Breaking Waves: Ocean News

European visitor rushed to hospital after briefly walking barefoot in California national park amid extreme heat A European visitor got third-degree burns on his feet while briefly walking barefoot on the sand dunes in California’s Death Valley National Park over the weekend, park rangers said Thursday. The rangers said the visitor was rushed to a hospital in nearby Nevada. Because of language issues, the rangers said they were not immediately able to determine whether the 42-year-old Belgian’s flip-flops were somehow broken or were lost at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes during a short Saturday walk. Continue reading...

More than 25,000 residents and tourists evacuated from national park region as firefighters forced into a retreat A fast-moving wildfire has destroyed parts of Jasper, the old mountain town in the Canadian Rockies, with the mayor warning the damage was “beyond description and comprehension”. The blaze had forced more than 25,000 people to flee earlier this week. Jasper national park officials said the fire entered the southern edge of the town on Wednesday evening. But, given the speed and intensity of the blaze, fire crews working to protect key infrastructure were ordered to retreat. Continue reading...

At a wildlife centre in Mozambique, trafficked animals are fed, nursed, taken for walks and eventually released back to the wild. Vet Mércia Ângela describes what it’s like to bond with these rare and charismatic mammals I had never seen a pangolin before I started working with them in Mozambique’s Gorongosa national park. They are the only mammal in the world covered with scales. I think they are so handsome – just seeing them makes me fall in love. If you have never seen a pangolin, they have a cone-shaped head and snout, four short legs, small eyes and a brilliant sense of smell. Their front claws are long to help them dig for food in the ground. They have a long sticky tongue but no teeth. When they feel threatened, they curl up in a ball to protect the parts of their bodies that do not have scales. Continue reading...

Service at Germany’s busiest airport gradually resuming as ‘oil kills’ protests spread from Europe to North America Climate activists have disrupted flights at Frankfurt and Oslo airports on the second day of coordinated “oil kills” protests across Europe and North America. Demanding an end to fossil fuels by 2030, supporters of Letzte Generation (Last Generation) briefly suspended flights at Frankfurt airport on Thursday morning. The activists said they had cut a wire fence, entered on bicycles and skateboards and glued themselves to the tarmac. Continue reading...