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Sometimes, having a sweet tooth can get you into trouble.

That was the problem for one little possum in Loganholme, Australia, last week when he stumbled upon an open jar of Nutella that someone had thrown away.

Hoping to get a taste of what was left in the jar, he stuck his head inside and then couldnt get it back out.

Credit: RSPCA Queensland

A man walking his dog saw the struggling critter, and knew right away he needed help. Brushtail possums typically eat sweet eucalyptus, flowers and fruits so it was no surprise he wanted to snack on the sweet hazelnut spread.

The man called the local RSPCA and wildlife officer Chantel Sibilla was on the scene to help the troubled animal within minutes.

I wanted to call him Nutty the moment I saw him there, she told The Jimboomba Times. You know you have a problem when you end up in a situation like that.

Credit: RSPCA Queensland

Sibilla put some grease around the neck of the jar and gently twisted it off from around the possums head. Theres no way of knowing how long the little guy had been stuck but if it had been much longer, he likely wouldnt have made it.

The most amazing thing was the way he tried to help me out, grabbing the jar with his little paws so he helped me lever it off, Sibilla said. Possums can scream and carry on, but not this little guy. He seemed perfectly happy where he was.

Sibilla wrapped the possum in a towel and brought him to the animal hospital for a checkup. They had to make sure he wasnt injured or dehydrated from his sticky run-in before releasing him back to the wild.
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Mangroves, the dense tangled forests that buffer land from sea in many coastal areas of the tropics, are renowned for their ability to store carbon and help fight climate change. But new research finds mangroves may emit more carbon as methane than previously estimated emissions made even worse by deforestation. The ability of mangroves to sequester carbon in the ground termed blue carbon is unparalleled, with previous research finding a tract of mangrove can bury 40 times more carbon than a similarly sized area of rainforest. But what exactly happens to this carbon once its in the ground has been something of a mystery. So scientists at universities in Australia decided to find out by examining the soil carbon stored beneath mangroves in Queensland. Dr. Judith Rosentreter, a coauthor of the study, in a mangrove creek in North Queensland, Australia. Her research interest are in carbon cycling and greenhouse gas emissions from mangrove ecosystems. Photo by Jacob Yeo Their results, published in Science Advances, reveal that mangrove soil carbon doesnt remain stored in perpetuity. Some of it is transformed from carbon dioxide (CO2) to methane (CH4) by tiny microorganisims called archea, and is then released back into the atmosphere. Methane has a much bigger warming impact than carbon dioxide 34 to 86 times more powerful so even a bit of methane has the potential to offset mangrove CO2 storage. Ultimately, the team found that the methane released from mangrove soil carbon offsets blue carbon burial

JAKARTA Twenty-five of the worlds top environmental scientists have lambasted plans to construct a hydroelectric dam in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, because it would threaten the rarest species of great ape on Earth. The scientists, members of the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers (ALERT), outlined their concerns in a letter addressed to President Joko Jokowi Widodo, which was hand-delivered to the office of the presidents chief of staff, or KSP, on July 10. The scientists said the $1.6 billion hydropower project threatened the Batang Toru forest in North Sumatra province, home to the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis). The species was only described last year, but is already teetering on the brink of extinction, as its habitat in the Batang Toru ecosystem continues to be fragmented by infrastructure projects. Over the course of three generations, the population of Tapanuli orangutans has plummeted by 83 percent, leaving fewer than 800 individuals surviving in a tiny tract of forest less than one-fifth the size of the metropolitan area that comprises Indonesias capital, Jakarta. The Batang Toru hydropower project could be the death knell for the Tapanuli orangutan, according to William F. Laurance, a tropical ecologist at Australias James Cook University, who led a major study of the species and described it as the rarest and most gravely endangered great ape on Earth. I cannot imagine anywhere else in the world where a project like this would even be seriously entertained, he told Mongabay by email. The Batang Toru project will slice

Instagram model Katarina Zarutskie was in the Bahamas with her boyfriend when she got into the water with a group of nurse sharks while they were feeding. She wanted to connect with nature, she told SBS News. Then Zarutskie floated on her back amongst the sharks, posing for a photo to share on her Instagram page and something unexpected happened.

I leaned back, and then that shark he came and he bit down on my arm and pulled me under," she told BuzzFeed News. "I am lucky to have my hand.

Credit: Instagram/Katarina Zarutskie

After the incident, Zarutskie released photos of the alleged attack, including a photo of her splashing in the water and an image of her injured arm and she told her story to multiple news outlets.

"At that point your body has so much adrenaline going and you just have to get out of the situation, but I stayed extremely calm," she told BBC News. "I think if someone was screaming and flailing around it definitely could have changed the situation."

