A rat wanders the subway tracks at Union Square in New York. Traces of bubonic plague were found in the subway system. It can spread through contact with an infected flea, rodent, or cat. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

The head of Russia’s consumer protection agency is advising Russians not to travel out of the country over the 10-day New Year’s holiday because of an array of health risks.

Related: Funny Things Foreign Governments Warn Their Citizens About Traveling to the U.S.

Security risks already have been cited as reasons not to travel to some of Russians’ favorite vacation spots: Egypt, Turkey, and Thailand.

Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, told the Interfax news agency on Saturday that Russians should also be wary of traveling to Europe and the United States, as well.

In Europe, she claimed refugees from Syria were increasing the risks of getting an infection. In the U.S., she pointed to the 10-15 cases of bubonic plague recorded this year.

The Russian government has been trying to encourage citizens to spend their vacations and their money at home.

Related: Child Gets Plague From Camping at Yosemite 

Is Biking the New Golf?

Biking just might be a better way to network than playing golf. (Photo: iStock)

“Biking is the new golf,” Jack Ezon, President of Ovation Vacations in New York, declared on a panel during Virtuoso Week.

So is it?

On any given day in Central Park, I see bikers whizzing by in tight shorts and helmets, circling the park’s loop. There’s even an acronym for the men: MAMILS, or middle-aged men in Lycra.

But the popularity of biking isn’t limited to a certain age group or gender. Bike tours all over the world are growing exponentially in popularity, and many more hotels are providing free bikes for their guests to use during their stay. Even river cruise lines like AmaWaterways are getting in on the biking mania.

It’s no secret that bikers often have a much more intimate, immersive experience. One of my best travel experiences was biking from Stratford-upon-Avon to London with the UK’s Carter Company. “A bike is a very flexible mode of transport. We call it the ‘art of slow travel,’ and we specialize in gentle cycling and laid-back itineraries,” says Iona Carter. “In the UK, biking is especially good because of the density of things to see. You don’t have to travel massive distances to see things.”

The market for golf trips isn’t disappearing, but biking might be taking a bigger piece of it. Here’s why.

Gassy Sheep Force Plane to Make Emergency Landing

Does this sheep look gassy? If so, maybe you don’t want it on your plane. (Photo: iStock)

Well, this is one for the record books: flatulent sheep forced a cargo plane to make an emergency landing this week.

A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter plane traveling from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur had 2,186 sheep on board, and the combined stench of their “exhaust fumes” and manure set off the smoke alarm.

The crew, thinking the alarm was due to, you know, fire, quickly diverted to Bali and made an emergency landing. Of course, when emergency services boarded, they didn’t find any fire or smoke — but they did find the natural emissions of 2,000 sheep. Two and a half hours later, the herd and the crew were on their way again. 

Related: Airplane Noises That Should (and Shouldn’t) Freak You Out

This isn’t the first time animals have wreaked their own special brand of havoc on a Singapore Airlines plane. In August, another aircraft was carrying a flock of storks from Istanbul to Singapore, and soon after takeoff, the birds pecked a hole in the nose of the plane.

Related: What Really Causes Plane Crashes? (It’s Not What You Think)

In the case of the sheep, the hoofers didn’t cause any damage. Apparently though, bloat and flatulence are common occurrences when animals like cattle, sheep, and sheep are under stress.

Now we’ve heard everything. Thank goodness we didn’t have to smell it.

The Bizarre but True Story of Starfish Committing Suicide

An Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) infected with Sea Star Wasting Disease in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. (Photo: Kevin Schafer/Minden Pictures/Corbis)

Marine biologists are completely stunned by a recent epidemic of starfish committing suicide on the West Coast.

The phenomenon, dubbed “the Wasting,” has been going on for at least two years now as scientists have discovered the starfish are essentially devouring themselves along the coast, from Mexico to Alaska.

