ALL THE SLOP

TINY TRACKERS, BIG MIGRATION.

The warblers have backpacks now.

Researchers are fitting tiny songbirds with Tic Tac-sized geolocator backpacks that record light and atmospheric pressure across entire migrations. Serious science has once again required an extremely small backpack.

SOURCESmithsonian Migratory Bird Center / The Conversation

—

A BRIDGE JUST FOR DEER.

The deer have infrastructure now.

Washington’s I-90 Snoqualmie Pass wildlife overcrossing recorded its 10,000th successful animal crossing in July. Add 11 undercrossings and the project is nearing 40,000 recorded crossings since 2014. Apparently the elk were just waiting for civil engineering.

SOURCEWashington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) via Good Good Good

—

THE PARROT SAID NO.

The world’s weirdest parrot refused to go extinct.

New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō population has reached 325, after a record 90 chicks joined the official count this season. The recovery program began in 1995 with just 51 birds. Extremely round bird: still here.

SOURCENew Zealand Department of Conservation / Kākāpō Recovery Programme

—

DINNER. YOUR PRICE.

100 restaurants said: pay what you can.

A one-day idea from Mexico City restaurant Masala y Maíz grew into a global event with 100 restaurants in 14 countries signed on, while staff kept their normal wages and tips. The radical business innovation: trust people.

SOURCEPaga Lo Que Puedas / Masala y Maíz via Good Good Good

—

TRACHOMA, REGION-WIDE, GONE.

A whole region just knocked trachoma off the public-health list.

WHO has validated Timor-Leste’s elimination of trachoma as a public health problem. Because it was the last country in WHO’s South-East Asia Region where the disease was still suspected to be a public-health problem, the entire region has now cleared that threshold.

SOURCEWorld Health Organization

—

AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT LOG.

The internet gave the baby porcupine an emotional support log.

Point Defiance Zoo welcomed its first prehensile-tailed porcupine baby in 121 years. Then the internet spotted the tiny porcupette clutching a log and named it an “emotional support log.” For once, the comments improved the story.

SOURCEPoint Defiance Zoo & Aquarium / Good Good Good

—

HUNTING SKILLS. NEW MISSION.

The hunters switched teams.

In Nigeria’s Omo Forest Reserve, former hunters are using the tracking skills they once used to hunt wildlife to find snares and help stop poaching instead. Redemption arc: operational.

SOURCEReasons to Be Cheerful / Ogar Monday

—

RELEASE DAY. TEARS INVOLVED.

Crush went home. Everyone cried.

Crush, a loggerhead found cold-stunned and nearly lifeless on a Jersey beach in January, spent months in rehabilitation before being flown to the Azores, fitted with a satellite tag, and released back into the Atlantic. Good turtle. Good humans. Everybody go home.

SOURCELittlefeet Environmental / SEA LIFE Weymouth / Channel 103

—

COWS ON FIRE DUTY.

Spain hired tiny cows to fight wildfires.

In Galicia, small, agile Cachena cattle and other grazers are being used to chew down fire-prone vegetation. A regional pilot is even using GPS virtual fencing to steer cattle toward areas that need clearing. Cow-based infrastructure has entered the chat.

SOURCEReuters / Xunta de Galicia

—

RABIES LOST ITS FOOTHOLD.

Bhutan just kicked dog-transmitted rabies off the public-health list.

WHO has validated Bhutan’s elimination of dog-transmitted human rabies as a public-health problem — the first country in WHO’s South-East Asia Region to reach the milestone. Bhutan has gone more than two years without a human death from dog-transmitted rabies. Vaccines, surveillance and people showing up worked.

SOURCEWorld Health Organization

—

ALL THREE STEPS, THEIRS.

The women took the whole podium.

At Colorado’s Aspen Backcountry Marathon, Brier Youngfleish won the race outright — and women finished first, second and third overall. The overall podium was all women. That’s the whole post.

SOURCERunner’s World / Aspen Backcountry Marathon

—

SPIN CYCLE, STORY TIME.