Yet shark experts warn not to believe the hype surrounding the viral shark attack photo. Despite the slight injury, they say, Zarutskie was never in any real danger. Nurse sharks are very gentle animals who feed on molluscs, stingrays and small fish and theyve never fatally injured a person.

Credit: Instagram/Katarina Zarutskie

The nurse shark is likely to have pulled the woman underwater in taking an exploratory bite out of curiosity, but because they have sharp teeth this resul...

Weve collected a few stories that were published this week by other news outlets. Tropical forests The Forest Code in Brazil could help both agriculture and the environment, if all of its provisions are carried out (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis/EurekAlert). In just four years, between 2012 and 2016, Australia lost 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 square miles) of forest in the Great Barrier Reef watershed (The Guardian). A Chinese agency allows the trade in the bones of leopards, a species protected under CITES (Conservation Action Trust). Grazing livestock in forests could help boost sustainable agriculture (CIFOR Forests News). Protected forests in India that are farther from roads had 88 percent less deforestation, new research has found (The Hindu). Other news Scientists in Switzerland are combining drone surveys with image analysis to track wildlife in Africa (Swiss National Science Foundation/EurekAlert). A new analysis shows that the chances of contracting Lyme disease are higher in fragmented forests of the eastern U.S. (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies/EurekAlert). Trumps Supreme Court nominee has acknowledged the role of humans in climate change (The Atlantic). What would the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court mean for environmental laws? (The New York Times). Ammonia could be a renewable source of energy (Science Magazine). Several species of whales may have disappeared from the Mediterranean due to hunting by ancient Romans (New Scientist). After centuries of brewing beer, Belgium is becoming a more hospitable place for wine production, thanks to climate change (Reuters). Scientists ask

Plastic waste threatens coral reefs

From an Article by Katherine Bourzac, Chemical & Engineering News, Volume 96 Issue 5 | p. 7 | News of The Week, January 29, 2018

A photograph of a spawning coral with a piece of plastic wrapped around it.

Coral reefs around the world face an existential threat from overfishing, climate change, nutrient runoff, and ocean acidification. Now researchers have added another hazard to the list: plastic waste. In a survey of reefs in the Asia-Pacific region, marine biologists found that contact with plastic garbage increased corals risk of disease from 4 to 89% (Science 2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aar3320).

Researchers and environmentalists have been sounding the alarm about the 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic that lands in the oceans every year. Still, says Douglas Rader, chief oceans scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and one of the studys coleaders, the strong connection between coral disease and plastic was extremely surprising. This is striking, particularly in the context of all the other risks to reefs, he says.

The plastics study, an international effort involving researchers from Cornell University and collaborators in Indonesia, Hawaii, and Australia, studied 159 reefs in Myanmar, Australia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Researchers looked for signs of disease, including bands of necrotic tissue on the corals. They also noted whether the corals were in contact with pieces of plastic 50 mm in diameter or larger. Courtney Couch, a coral disease ecologist at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology who surveyed reefs in Indonesia, says she saw many corals wrapped in plastic fishing lines and plastic bags.

This study is the first to show that plastic waste is associated with risk of disease in a marine organism. Although the researchers didnt establish a mechanism to explain the correlation, Couch notes that plastic ocean trash can carry pathogens. Plastic also can wrap around coral, which causes stress and in turn leaves the organism vulnerable to infection.

Marine chemist Tracy Mincer of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who says he reads studies about plastic in the ocean with a skeptical eye, is convinced. It i...

Madagascar is facing an invasion. Not military, but amphibian. Toxic Asian common toads (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) have spread rapidly around the port city of Toamasina on the countrys east coast. The invasion has raised concerns that the amphibians could take a severe toll on Madagascars wildlife species, approximately 70 percent of which are endemic to the island. A paper published last month vindicates those concerns: through a genetic analysis of 77 Malagasy species, scientists found that just one demonstrated clear resistance to toad toxins. Our findings stress the importance of the timely investment of resources to monitor and control the spread of this alien species in order to prevent a worsening biodiversity crisis in Madagascar, the scientists write in the journal Current Biology. Asian common toads secrete a milky fluid from special glands behind their eyes when threatened. The fluid contains toxins known as cardiac glycosides, which can kill predators, including humans. Toxin-secreting parotid glands are visible as a large sac behind each eye. Image courtesy of JamesReardon.org. If sufficient cardiac glycosides are present, then the affected individual can suffer from an irregular heartbeat, which can lead to cardiac arrest, and death, study co-author Nicholas Casewell, an expert in snake venom with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the U.K., told Mongabay via email. The situation has drawn fearful comparisons to a devastating invasion of toxic cane toads (Rhinella marina) in Queensland, Australia. The species was introduced from South America in 1935 to control agricultural pests. No one foresaw