Free Republic

The Colombian government has announced a raft of measures to control its growing population of invasive hippos—descendants of animals introduced to the country by the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. Hippos are native to Africa, but in the 1980s, Escobar smuggled four of the animals into Colombia, keeping them at his luxurious country estate, Hacienda Nápoles, in the municipality of Puerto Triunfo—located east of Medellin—which featured a private zoo. As well as the hippos, the zoo housed numerous exotic creatures, including elephants, ostriches, rhinos, giraffes and zebras. Following the death of Escobar, who was killed by Colombian police during a...

Fossils from two giant rhinos dating back about 22 million years have been unearthed in China, according to a study published Thursday. They are among the latest relics of the gigantic animal, which was discovered amid great fanfare early last century. Much larger than modern rhinos, giant rhinos often stood more than 20 feet tall at the shoulder and weighed more than 20 tons, making them bigger than mammoths and the largest land mammal that ever lived.One fossil consists of a skull, jawbone and teeth, and the atlas vertebra — where the head connects to the spine — while the...

In 1973, a teacher named Joan Hodgins took her students on a hike near Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory. In the process, she made history for this chilly region. While exploring the tailings left behind by a now-defunct copper mine, Hodgins and her students stumbled across a few fragments of fossils -- bits and pieces of what seemed to be teeth alongside pieces of bone. The ancient fragments of teeth were so small and in such bad shape that "most paleontologists may not have picked them up," said Jaelyn Eberle, a curator of fossil vertebrates at the University of Colorado...

A lot of times I leave TV on just to keep the pets from getting too lonely but if I am not careful my DVR will change to Fox News. Therefore, I get a little exposure even though I've sworn off TV news. I highly recommend it. But just catching bits and pieces, let's hope the Senate will be a bit more pro-Trump in the new session. This media hounds should be charged with treason IMHO. And OK, we lost the House. Thanks, RHINO's! 45 PUBBIES suffering from PTSD, that is post-traumatic PRESS syndrome, choose NOT to run fearing the...

The rock carvings -- known as petroglyphs -- have been discovered in their thousands atop hillocks in the Konkan region of western Maharashtra. Mostly discovered in the Ratnagiri and Rajapur areas, a majority of the images etched on the rocky, flat hilltops remained unnoticed for thousands of years... animals, birds, human figures and geometrical designs are all depicted. The way the petroglyphs have been drawn, and their similarity to those found in other parts of the world, have led experts to believe that they were created in prehistoric times and are possibly among the oldest ever discovered. "Our first deduction...

Poachers have broken into a zoo near Paris and shot a rhinoceros dead before stealing his hugely valuable horn, police revealed today. In the first case of its kind ever in Europe, the four-year-old was found dead in Thoiry, west of the French capital. The raid happened late on Monday night, and it was not until 9am today that zoo keepers made the horrifying discovery.

Well I see I had my days mixed up; the Wons aren’t blowing out of town till today. I guess Barry wanted to hang around to celebrate his complete co-opting of the Republican party. co-option: 1. The process by which a group subsumes or assimilates a smaller or weaker group with related interests; or, similarly, the process by which one group gains converts from another group by attempting to replicate the aspects that they find appealing without adopting the full program or ideal. 2.The capacity of intracellular parasites to use host-cell proteins to complete their vital cycle. Viruses use this...

It would be so refreshing to hear President Barack Obama tell the truth, both about the way things really are and what that means to us. But rest assured, this will never happen. For Obama practices only deception, by telling us what he wants us to think and what he wants us to think it means. This man, I believe, considers the American people to be stupid; unable to think unless he directs the thinking process for us. It is intentional deceit on his part. Those who are familiar with Islamic Sharia Law understand the very significant role that the...

Windhoek (AFP) - A US hunter who paid $350,000 to kill a black rhinoceros in Namibia successfully shot the animal on Monday, saying that his actions would help protect the critically-endangered species. Corey Knowlton, from Texas, downed the rhino with a high-powered rifle after a three-day hunt through the bush with government officials on hand to ensure he killed the correct animal. Knowlton, 36, won the right to shoot the rhino at an auction in Dallas in early 2014 -- attracting fierce criticism from many conservationists and even some death threats. He took a CNN camera crew on the hunt...

Political analyst Dmitry Drobnitsky told AiF.ru what fate awaits city Ferguson after the riots and who is trying to benefit on the death of Michael Brown. November 24th jury indemnify police Darren Wilson, who in August has shot 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown. Acquittal sparked massive protests and riots. The family of the deceased, as well as thousands of protesters, convinced that the slaying was racially motivated entirely and wasn't investigated properly. Is it possible to re-examine the case which is already closed,AiF.ru asked political analyst Dmitry Drobnitsky. Natalia Kozhina, AiF.ru: Dmitry, in your opinion, what are the real sources of...

