Toronto Zoo disclosed a cyberattack on Monday, after first detecting it last week and working to mitigate the impact. The zoo reassured the public that the attack did not impact animal wellbeing and support staff, but it was still determining possible consequences for human visitors.
Canada's largest zoo is investigating the attacker's motives and possible damage to its systems. It's unclear if any guest, member, donor or employee records were impacted. Toronto Zoo did, however, say it does not store any credit card information, so past visitors wouldn't have to worry about that. The zoo remains open for normal operations, and its website is still up and running.
"Unfortunately, these incidents are becoming more and more common and we are grateful we took steps over the past few years to upgrade our technology infrastructure," Toronto Zoo said in a statement. It contacted the city, local police and third-party experts to help with its investigations.
But questions remain, like why would attackers target a zoo? Money usually motivates hackers, and the zoo does bring in a lot. Besides millions in donations for various projects and government grants, it also generates revenue from its 750,000 visitors each year.
Zoos have been a target of attacks in the past, too. A cyberattack hit ZooTampa in July 2023 and the Louisville Zoo in 2022, allegedly targeting visitors' personal information. In 2015, two dozen zoos in the United States faced a coordinated attack against a vendor going after visitor credit and debit card information.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/toronto-zoo-hit-by-a-cyberattack-but-dont-worry-the-hackers-didnt-go-after-the-animals-161525188.html?src=rss
The man made flood that miraculously saved our heroes at the end of O Brother Where Art Thou were an actual occurrence in the 19th and 20th century — and a fairly common one at that — as river valleys across the American West were dammed up and drowned out at the altar of economic progress and electrification. Such was the case with Washington State's Elwha river in the 1910s. Its dam provided the economic impetus to develop the Olympic Peninsula but also blocked off nearly 40 miles of river from the open ocean, preventing native salmon species from making their annual spawning trek. However, after decades of legal wrangling by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, the biggest dams on the river today are the kind made by beavers.
In this week's Hitting the Books selection, Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World, University of Vermont conservation biologist Joe Roman recounts how quickly nature can recover when a 108-foot tall migration barrier is removed from the local ecosystem. This excerpt discusses the naturalists and biologists who strive to understand how nutrients flow through the Pacific Northwest's food web, and the myriad ways it's impacted by migratory salmon. The book as a whole takes a fascinating look at how the most basic of biological functions (yup, poopin!) of even just a few species can potentially impact life in every corner of the planet.
When construction began in 1910, the Elwha Dam was designed to attract economic development to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, supplying the growing community of Port Angeles with electric power. It was one of the first high-head dams in the region, with water moving more than a hundred yards from the reservoir to the river below. Before the dam was built, the river hosted ten anadromous fish runs. All five species of Pacific salmon — pink, chum, sockeye, Chinook, and coho — were found in the river, along with bull trout and steelhead. In a good year, hundreds of thousands of salmon ascended the Elwha to spawn. But the contractors never finished the promised fish ladders. As a result, the Elwha cut off most of the watershed from the ocean and 90 percent of migratory salmon habitat.
Thousands of dams block the rivers of the world, decimating fish populations and clogging nutrient arteries from sea to mountain spring. Some have fish ladders. Others ship fish across concrete walls. Many act as permanent barriers to migration for thousands of species.
By the 1980s, there was growing concern about the effect of the Elwha on native salmon. Populations had declined by 95 per cent, devastating local wildlife and Indigenous communities. River salmon are essential to the culture and economy of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. In 1986, the tribe filed a motion through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to stop the relicensing of the Elwha Dam and the Glines Canyon Dam, an upstream impoundment that was even taller than the Elwha. By blocking salmon migration, the dams violated the 1855 Treaty of Point No Point, in which the Klallam ceded a vast amount of the Olympic Peninsula on the stipulation that they and all their descendants would have “the right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds.” The tribe partnered with environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Seattle Audubon Society, to pressure local and federal officials to remove the dams. In 1992, Congress passed the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act, which authorized the dismantling of the Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams.