The story rose to national attention a few years ago, but scientists are now intent to solve the mystery. A recent VICE story highlighted the issue, and revealed that a virus was identified within many of the species that were dying. But that virus has been around for 70 years, so that discovery only posed more questions than answers.

Related: New Species of Giant Tortoise Found in Galapagos Islands

“There’s some trigger, probably an environmental trigger,” Rebecca Johnson, a Citizen Science Research Coordinator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco told Yahoo Travel.

A volunteer reaches over to measure two tiny baby sea stars as a mature one clings nearby to a concrete piling on Washington’s Hood Canal near Poulsbo, Wash. Researchers say that there’s evidence that juvenile sea stars, while not entirely immune, may be less susceptible to a virus fingered as the likely culprit of the sea star wasting disease. (Photo: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) 

As marine biologists and scientists up and down the West Coast investigate the problem, there’s a way that beach-goers and tourists can help.

Take a picture of any starfish you see on the beaches of the Pacific West Coast and post it to iNaturalist, an app that lets people upload photos and information for researchers to enter into a database and help track the problem.

Johnson, who is also a research associate at the academy’s Department of Invertebrate Zoology & Geology, said there’s been about 2,000 observations loaded into the app trying to identify endangered starfish, which are actually known in scientific circles as sea stars.  

Deer

Deer

Deer in Human Culture

Deer are well loved animals and so it is no surprise to learn that they are very common in popular culture. When you ask people about deer that they can think of, Bambi from the Disney classic often comes to mind. The story is about a young fawn that loses his mother and then grows up to be a powerful buck. It shows the circle of life and stressed how important it is to find a balance in nature between animals and humans.

It may surprise you to learn that Bambi was actually a book before it was a family movie. Today both the book and the movie continue to be huge selling items that span over many generations.

One of the icons of America out there is the John Deere tractor products. The logo for them is a deer running very swiftly. Most of the time the equipment offered is green or red and the deer on it is gold. This has been a logo that almost everybody recognizes it, if they are part of the farming industry.

What is so ironic about that though is that farmers continue to complain about the problems that deer create for them. They can come into crop areas and feed heavily on corn, soy beans, and other items. They can also lay down in the fields for bedding areas. This can damage crops so that they don’t grow properly early on. Millions of dollars in crop damages are reported annually from farmers due to the invasion of deer into their farm land.

Today you can easily go on any video site such as YouTube and find lost of material with deer in them. Some are about hunting expeditions. Others are about surprise encounters with deer or even cars being smashed up after colliding with one of them. Some of them are very funny though such as one with a deer trying to eat the flowers in a ladies garden and her screening irrationally at it to go away.

Hunting is a common enough sport that involves deer. However, you can only do it during certain seasons and if you get a tag permit to do so. There is a very popular type of 3-D deer target shooting out there that continues to grow in popularity. There are courses where you can practice and these different targets pop up that you have to knock down. There are competitions held to determine who is the most accurate, who can knock down more of them, and even who is the fastest at completing the course.

On a more personal level there are hunting video games. You can find them at most arcades with very large screens. They even allow you to choose the type of deer you want to hunt and the type of weapon you will do it with. For home gaming consoles there are lots of these deer hunting games too. Many of the popular ones come out with updated versions all the time. You can buy the guns and other accessories to plug in for the best experience too instead of just using the tradition game controller.

Top Facts about Deer

• How much do you know about deer? If the answer is not very much then don’t worry. As you explore these fun and informative deer factsyou will soon have plenty of information about them.

• Deer are ruminant mammals belonging to the family Cervidae.

• All male deer have antlers, with the exception of the Chinese Water Deer, which have tusks.

• This family classification include well known animal like the Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital among others.

• Male deer are called bucks, females, are does, and the young are fawns. Only the males grow antlers, except the reindeer.

• The term is deer whether you are talking about one of them or more. Many people say “deers” as the plural but that is incorrect.

• Deer are found to live in every region around the world except for Australia and Antarctica. While it is understandable why deer wouldn’t survive in Antarctica it isn’t fully understood why they can’t survive in Australia.

