The second unexplained mass bird death within a week after the one in Arkansas has been discovered in the southern US, this time in the state of Louisiana, officials said Jan. 4.
The second incident affected some 500 birds which were discovered dead in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, said Olivia Watkins of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Watkins said an investigation was underway into the cause of the deaths, which occurred just a few days after thousands of birds were discovered dead in neighboring Arkansas.
“We sent samples to a lab in Missouri and are waiting to get some results,” she said.
Nancy Ledbetter at the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission said officials in that state were awaiting test results to find the cause of death of as many as 5,000 blackbirds in the small town of Beebe as well as deaths of 80,000 to 100,000 fish found floating in the Arkansas River about 160km (100 miles) away.
“We still don’t believe the (fish and bird deaths) are related,” she said.
As to the incident in Louisiana, she said, “We don’t expect that to be related either.”
Officials said earlier that some type of disturbance -- possibly fireworks on New Year’s Eve -- might have provoked the birds to take flight in the dark. Because blackbirds have poor night vision they may have died after bumping into houses, trees and other birds in their fright.
Arkansas officials said preliminary testing showed no signs of disease in the dead birds and that they died of “acute physical trauma.”
(AFP)
美國官員一月四日表示,繼上次阿肯色州群鳥墜亡的事件不到一星期,原因不詳的異象二度出現在美國南方路易斯安那州。
路易斯安那州野生動物及漁業部門的歐莉維亞‧華金斯說,約五百隻鳥被發現陳屍在路易斯安那州潘特康勃郡。
華金斯說,當局正在調查鳥的死因,數天前,有數千隻鳥在鄰近阿肯色州墜亡。
她說:「我們把檢樣送到密蘇里州實驗室,目前正等候結果。」
日前阿肯色州畢比市的小鎮,有五千隻黑鳥墜亡,又在相距一百六十公里(一百哩)外阿肯色河面發現八萬至十萬條魚浮屍。阿肯色州漁獵委員會南西‧萊德貝特表示,阿肯色州官員正等待檢驗結果,找出致死原因。
她說,「我們仍然不相信(魚鳥死因)是相關的。」
關於路易斯安那州的事件,她表示,「我們也不認為這有關聯。」
稍早官員表示,某種型態的干擾,或許是跨年煙火,可能暗夜引發鳥群驚恐。黑鳥在夜裡視力差,因此可能在倉皇中因為撞到房屋、樹木或其他鳥隻而死亡。
阿肯色州官員說初步的檢驗,鳥隻的死因與疾病無關,而是死於「嚴重身體創傷。」
(法新社╱翻譯:林亞蒂)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
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