With the popularity of the documentary Blackfish, which focuses on captive orcas at SeaWorld, public debate over keeping the endangered species in captivity has reignited. For years, activists have tried to have Lolita, an orca held captive at the Miami Seaquarium, released. Today, federal officials announced that they are taking…
On first glance, the image to the right looks like an alligator with a laser strapped to its back, which is surely some evil genius’s biggest dream. In reality, it’s a camera placed there by University of Florida biologists. That may not be as exciting as laser-armed gators, but getting…
Prior to yesterday, most Floridians’ experience with the Richter scale was limited to the former Universal Studios attraction, Earthquake: The Big One. At around 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, a rare, 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck outside Cuba leaving residents of the seismically stable country — and some South Floridians — slightly confused…
If you’re a working stiff like us, you might have noticed a slight change in your routine this morning. You hopped out of bed ready to take on the day, your planned outfit of cut-off shorts and flip-flops neatly arranged atop your dresser. Next, you sat at your computer and…
A 2006 image of the aftermath of an Everglades showdown between an invasive Burmese python and a native alligator has become oddly iconic in all its gruesome glory. Neither animal survived the encounter. Well, authorities in the Everglades recently discovered a rematch, and let’s just say this time it was…
Over 800 manatees have died this year in Florida waters; the highest number of deaths recorded since records were initiated back in the ’70s. That’s sixteen percent of the state’s total population, and more than twice the number of manatees that died last year…
It began December 6 when a boat captain discovered a pelican on Summerland Key that was all but sure to starve. Someone had cut two six-inch lacerations in the bird, which exposed the creature’s trachea and prevented it from swallowing food. Since that gruesome find, at least ten other birds…
Mark Quartiano has drawn many comparisons to famous fishermen throughout history. In August 1991, Life magazine called him a modern Captain Ahab. Exactly 20 years later, author Juliet Eilperin coined the name Captain Quint (from Jaws) for him. But Quartiano didn’t make waves this weekend over a shark or a…
While Burmese pythons have gotten all the attention, the Everglades now faces a threat from another foreign reptile menace: Argentine tegu lizards. When scientists first detected their presence in the swamp back in 2008, they thought they had a good chance to eradicate them, but it’s too late now. Much…
At the end of a leafy, dead-end street in Coconut Grove, past actor Christian Slater’s new digs and the sprawling grounds of Hollywood director David Frankel’s home, sit mounds of rubble. Just a few days ago, this was one of Miami’s grandest, most envied private homes: the five-acre, 26,000-square-foot du…
If you look hard enough you’ll be able to find just about anything for sale on Miami’s black market, apparently, including monkeys. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced today that they’ve cracked down on an illegal business that was breeding and selling monkeys, and seized 28 primates from…
The Florida brickell bush and the Carter’s small-flowered flax are two flowering plants that grow nowhere else in the world except for Miami-Dade County. Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the plants deserve special protection under the Endangered Species Act and that the 2,700 acres where they…
So, as you might have heard, Miami Beach is probably going to be underwater someday — possibly within your lifetime. Of course, as giant portion the Netherlands knows, just because you’re living below sea level that doesn’t mean you have to necessarily be living underwater. So it’s smart thinking that…
Have you noticed there haven’t been any hurricanes this year? It’s hard to miss a palm tree floating down the middle of Collins Avenue, but there hasn’t even been a ‘cane that’s petered out in the middle of the Atlantic. Are you now realizing an alarming absence of those awesome…
Flaunt state law by illegally spraying pesticide that destroys millions of bees, threatens a local ecosystem, and costs local beekeepers a quarter of a million bucks? Better think twice! If Florida regulators catch you in the act, you’ll have to cough up, uh, about $1,500. That laughable penalty has environmentalists…
According to Phys.org the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District is evaluating how realistic it could be to use drones aka “unmanned aerial vehicles” in the battle against Mosquitoes. Hell yeah, science! The battery powered war machines would weight less than two pounds and be equipped with tiny infrared cameras, apparently…
You would think that if there’s one thing South Florida has too much of its sand. You end up with at least half a pound of it in your car after every trip to the beach, and yet the great sand shortage of 2013 is upon is. Seriously, we’re running…
The Perseid meteor shower ended last night, a fact that probably escaped most citizens of Miami. As city dwellers, we have to contend with the omnipresence of electricity, an invention that is anathema to star gazing. In order to take advantage of the once-a-year phenomenon, Riptide had to travel far…
Veterinarians at SeaWorld Orlando have successfully performed the first-ever shark C-Section, the theme park announced yesterday. The three-pound whitetip reef pups are the latest additions to the 30 sharks at Discovery Cove, the pricey sister park of SeaWorld that allows patrons to cuddle with bottleneck dolphins while Instagramming a variety…
Yesterday’s rainfall was not normal. In fact, Miami Beach got so much rain yesterday that it shattered three separate records: the most rainfall for July 18th in recorded weather history, the most rainfall for any single day in July ever, and helped push the month to the wettest July on…
The thunder rumbled over South Beach around 5 a.m. this morning, just before the torrential downpour. Less than 20 minutes later, more than a foot of water had surged up and over the lower lying parts of SoBe. Hundreds of residents who didn’t leap out of bed to move their…
Tropical Storm Chantal was pronounced dead today at approximately 4:40 p.m. after dissipating in the Caribbean Sea about 260 miles south of Cuba. So all you relatively newly arrived folk who haven’t gone through this hundreds of times before can all stop freaking out. Though, Chantal’s remnants could still make…