From:'info@nrsc.org' David, I'm really disappointed — and worried. I've been counting on your support to end Harry Reid's disastrous control of the U.S. Senate on November 4th. Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Ben Carson, Mike Lee, and John McCain have all taken the time to contact you and ask for your support — but unless my information is wrong we haven't heard from you. We've got less than 20 days until Election Day — I'm not sure what else to do. Are you sure you really want to see Barack Obama's Harry Reid-ruled rubberstamp majority in the Senate continue for two...

"It is becoming clear to me -- not that it needs to be any more clear -- that the Republican establishment does not want to run against Obamacare." And as if to prove that Rush is right, Republican consultant Matthew Dowd on This Week With George Stephanopoulos rejected Obamacare as the reason for the victory of David Jolly over Alex Sink in last week's special congressional election in Florida. On Friday, Rush Limbaugh spoke extensively on his broadcast about how establishment Republicans want to downplay Obamacare as an issue in both the recent election as well in the congressional elections...

Total of 688 rhino deaths passes last year's record, with three months of the year still to goNearly 700 rhinos have been killed in South Africa in 2013, making it the bloodiest year yet for rhino poaching. Last year, a record 668 rhinos were poached for their horns, but that figure has already been eclipsed with the deaths of 688 rhinos with three months left of the year, figures from the South African government show. There are around 18,000 white and 4,000 black rhinos in the country. The dramatic growth in rhino poaching in South Africa, up from just 13...

The University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies’ Terrapin One drone is meant to let South African poachers know what “fear the turtle” is all about. On May 26, during the drone’s first night flight, it aided in capturing a group of poachers spotted threatening a mother rhinoceros and her calf. The project — which programs the movements of the drone, loaned to the team by Denver-based manufacturer Falcon UAV — is the creation of Tom Snitch, a member of the Board of Visitors of UMIACS, and institute scientists. Based on the data they gathered during test flights in...

DUBLIN, Ireland, - An Irish National Museum official says four rhinoceros heads stolen from a museum warehouse are probably headed to the Chinese medicine trade. Nigel Monaghan, a museum keeper, told the Irish Independent the heads were put in storage last year because of a rash of thefts from museums elsewhere in Europe. The Collections Resource Center in Swords, a Dublin suburb, was robbed Wednesday night by three masked men who overpowered and tied up a security guard. "We took a decision a couple of years ago, largely on garda [police] advice and also from monitoring the traffic internationally, following...

Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”) remains broadly unpopular across America. More and more Americans are now feeling its impact–from job losses and part-time downgrades, to insurance policy changes and violations of religious liberties, to state budget strains from Medicaid expansions. And Americans didn’t like these impacts. Most Americans still believe that healthcare should be controlled by patients and doctors, not by the government. Therefore, we should re-start efforts to repeal ObamaCare in its entirety this year, next year, and until we are successful. However, in the meantime, there is more we...

The preserved body of a woolly rhinoceros has revealed new insights into how this now extinct giant animal once lived. The woolly rhino was once one of the most abundant large mammals living in Eurasia, but only a handful of preserved carcasses have been found. Now an analysis of a female woolly rhino found preserved in Siberia reveals that the animal was a herbivore that grazed mainly on cereals, and was similar in size to today's Javan rhino. However, it was slow to reproduce, had a short stubby tail and ears, and was likely driven to extinction in part due...

(CNN) – The Republican mayor of San Diego has announced plans to air an ad advocating for same-sex marriage rights during next week's Republican National Convention in Tampa. The spot, titled "Family and Freedom," comes after the Republican Party developed its official plank on gay marriage, which pushes for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marriage. The platform is expected to be officially confirmed at the convention next week. The Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry said they will run the spot from Monday through Thursday next week in a $30,000 television ad buy in the Tampa...

New book details last efforts to save the animal By Reuters Published Thursday, June 14, 2012 There was a narrow window of opportunity to save Africa's northern white rhinos from extinction but bureaucratic ineptitude slammed it shut and the species has now almost certainly vanished from the wild. The last-ditch effort to save the animal in its final Congolese refuge is detailed in a new book, "The Last Rhinos," by South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, who died of a heart attack in early March just weeks before it was published. Anthony, who famously rescued the animals of the Baghdad zoo...

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is officially declaring the western black rhino of Africa extinct. In its latest assessment of the situation, the IUCN says two other sub-species of rhinoceros also are close to extinction. Despite the action of conservation programs, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature warns many sub-species of rhinos may soon be a thing of the past. The deputy director of IUCN’s Global Species program, Jean-Christophe Vie, tells VOA poaching is the main threat to the survival of the rhinoceros. “People just shooting them to take their horn. So, that is it,"...