The demolition of the Elwha Dam was the largest dam-removal project in history; it cost $350 million and took about three years. Beginning in September 2011, coffer dams shunted water to one side as the Elwha Dam was decommissioned and destroyed. The Glines Canyon was more challenging. According to Pess, a “glorified jackhammer on a floating barge” was required to dismantle the two-hundred-foot impoundment. The barge didn’t work when the water got low, so new equipment was helicoptered in. By 2014, most of the dam had come down, but rockfall still blocked fish passage. It took another year of moving rocks and concrete before the fish had full access to the river.
The response of the fish was quick, satisfying, and sometimes surprising. Elwha River bull trout, landlocked for more than a century, started swimming back to the ocean. The Chinook salmon in the watershed increased from an average of about two thousand to four thousand. Many of the Chinook were descendants of hatchery fish, Pess told me over dinner at Nerka. “If ninety percent of your population prior to dam removal is from a hatchery, you can’t just assume that a totally natural population will show up right away.” Steelhead trout, which had been down to a few hundred, now numbered more than two thousand.
Within a few years, a larger mix of wild and local hatchery fish had moved back to the Elwha watershed. And the surrounding wildlife responded too. The American dipper, a river bird, fed on salmon eggs and insects infused with the new marine-derived nutrients. Their survival rates went up, and the females who had access to fish became healthier than those without. They started having multiple broods and didn’t have to travel so far for their food, a return, perhaps, to how life was before the dam. A study in nearby British Columbia showed that songbird abundance and diversity increased with the number of salmon. They weren’t eating the fish — in fact, they weren’t even present during salmon migration. But they were benefiting from the increase in insects and other invertebrates.
Just as exciting, the removal of the dams rekindled migratory patterns that had gone dormant. Pacific lamprey started traveling up the river to breed. Bull trout that had spent generations in the reservoir above the dam began migrating out to sea. Rainbow trout swam up and down the river for the first time in decades. Over the years, the river started to look almost natural as the sediments that had built up behind the dams washed downstream.
The success on the Elwha could be the start of something big, encouraging the removal of other aging dams. There are plans to remove the Enloe Dam, a fifty-four-foot concrete wall in northern Washington, which would open up two hundred miles of river habitat for steelhead and Chinook salmon. Critically endangered killer whales, downstream off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, would benefit from this boost in salmon, and as there are only seventy individuals remaining, they need every fish they can get.
The spring Chinook salmon run on the Klamath River in Northern California is down 98 percent since eight dams were constructed in the twentieth century. Coho salmon have also been in steep decline. In the next few years, four dams are scheduled to come down with the goal of restoring salmon migration. Farther north, the Snake River dams could be breached to save the endangered salmon of Washington State. If that happens, historic numbers of salmon could come back — along with the many species that depended on the energy and nutrients they carry upstream.
Other dams are going up in the West — dams of sticks and stones and mud. Beaver dams help salmon by creating new slow-water habitats, critical for juvenile salmon. In Washington, beaver ponds cool the streams, making them more productive for salmon. In Alaska, the ponds are warmer, and the salmon use them to help metabolize what they eat. Unlike the enormous concrete impoundments, designed for stability, beaver dams are dynamic, heterogeneous landscapes that salmon can easily travel through. Beavers eat, they build dams, they poop, they move on. We humans might want things to be stable, but Earth and its creatures are dynamic.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hitting-the-books-eat-poop-die-joe-roman-hatchette-books-153032502.html?src=rss
At some point in time, getting toddlers to take a bath becomes almost like a battle instead of just a chore. This problem has given rise to many products that try to make bath time not only safer but also more enjoyable for kids, which also makes it less stressful for parents and guardians. A lot of these kid-friendly products, however, are often not planet-friendly, particularly with the use of plastic containers that get thrown out once they run empty. Sometimes, it doesn’t take too much to think of a win-win solution for both humans and the environment, and this product concept tries to do exactly that with an eco-friendly shampoo and bath packaging that you don’t have to throw away anymore.