• Only one species of deer lives in Africa – the Red Deer.

• Reindeer are the only species of deer where the females have antlers as well as the males.

• Deer are the only animals in the world that feature antlers. Moose have the largest antlers of all the species. They are covered with velvet.

• Deer where first identified by the Europeans and then taken by them into the area we know today as New Zealand.

• Approximately 1.5 million vehicles are involved in accidents annually from hitting deer. The cost of these accidents is about $1 million per year. They also result in about 150 deaths per year.

• There are more than 60 deer species that have been identified.

• All deer are classified as Artiodactyls because they have hooves and an even number of toes.

• Deer have a homeland range and it can span about 30 miles. They will move around the area finding different places to sleep and food to eat.

• Deer have lots of muscles in their ears. This allows them to turn the ears different directions but they don’t have to move their bodies as they do so.

• In the fall deer will shed their summer coat. A thicker and fuller one will appear to keep them very warm in the winter time.

• The young fawns have spots on them that disappear when they are about four months of age.

• Due to their eyes being at the side of the head, they have a 310 degree view.

• The average speed for a deer is 35 miles per hour for a short distance.

• Deer weights generally range from 40 to 680 kilograms.

• Most people don’t know that deer are amazing when it comes to swimming.

• Dead male deer have been found with their antlers interlocked with each other, stuck in a tree where they were rubbing, and even in barbed wire fences. Sadly, these males will die from starvation because they can’t break free.

• Deer fawns don’t have a smell to them which is why they are able to remain undetected by predators as long as they are out of sight.

• All deer are herbivores which means they only consume plant life.

• All species of deer have a four chamber stomach so they can chew cud. This process involves partially chewing food, regurgitating it, and then chewing it more before it is able to be digested into the body.

• Deer are less active in the winter months than in the summer time. This is a process that allows them to preserve energy. Since there is less food available they will only move when they need to.

• The fawns are born with four teeth and by the time they are 1 ½ years of age they will have all of them that they need to function as an adult. Experts can determine the age of the young by the formation of their teeth.

• The average life span for deer in the wild is 15- 20 years. However, it can vary based upon location and the species.

Introduction to Deer

Deer are ruminant mammals belonging to the family Cervidae. This family classification include well known animals like the Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital among others.

All male deer have antlers, with the exception of the Chinese Water Deer, which have tusks. This is a characteristic very specific of deer that most people know. Sometimes a female deer will have a small stub, but the only female deer with antlers are Reindeer or Caribou.

The term deer covers a wide spectrum of species. It may surprise you to learn about all of the different ones out there. They all have unique characteristics about them. However, they all have many similarities and that is what most people know about them.

The deer population in the wild can quickly get out of control. This is why most states have hunting seasons. In order to take part in this, individuals must have a hunter’s safety card. This shows that they have successfully completed a two day course about how to hunt and to lower the risk of injury to themselves or to others.

Hunting can take place with a rifle or with a bow. The application process requires a person to choose their hunting area, when they would like to hunt, and the type of weapon they are going to use. Not everyone is guaranteed to get a hunting tag for deer though. It really depends on the population.

This type of population control has to be done or the deer will end up starving to death. In some areas deer are raised in captivity, and then turned loose on certain grounds for hunters. Some people find this to be unnecessary but it is a very profitable business.

Telling the males from the females is simple, the males are much larger. They also grow antlers between their ears. You can tell the age of a buck by the size of his antlers. They bigger they are and the more points they have the older he is. The design of these antlers will depend on the species. As a side note, the female reindeer also grow antlers. This is the only known species to do so but some others have small nubs that form on the females.

Deer seem to be beloved animals in the eyes of some. Who could ever forget the Disney classic Bambi? Yet deer can be dangerous too and most people don’t realize that. They can fight very hard with their legs when they feel they are in danger. As a result they have seriously hurt other animals and humans.

