The Rise of the Coywolves
Like some people who might rather not admit it, wolves faced with a scarcity of potential sexual partners are not beneath lowering their standards. It was desperation of this sort, biologists reckon, that led dwindling wolf populations in southern Ontario to begin, a century or two ago, breeding widely with dogs and coyotes. The clearance of forests for farming, together with the deliberate persecution which wolves often suffer at the hand of man, had made life tough for the species. That same forest clearance, though, both permitted coyotes to spread from their prairie homeland into areas hitherto exclusively lupine, and brought the dogs that accompanied the farmers into the mix.
Interbreeding between animal species usually leads to offspring less vigorous than either parent—if they survive at all. But the combination of wolf, coyote and dog DNA that resulted from this reproductive necessity generated an exception. The consequence has been booming numbers of an extraordinarily fit new animal (see picture) spreading through the eastern part of North America. Some call this creature the eastern coyote. Others, though, have dubbed it the “coywolf”. Whatever name it goes by, Roland Kays of North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, reckons it now numbers in the millions.
The mixing of genes that has created the coywolf has been more rapid, pervasive and transformational than many once thought. Javier Monzón, who worked until recently at Stony Brook University in New York state (he is now at Pepperdine University, in California) studied the genetic make-up of 437 of the animals, in ten north-eastern states plus Ontario. He worked out that, though coyote DNA dominates, a tenth of the average coywolf’s genetic material is dog and a quarter is wolf. Read more at Greater than the sum of its parts
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Couple Caught Conducting Santeria Ritual in Cemetery
Police detained a man and a woman on suspicion of desecrating a grave in Alicante cemetery with the purpose of carrying out a cult ritual to strengthen their relationship.
The alarm was raised when cemetery staff on the morning of Saturday February 13th discovered a tomb had been broken open and parts of a corpse scattered across the crowd.
Among the bones were two voodoo dolls tied together, a candle and some piles of rice, beans, sweetcorn and noodles as well as two small plastic cups filled with rum, according to the Alicante-based Diario Información.
A 37-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman were arrested and admitted that they had carried out a dawn ritual intended to "break the bond" between the woman and her ex-partner so that the couple could be happy together.
National Police said that the man was a follower of Santeria, an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions that draws on Roman Catholic elements.
It is the second case of desecration in Alicante cemetery since the start of the year. In early January, municipal staff discovered a tomb had been broken into and a the skull removed and placed on top of the coffin with a candle at its feet. Staff suspect that incident to be a prank. - Couple arrested in Spain over graveyard 'voodoo' love ritual
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'I was abducted at top-secret US military base'
A children's author claims to have been abducted by aliens at the notorious Area 51 military base and warned by the crew of a UFO that landed at UK paranormal hotspot Warminster that the world could end.
Mike Oram who has penned the kids' books The Strange World of Jimmy Hayes and The Zen of Ben claims he and wife Fran Oram were "taken" when they visited the mysterious US military top secret base Area 51 in Nevada.
Mr Oram told a conference to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Warminster mass UFO sightings he was a so-called alien contactee.
In 1965 the Wiltshire country town made global headlines and became a destination for UFO hunters following a huge amount of sightings of flying saucers, lights and eerie noises that "stopped cars" and "killed birds".
Mr Oram, a speaker at the commemorative event, said: "I have had contact since I was a child and it still goes on."
The Cockney claims to have a "space brother" an alien who watches over him like the so-called "spirit guides" which psychic mediums claim to contact.
He said he and his wife once saw an enormous "UFO mothership" on the border of Essex and London.
But the musician and landscape gardener claimed the most terrifying experience they suffered was after visiting the outskirts of Area 51 in the Nevada Desert during 2004.
Area 51 is a top-secret US military base, where UFO conspiracists claim the authorities conceal evidence of aliens visiting Earth from the public.
Mr Oram said their "ordeal" began after they approached the edge of the top security base and photographed it despite warning signs prohibiting this.
They were then allegedly tailed by a truck which mysteriously disappeared in the desert after they thought it shot at them, puncturing a tyre. Read more at AREA 51: 'I see aliens and was abducted at top-secret US military base'
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