Truth be told, packaging for bath essentials for kids like shampoo and soap are more concerned about safety than looking attractive. In fact, it might even be too risky to make shampoo bottles and powder containers look fun to play with, precisely because of the dangers that the substances in them pose. With a little extra care, however, it might actually be possible to have safe products that are also fun to play with, which is what Bebo tries to accomplish.
Bebo is a line of bath essentials products for toddlers that pull double duty. They are, of course, primarily designed to be containers for personal hygiene products like shampoo, gel soap, powder, and lotion. At the same time, however, these containers come in interesting shapes that resemble specific animals. In other words, these containers can become toys that these same toddlers can play with once they’re no longer in use. Of course, they’re also designed so that kids don’t accidentally open them up or squeeze out their contents even when they’re playing with them during bath time.
Each member of the Bebo line has a specific design and a specific way to be used. The shampoo bottle, for example, is an elephant, and the circle that its trunk makes can be used as a bubble maker. The Giant Panda gel soap container is a squishy toy, while the Giraffe powder bottle can be used as a rattle. Last but not least, the Gorilla is a lotion dispenser that also functions as a Roly Poly, thanks to its appropriately disproportionate body.
The choice of these four animals isn’t by accident. They represent four dying species that are also easily translated into cute toys for young children. In this manner, Bebo tries to establish an emotional connection between kids and these animals, which could help raise awareness of these endangered animals when they finally grow up.
Because we all have dreams, and everyone’s dreams are different, a Japanese man named Toko recently spent $15,791 on an ultra-realistic Border Collie costume so he could dress up as his favorite dog breed. Hey, different strokes for different folks – that’s what my favorite high school substitute teacher Mrs. Gitland used to tell us while relating a story about how her daughter raises ostriches in Arizona.
Toko hired Zeppet Workshop, a company known for its costume work in movies and television as well as its custom furry commissions, to make the suit, which took over 40 days to construct through trial and error. According to an employee at Zeppet, “Since the structure of the [human] skeleton is very different, we spent a lot of time studying how to make it look like a dog.” Well, clearly all that studying paid off because the result is uncanny. So uncanny I’m not convinced this isn’t a dog in a human suit wearing a dog costume.
It was smart choosing a Border Collie instead of a chihuahua on account of 1) the obvious size and 2) all that extra belly fur helping to hide the fact that there’s an adult man in there who chose to spend $16,000 on a costume to look like a dog. Now just to be clear, I’m not judging – if anything I’m just jealous I don’t have the money to commission the ultra-realistic turtle costume I’ve always dreamed of.
There are a lot of endangered species in our world right now, whether they’re flora or fauna. Some of these we’re already familiar with due to various campaigns from ecological organizations. But there are a lot that we may not know are already on the endangered list or we don’t even know they actually exist. Products that bring awareness to these and that are made from eco-friendly materials are always welcome to bring awareness and also to hopefully convince people to change some of their eco-harming habits.
Designers: Juan Carlos Franco and Jose Bermudez
These two designers decided to “abstract the essential form” of three particular animals that are currently in the endangered list in Mexico and Latin America. All these figurines are made using low-tech machinery and natural materials like oak and walnut. The main purpose of these concept designs is to have something on your desk to remind you of these almost-extinct animals and to have a piece of art at the same time.
Hearing the word “water monster” brings to mind the mysterious Loch Ness or other horror movie creatures. But there’s an actual animal called the axolotl or the Mexican water monster or walking fish that is in danger of just becoming a part of history or even mythology. This is an amphibian that can regenerate its limbs and some of its vital organs, something that is of interest to the medical community. But by this year, it is believed that the water monster will be extinct as it has disappeared from its natural habitat. The figurine they designed recreates its gills by giving it six limbs on top of an elongated body.
The Andean bear meanwhile is currently endangered due to poaching and loss of its natural habitat. There were only around 18,250 of these so-called spectacled bears as of 2004 and the numbers have been getting smaller over the years. They are important to the Colombian and Argentinian ecosystem as it opens trails that helps the mobility of the other species. The abstract rendering of this mid-sized bear is a simple brown bear-like body with black ears. It is made from solid French oak or American walnut.
