Check out Friday Ark #119 throughout the weekend for plenty of animal action.

Weekend Cat Blogging #82 is the New Year’s Edition.  Don’t miss all the great cat photos and stories.

This just pisses me off.  “According to this press release from PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), Bush White House appointees are suppressing real science in order to promote creationism. Specifically, at the Grand Canyon National Park, a book is on sale that says the canyon was formed in Noah’s flood. Also, guides at the park are not allowed to answer questions about how old the canyon is, despite scientists’ incredibly detailed and intricate knowledge of the formation mechanism, scheme, and history of the canyon (hint: some of the oldest rocks in the canyon are two billion years old).”  How’s that for separation of church and state?  Dubya has forced our national parks to betray science in favor of mythology.  Pathetic.  And the administration has promised to review this policy for three years yet has done no such thing.  See correction here.

A massive ice shelf has collapsed in Canada.  “Scientists have discovered that an enormous ice shelf broke off an island in the Canadian Arctic last year, in what could be sign of global warming. It is said to be the largest break in 25 years, casting an ice floe with an area of 66 sq km (25 square miles). It occurred in August 2005 but was only recently detected on satellite images. The chunk of ice bigger than Manhattan could wreak havoc if it moves into oil drilling regions and shipping lanes next summer, scientists warned.”  Ah, but Michael Crichton says global warming is a hoax.  I suppose all the birds not migrating for winter this year are in on the joke, along with the bears who are not hibernating, and the polar bears dying out because so little ice exists from which they can hunt, and the list goes on.  All these things must be part of the master plot to pull the wool over our eyes about climate change, right?

You absolutely must go see these photos of a golden eagle fighting a fox over a carcass.  They’re spectacular, and they demonstrate how big eagles will readily take on large mammals if the stakes are high enough—as in food.  Be sure to click on each of the photos for a larger version.  What a show!  But wait; there’s more!  Go here to see a video of another eagle attacking a fox (the video is in Spanish, but you don’t need to understand what’s being said to appreciate the visual).  It’s disturbing yet fascinating.  You can’t tell who wins because it ends before the battle is through, yet it looks as though both animals inflict harm on each other.  It’s certainly an interesting clarification of what these large predatory birds are capable of and willing to do even with regards to large animals they can’t possible carry away.  [via Stranger Fruit]