Deer can also be a danger on the roads as it can be hard to see them moving in the dark until it is too late. Of course these animals aren’t to blame; their natural habitat continues to be taken away from them. Even with warning signs in place where deer commonly cross the roads it is very dangerous.

Lions

Lions

The lion is a magnificent animal that appears as a symbol of power, courage and nobility on family crests, coats of arms and national flags in many civilizations. Lions at one time were found from Greece through the Middle East to northern India, but today only a very small population remains in India. In the past lions lived in most parts of Africa, but are now confined to the sub-Saharan region.

Most cat species live a fundamentally solitary existence, but the lion is an exception. It has developed a social system based on teamwork and a division of labor within the pride, and an extended but closed family unit centered around a group of related females. The average pride consists of about 15 individuals, including five to 10 females with their young and two or three territorial males that are usually brothers or pride mates.

Physical Characteristics

Generally a tawny yellow, lions, like other species, tend to be lighter in color in hot, arid areas and darker in areas of dense vegetation. Mature male lions are unique among the cat species for the thick mane of brown or black hair that encircles the head and neck. The tails of lions end in a horny spine covered with a tuft of hair.

Habitat

Lions are found in savannas, grasslands, dense bush and woodlands.

Behavior

Females do 85 to 90 percent of the pride's hunting, while the males patrol the territory and protect the pride, for which they take the "lion's share" of the females' prey. When resting, lions seem to enjoy good fellowship with lots of touching, head rubbing, licking and purring. But when it comes to food, each lion looks out for itself. Squabbling and fighting are common, with adult males usually eating first, followed by the females and then the cubs.

Lions are the laziest of the big cats. They usually spend 16 to 20 hours a day sleeping and resting, devoting the remaining hours to hunting, courting or protecting their territory. They keep in contact with one another by roaring loud enough to be heard up to five miles away. The pride usually remains intact until the males are challenged and successfully driven away or killed by other males, who then take over. Not all lions live in prides. At maturity, young males leave the units of their birth and spend several years as nomads before they become strong enough to take over a pride of their own. Some never stop wandering and continue to follow migrating herds; but the nomadic life is much more difficult, with little time for resting or reproducing.

Within the pride, the territorial males are the fathers of all the cubs. When a lioness is in heat, a male will join her, staying with her constantly. The pair usually mates for less than a minute, but it does so about every 15 to 30 minutes over a period of four to five days.

Lions may hunt at any hour, but they typically go after large prey at night. They hunt together to increase their success rate, since prey can be difficult to catch and can outrun a single lion. The lions fan out along a broad front or semicircle to creep up on prey. Once with within striking distance, they bound in among the startled animals, knock one down and kill it with a bite to the neck or throat. Hunts are successful about half the time.

Diet
Cooperative hunting enables lions to take prey as large as wildebeests, zebras, buffaloes, young elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes, any of which can provide several meals for the pride. Mice, lizards, tortoises, warthogs, antelopes and even crocodiles also form part of a lion's diet. Because they often take over kills made by hyenas, cheetahs and leopards, scavenged food provides more than 50 percent of their diets in areas like the Serengeti plains.

Caring for the Young

Litters consist of two or three cubs that weigh about 3 pounds each. Some mothers carefully nurture the young; others may neglect or abandon them, especially when food is scarce. Usually two or more females in a pride give birth about the same time, and the cubs are raised together. A lioness will permit cubs other than her own to suckle, sometimes enabling a neglected infant to survive. Capable hunters by 2 years of age, lions become fully grown between 5 and 6 years and normally live about 13 years.

Predators

Lions have long been killed in rituals of bravery, as hunting trophies and for their medicinal and magical powers. Although lions are now protected in many parts of Africa, they were once considered to be stock-raiding vermin and were killed on sight. In some areas, livestock predation remains a severe problem.

Kangaroo

Kangaroo

Size

The largest kangaroo, as well as the largest marsupial, is the red kangaroo, according to National Geographic. The length from the red kangaroo's head to its rump is 3.25 to 5.25 feet (1 to 1.6 meters) long. Its tail adds another 35.5 to 43.5 inches (90 to 110 centimeters) to its length and its entire body weighs around 200 lbs. (90 kilograms).