The last one in this fauna series is a bit more familiar to most of us who have watched the animated movie Rio. Unfortunately, the blue macaw that was the inspiration for the movie is now officially extinct since 2018. The good news is that there are still several species of macaws in the world but even they are in danger of becoming extinct. Their interpretation of the macaw is a dark blue colored bird with a brown beak.
Who said that robot goats should have all the fun, especially when you can ride on a robot goat or let it carry your bags for you.
Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot had become quite popular in the past few years, especially when the quadruped robot got assigned tasks related to COVID-19 countermeasures. Spot has been famously or infamously labeled as a robot “dog” simply because of its four legs and smaller stature, especially compared to its larger and more nightmare-ish predecessor BigDog. For all its versatility, there are still some things it can’t do, so Kawasaki took inspiration from a different animal to design a robot that could carry not only things but also people on its back.
A goat is probably the last animal you’d think of as an inspiration for a human-friendly robot, especially since they’re often portrayed in a negative light. For some cultures, however, goats are used as beasts of burden for carrying cargo, which does go in line with Kawasaki’s vision for its robot, which it named “Bex.” This name was taken from the Ibex, a species of large wild goat that embodies the kind of mobility that the motorcycle maker was aiming for.
Ibexes are famous for climbing mountains with steep slopes to the point that they seem to almost defy the laws of physics. Navigating uneven terrain on four legs is something that quadruped robots like Spot is already able to do and is pretty much a solved problem for most robotics companies. Bex can definitely do it too, but it actually has a trick up its sleeves, or rather down its legs.
When the terrain is flat and smooth, Bex can get down on its knees and roll on wheels rather than galloping to its destination. This creates a better balance for the robot but is also more comfortable for the human riding on its back. And that is the second biggest difference between Spot and Bex, that the latter is actually designed to be ridden by humans.
The prototype’s design is, of course, terribly uncomfortable for riding, which is why it’s still a prototype. Kawasaki also designed Bex to be modular, though, so owners and operators can remove the parts that make it look like a giant goat in favor of components that will increase its carrying capabilities. It’s definitely a strange way to travel or to carry your things, but that’s not exactly worse than having a headless robot dog following you around.
Inspired by the legs and feet of a peregrine falcon, engineers at Stanford University’s Cutkosky Lab have developed a set of SNAG (“stereotyped nature-inspired aerial grasper”) robotic legs that can perch on different sized branches and grasp objects in a manner similar to the bird of prey. They then attached those legs to a quadrocopter to help herald the robot apocalypse. Per Dr. Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Truer words have never been spoken.
How do the legs work? According to a paper published on SNAG, “Each leg has its own motor for moving back and forth and another to handle grasping. Inspired by the way tendons route around the ankle in birds, a similar mechanism in the robot’s leg absorbs landing impact energy and passively converts it into grasping force. Once wrapped around a branch, SNAG’s ankles lock and an accelerometer on the right foot reports that the robot has landed and triggers a balancing algorithm to stabilize it.” Impressive! Even more impressive considering the entire process occurs in the blink of an eye, with the talons snapping closed around a branch in just 20 milliseconds. I’d hate to be that branch!
The researchers imagine their robotic bird legs being used in future search and rescue missions, as well as wildlife monitoring, although I suspect they’ll actually be used for something much more nefarious. So, if you were wondering how long it would be until a giant robotic eagle swoops down out of the sky to pick you up and use you to power the Matrix, the answer is probably sooner than you previously thought.
Gaming: it’s more fun with a partner, even if that partner is a cat. And to encourage co-op feline gaming, Japanese gaming furniture manufacturer Bauhutte has created this Nyangaroo (nyan:’meow’, plus kangaroo) hoodie featuring a pouch for your cat to hang out in while you mash buttons and curse at the screen. Available from the Japan Trend Shop, it’s the perfect gift for the cat-loving gamer in your life. Don’t have a cat-loving gamer in your life? Just buy one for yourself and fill the pouch with snacks.
