Times that the plan

  July 28, 2007

• The Aquarium of The Pacific's Newest Attractions

  Yesterday was a perfect day in sunny, beautiful Long Beach to go swimming with the fishes at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Well, I didn’t go swimming personally, but I could have. Swimming in the shark tank is just one of the new attractions offered by the aquarium to celebrate its tenth anniversary all year long. It's kind of like Disney’s "Year of a Million Dreams," except it really will only last for one year. Though the festivities officially begin today, I was lucky enough to preview th

  June 13, 2008

• And the Wet Envelope Goes to ...

  If you're burning $2,000 for a VIP table at Surfer Magazine's 36th annual Surfer Poll and Video Awards ceremony Tuesday night at the Grove of Anaheim, at least you can feel warmed that you are helping two worthy causes. Proceeds from VIP table sales at the annual, invite-only event that honors the best in surfing and surf cinematography will be shelled out to the Save Trestles campaign and Surfers for Cetaceans. Surfrider Foundation's Save Trestles has been one of the leading opponents of the

  September 3, 2008

• Crystal Method

  November 4, 1999

• Its Food, Stupid!

  May 18, 2000

• The Last Bear

  October 23, 2003

• Letters

  December 11, 2003

• Marine Wildlife Cruises

  April 2, 2009

• The Harkeys' Shamu-Size Scandal May Be More Than A Fluke

  Let's get the obvious out of the way. Someone over at the Register took my advice. How else to explain that their headlines about Dana Point Festival of Whales have evolved from the predictably punny triteness of last week's "Whale of a Festival" to yesterday's far more excellent "Festival of Whales isn't fin-ished"? This really represents a sea change for the newspaper.Diane Harkey. This is the best the Weekly paparazzi (me) could do.Anyways, at the kick-off for the festival last Saturday, your

  March 12, 2009

• Up Clse and Personal

  February 26, 2009

• Playing Hive and Seek With the Backyard Beekeepers

  February 26, 2009

• [Hey, You!] Breaking the Circle of Life

  February 26, 2009

• International Polar Year Speaker

  December 25, 2008

• Fantastic Voyage

  December 11, 2008

• Bread and Butterfly

  July 17, 2008

• Bee Gone

  May 8, 2008

• Bouncy, Trouncy, Flouncy, Pouncy

  January 10, 2008

• Ba-Deep Brapp Boop

  January 10, 2008

• Surf on Our Turf

  December 6, 2007

• Bird Is the Word

  Todd Davis celebrates the sky rat

  October 18, 2007

• Needing a Bigger Boat

  Shark Week

  August 2, 2007

• Holy Stalactites, Batman!

  Bat Walk

  June 21, 2007

• 'Gaff!'

  On deck with weekend warriors angling for the mighty Humboldt squid

  June 21, 2007

• I Was Not a Beaver

  December 14, 2000

• Dance of the Penguin

  That whole talking animal genre? Let's be done with it

  November 16, 2006

• Babar-ians at the Gate

  August 17, 2006

• Dumbo and Dumber

  August 3, 2006

• New Reviews

  April 13, 2006

• Monkey Love

  December 15, 2005

• Patty the Bunny

  August 11, 2005

• Taking Persian Dance Mainstream

  April 28, 2005

• Kill the Cougar

  June 10, 2004

• Animal attacks

  February 12, 2004

• The Lion Speaks Tonight

  January 15, 2004

• Dear Register Reader

  January 15, 2004

• Blood in the Water

  September 11, 2003

• Ratting Out the Mouse

  October 10, 2002

• Shell Shock

  April 4, 2002

• He Shelves Sea Shells By the Seashore

  July 5, 2001

• Letters

  June 28, 2001

• There Goes Peter Cottontail

  May 18, 2000

• Rabbitts Split on Offing Thumper

  May 18, 2000

• The Rabbits Are Coming!

  May 18, 2000

• Shark Summer: Here We Go Again?

  You'll be forgiven if you take a fleeting glance at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific's latest tourist-season promotion and feel deja vu all over again. After all, posters with teeth-blaring maneaters and a "Shark Summer" logo with an ominous fin replacing the "a" in shark do evoke memories of 2001's infamous "Summer of the Shark."For those fortunate to have forgotten that sad chapter in the history of the American media, the Summer of the Shark parlayed a June 2001 bull shark attack that s

  May 6, 2009

• Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

  July 9, 2009

• Duh-Dunt. Duh-Dunt. Duht-Duht-Duht-Duht-Duht-Duht . . .

  The Aquarium of the Pacific in the Long Beach is the only aquarium in the contiguous United States to have a tiger shark on exhibit--and they couldn't be prouder. The 5-foot baby is being studied as tiger sharks are often feared as the second-most dangerous shark in the ocean. They're also among the most endangered. Tiger sharks have slow re-population rates, but that hasn't stopped dickwads from heavily harvesting their fins, meat and livers. Vitamins and other every-day products contain shark

  July 17, 2009

• OC's Brown Pelicans No Longer Endangered. Oh, Really?

  UCI Biology Department A brown pelican acts all pelecanus occidentalis-y along our coast. ​A neighbor of yours is getting either an assist or a death sentence from the federal government. Where's your teabagger now, brown pelican?

  November 12, 2009