tagged w/ Heartbreaking
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Just how far would you ride your bike to visit your old girlfriend, who might or might not want to see you? "The Bike Ride" tells the seemingly simple tale of one guy's long 50-mile bike journey to pay a surprise visit to his girlfriend. And indeed, she's very much taken by surprise! It's a dreamlike, dizzying head trip, which very sadly ends in heartbreak.
This piece includes great images, as well as the humorously bittersweet animation, "The Bike Ride."Just how far would you ride your bike to visit your old girlfriend, who might or might... more
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Struggling against the waves, this polar bear faces almost certain death after becoming lost at sea in the Arctic.
It is one of a group of nine to have plunged into the ocean after the ice float they lived on melted.
The bears were spotted miles from their normal hunting ground by U.S. government oil survey scientists flying over Alaska's Chukchi Sea.
They said the creatures' homing instinct has sent them north towards the edge of the polar cap instead of 60 miles south towards the nearest land.
However, because of global warming, the ice cap has melted so much that it is around 400 miles away - too far for the bears to reach.
Although one group of polar bears is known to have swum 100 miles, they arrived at their destination exhausted, with several drowning along the way.
Animal charity, the World Wide Fund for Nature, said it was considering asking the U.S. government to send a ship, like a modern Noah’s Ark, to rescue some of the bears.
Yesterday, researchers also warned they feared the annual ice-melt has passed its 'tipping point', where not enough freezes each winter to make up for the previous summer's melt.
Senior scientist Dr Mark Serreze said: ‘The summer melting used to slow down by the beginning of September.
'We thought it was slowing this year, but it’s suddenly sped up instead.'
Professor Richard Steiner, of the University of Alaska, said: 'Polar bears need sea ice, sea ice is decaying, and the bears are in very serious trouble.'
Experts with WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, fear the bears can’t make it.
Polar bears are strong swimmers but would not be able to make it that far.
In May, the US Department of the Interior listed polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act because the Arctic ice they hunt on is melting so quickly.
Margaret Williams, Director of WWF’s Alaska office, said: ‘The Arctic is a vast ocean and to find nine bears swimming in one area is extremely worrying because it means that dozens more are probably in the same predicament.’
Her colleague, WWF polar bear biologist Geoff York, said: ‘As climate change continues to dramatically disrupt the Arctic, polar bears and their cubs are being forced to swim longer distances to find food and habitat.’
The Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast is home to one of two populations of Alaska polar bears.Struggling against the waves, this polar bear faces almost certain death after... more
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3 years ago
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A female gorilla has been photographed grieving over the loss of her baby, showing a strength of emotion rarely witnessed in the animal world.
Gorilla Gana, 11, was left shattered in her compound at the zoo in Muenster in northern Germany at the weekend when her three-month-old baby Claudio suddenly died.
Visitors wept as Gana held her lifeless child up in the air, vainly seeking to restore movement to his lolling head, his limp arms.
She put the baby on her back and walked around, stopping to look at him after a few paces to see if he had recovered.
"Claudio died in his mother's arms, with think from some heart defect," said Joerg Adler, the zoo's director.
"On Wednesday he gave the impression to keepers that he wasn't feeling too well.
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"On Friday he wasn't eating or drinking properly and seemed to be growing weaker.
"We were keeping a close eye on him but suddenly, on Saturday morning, he died."
The death of Claudio is a double tragedy for Gana; for reasons unknown to scientists, she rejected her six week old daughter Mary Zwo last year.
She was moved to a zoo in Stuttgart where she is healthy and one of the star attractions.
By Monday morning the zoo keepers were still unable to get to the body of Claudio, so fiercely is Gana guarding him.
"In the wild a gorilla mother can keep hold of a dead baby for weeks," added Herr Adler.
"We will carry out an autopsy on the body when we can.
"Gana doesn't know it, but the whole of Germany is mourning with her. She is so sad right now."A female gorilla has been photographed grieving over the loss of her baby, showing a... more
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3 years ago
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