The hoodie comes in three sizes fitting most gamers between 5′ and 6′ tall, and features cat ears sewn onto the hood, paw prints sewn onto the cuffs, and an integrated cat pouch with fluffy lining, cushioned bottom, and double zipper and cord stopper. Shoot, if they made one big enough to fit a human I’d let you take me with you anywhere.
I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone here when I say thank goodness they finally made a gamer-specific cat pouch hoodie. And here I’ve just been gaming in my regular, everyday wear cat pouch hoodie! What a complete fool I’ve been. You won’t tell anybody, will you? You have to promise me.
Do you know what my garden has been missing? More gnomes. A person can never have too many garden gnomes, despite what my wife says, and she says the 20+ I already have are enough. Enough! There’s no such thing. But now all those gnomes are going to be running for their lives after I install this Polar Bear Bench created by Design Toscano and available on Amazon (affiliate link). Santa’s helper not included.
The Arctic Polar Bear is made from crushed stone bonded with resin and reinforced with fiberglass, with a realistic white finish. The bench measures 79″W x 36″D x 38″H, and weighs in at about 110 lbs. For reference, a full-grown male polar bear can weigh between 770 and 1,540 lbs, and I plan on being about the same after Thanksgiving dinner. Pass the pecan pie!
Now I just need to add some fake blood and a fallen reindeer and I’ve got the perfect addition to my outdoor Christmas display! Will it win first place in my neighborhood’s annual decorating contest? Probably not. But will it receive the most complaints? Most definitely. And that’s a better prize than any snow globe trophy could ever be.
Korean artist Lee Sangsoo forges colorful and spiraled animal sculptures. Defined as ‘drawings in the air’ – his collection of animals includes cats, flamingoes, poodles, parrots, and other interesting creatures! His minimal sculptures are built from resin or stainless steel – depending upon the size of the piece. If the piece spans more than one meter, Sangsoo uses stainless steel to create it. Each angled side is delicately coated with soft gradients or a subtle and complementary palette. The three dimensional and towering sculptures have been inspired by Picasso’s little abstract animal drawings. What a wonderful contrast, no? Sangsoo even goes on to say, “Lines, planes, and colors are important elements that work in my work. The lines drawn in the two-dimensional sketchbook determine the large flow and form of the work, and it becomes three-dimensional in the three-dimensional space. The square lines are shown in various shapes and colors according to the flow and twist, and you can feel the dynamism in the still work. Also, depending on the flow, the thickness of the lines may be rhythmically thickened or thinned.”
Designer: Lee Sangsoo
My love for cats is no suprise! And this playful and agile cat has my heart. The sculpture strikes a pose in his most flexbile position, almost crouching on the floor. I wonder if the kitty is getting ready to play or hunt! The colors of the cat range from a light nude to shades of dark brown.
This colorful parrot rests peacefully on its bird stand. The sharp detailing of its body and wings, and its intricately carved beak make it look almost life-like! Green, red, blue, and yellow accents highlight the beautiful parrot.
The body of this swan is a spiral of hues of blues, teals, and violets! I can completely imagine the exquisite swan lounging peacefully on a lake. Sangsoo’s love and appreciation for animals are artfully reflected in his sculptures.
Two baby pink flamingoes in love! The tall and imposing flamingoes seem to be the complete opposite of Picasso’s abstract animal drawings, but at the same time, a sheer simplicity and elegant beauty are seen in between both.
This multicolored reindeer instantly puts me in a Christmassy mood! Although Christmas is a while away. Slender limbs, an intertwined and spiraling body, and well-crafted horns make this sculpture unique and precise.
Since Sangsoo has covered most of the animals, he had to add a doggo or two to the mix! Sangsoo chose to create a spiraling poodle who somehow manages to look fluffy as well. The color palette almost reminds me of different colored candy floss!
This clucking hen looks ready to fly away, only if it could. Sangsoo chose the colors of sunset for this sculpture, and something about it gives me a warm and rustic feeling, almost as if I were about to enter a farm.
