Biota

Drought and disease in Spain and Italy, respectively, have pushed the price of olive oil up 10 percent so far this year, amid warnings from suppliers that harvests are the worst they have seen, according to an article in the Guardian over the weekend.

A video has emerged of Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima howling while making the symbolic far-right Turkish nationalist ?grey wolf? hand gesture.

In the video, Lima appears with Turkish boxer Alptu? Öner, who supposedly taught her the gesture. 

Lima initially shouts ?bozkurt? (grey wolf in Turkish), then makes the gesture and howls.

Chinese scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology in Beijing radio collared six pandas (3 male, 3 female) in the Qinling Mountains of China. After six years of observation they found that pandas consume only 38% of energy needed for other similar animals – just 5.2 megajoules (MJ) instead of 13.8 MJ.

A dog-owner in the northwestern province of Eski?ehir picked a fight with local shopkeepers after kicking a stray cat that had attacked his dog before returning to the scene with a gun to threaten the men. 

The unidentified man was out for a walk with his dog in central Eski?ehir when a stray cat suddenly attacked his pet dog around midday on July 4. 

We have probably read more than one stories about the elixir of youth, or what to drink, eat or do to keep young forever. Well, in the case of Pamela Jacobs, a 52-year old mother from Leeds it seems she has come quite close to figuring it all out. Pamela has a 21-year old son, but when you see them next to each other you could easily mistake them for siblings. No joking!

The latest “beach babe” photographed on a Grecian isle isn’t even a homo sapiens, as MOM, the non-profit organization dedicated to preserving habitats for the endangered Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), circulated this pic on its Facebook page.

The caption reads:

In the terrace of a house in the northern Turkish province of Zonguldak's Ere?li district, five barn owl chicks - hungry because their mother has not returned for five days - have been taken under protection by local officials.

A hatchling was born into a family of Egyptian vultures living in Bulgaria this week, helping preserve a species whose numbers are rapidly declining across the region, a non-profit has said.

At least 12 people were killed and 24 are missing after deadly floods which hit the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and caused massive damages to the city.

The Georgian PM declared the 15th of June as a day of mourning for the victims of the natural disaster which hit George over the weekend.

The government of New Zealand has put a limit to the number of cats people can keep in an effort to limit the country’s high rate of cat ownership. NZ Conservation Minister Maggie Barry wants to restrict the number to two cats per household in an effort to save the endangered flightless Kiwis being attacked by household pats.