BLAMING Canada geese for forcing a US Airways jet to ditch in the Hudson river seems logical. They鈥檙e big enough to cause serious damage to any plane that hits them, and thousands have settled around New York City. Sure enough, when we checked the Federal Aviation Administration鈥檚 National Wildlife Strike Database at , Canada geese were high on the list, with 1266 reports of them hitting aircraft between 1990 and 2008, 103 of which were in New York State.
With all three New York City airports close to the ocean, gulls also seemed likely suspects and, yes, over the same period, 1208 gull strikes were reported in New York, out of a total of 9843 gulls that collided with planes across the US. Further scrutiny of the list revealed that other collision victims include 145 bald eagles and 15 black-capped chickadees. An endangered whooping crane was hit in Wisconsin. We began to think that nothing that flies is safe. Then we spotted an entry for turtles.
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One can imagine circumstances in which turtles could become airborne, although not of the turtle鈥檚 volition. It would, however, seem quite hard to hit a plane with a tossed turtle. Yet 80 turtles suffered this fate, including 23 in New York State. The turtles weren鈥檛 alone. Armadillos are, if anything, even less aerodynamic than turtles, yet planes struck 14 of them in Florida, two in Louisiana and one in Oklahoma, although Texas armadillos successfully avoided aircraft. In addition, 13 American alligators hit planes in Florida.
We can report that our mental picture of airborne armadillos, alligators and turtles did not survive long. We were forced to conclude that although the FAA doesn鈥檛 specify it, these animals had their collisions with aircraft on the ground, presumably during take-off and landing. It was interesting to note, though, that some terrestrial species seem much better at dodging planes than others. No one reported hitting wolves, bears, sheep or goats, but the toll included 811 deer, 310 coyotes, 146 skunks, 146 foxes, 33 domestic dogs, 18 domestic cats, eight cattle, six moose, five horses, two river otters, and a single unfortunate pig.
BEST correction of the year so far comes from the UK south coast paper the Bognor Regis and Chichester Guardian.
鈥淒on鈥檛 eat these!鈥� screamed the headline, over a note explaining that, 鈥渋n last week鈥檚 cookery column entitled 鈥楬ave fun with fungi鈥�, we inadvertently published this photograph of the beautiful but deadly poisonous fly agaric mushroom鈥� Apologies for any confusion that may have ensued鈥�.
The correction is particularly appropriate given the wording of the original story, which accompanied a colour picture of fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), the classic 鈥渨itch鈥檚 mushroom鈥� with its bright red cap dotted with white spots.
鈥淗ave fun with fungi 鈥� and lose weight fast,鈥� encouraged the headline, over the news that 鈥渘ew research shows that mushrooms are also an effective diet aid鈥� The principle is simple: swap meat with mushrooms for four meals a week, and watch the weight slip away鈥� you won鈥檛 be left hankering after sinful snacks later in the day.鈥�
Indeed. Amanita muscaria is a powerful and toxic hallucinogen that can be fatal if taken in large doses. Eating it in four meals per week will very likely leave the diner too spaced out, too sick or too dead to consider any sinful snacks.
鈥淭he label on the Roundup weedkiller purchased by Geoff Palmer warned him: 鈥淎void contact with the environment鈥�
THE mother of a friend of Dave Higginbottom was trying to get the hang of her daughter鈥檚 computer. After a while, she shouted to her daughter: 鈥淲hat do you do when a squiggly red line appears under a word?鈥�
鈥淛ust right-click,鈥� replied her daughter from the next room.
A moment later the mother replied: 鈥淚鈥檝e written 鈥榗lick鈥� but it makes no difference. I just get the word 鈥榗lick鈥� after the word with the squiggly line.鈥�
What Darwin didn鈥檛 say 鈥� competition
FINALLY, don鈥檛 forget to send in your entries to our competition in honour of the 200th anniversary of Darwin鈥檚 birthday. Feedback invites readers to provide 50 words on the thought-provoking theme of: 鈥淭hings you would never have heard Charles Darwin say about evolution.鈥� The editors will reward what we judge the wittiest non-Darwinisms with the framed original of the beautiful artwork in 鈥淯prooting Darwin鈥檚 tree鈥� on page 35 of our 24 January issue, signed by the artist Yulia Brodskaya.
You may enter the competition by email 鈥� with the subject line 鈥淒arwin competition鈥�, please 鈥� or by fax or post or at www.newscientist.com/article/dn16399. The competition closes on Monday 16 February. The winning entry and the best runners-up will be published here on 7 March.