The smallest kangaroo is the musky rat-kangaroo. It is only 6 to 8 inches (15.24 to 20.32 cm) long and weighs only 12 ounces (340 grams). Its ratlike tail adds another 5 to 6 inches (12.7 to 15.24 cm) to its length.

Habitat

Most kangaroos live on the continent of Australia, though each species has a different place it likes to call home. For example, the musky rat-kangaroo likes to nestle down in little nests on the floor of the rainforests in northeastern Queensland. Gray kangaroos like the forests of Australia and Tasmania, on the other hand. The antilopine kangaroo can be found in the monsoonal eucalyptus woodlands of extreme northern Australia. Tree-kangaroos live in the upper branches of trees in the rainforests of Queensland, as well as on the island of New Guinea. 

Habits 

Kangaroos are the only large animals that hop as a primary means of locomotion. Their springy hind legs and feet are much stronger and larger than their arms (or "forelimbs"). According to the San Diego Zoo, kangaroos can cover 15 feet (7 m) in a single hop and can hop as fast as 30 mph (48 kph). Usually, 20 mph (32 kph) is considered their cruising speed. When feeding, kangaroos use a slower, walking movement, and for that they use their muscular tail as a kind of fifth leg, pushing off the ground as they move along.

Kangaroos are social and live in groups called a mob, a herd or a troop. Kangaroos in a mob will groom each other and protect each other from danger. If a kangaroo suspects there is danger in the area, it will stomp its foot on the ground to alert others. If it comes to blows, a kangaroo will box and kick its opponent. 

Diet

Kangaroos are herbivores. They eat grasses, flowers, leaves, ferns, moss and even insects. Like cows, kangaroos regurgitate their food and re-chew it before it is ready to be totally digested. 

Offspring

Probably the best-known fact about kangaroos is that they carry their young in a pouch. A female kangaroo is pregnant for 21 to 38 days, and she can give birth to up to four offspring at one time,  though this is unusual. 

At birth, the baby, called a joey, can be as small as a grain of rice, or as big as a bee, at 0.2 to 0.9 inches (5 to 25 millimeters), according to the San Diego Zoo. When the joey is born, it is guided safely into the comfy pouch, where it gestates for another 120 to 450 days. 

Inside the pouch, the joey is protected and can feed by nursing from its mother's nipples. Joeys urinate and defecate in the mother's pouch. The lining of the pouch absorbs some of the mess, but occasionally the mother will need to clean it out, which she does by inserting her long snout into the pouch and using her tongue to remove the contents. A young joey will remain attached to a nipple while the mother does this, but any older ones will be temporarily kicked out. 

Another interesting fact about the mother kangaroo is that she is able to suckle two joeys at different developmental stages at the same time with milk that has different nutritional content, the New York Times has reported. 

Joeys grow quickly, though, and at 14 to 20 months for females or 2 to 4 years for males, they will be fully matured. 

Classification/taxonomy 

The taxonomy of kangaroos, tree-kangaroos and rat-kangaroos, according to ITIS, is:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Subkingdom: Bilateria  
• Infrakingdom: Deuterostomia  
• Phylum: Chordata
• Subphylum: Vertebrata
• Infraphylum: Gnathostomata  
• Superclass: Tetrapoda  
• Class: Mammalia
• Subclass: Theria
• Infraclass: Metatheria  
• Order: Diprotodontia
• Suborder: Macropodiformes

'Great kangaroos'

• Family: Macropodidae
• Subfamily: Macropodinae
• Genus & species: Macropus fuliginosus (western gray kangaroo; three subspecies), Macropus giganteus (eastern gray kangaroo; two subspecies), Macropus antilopinus (antilopine kangaroo), Macropus rufus (red kangaroo)

Tree-kangaroos

• Family: Macropodidae
• Subfamily: Macropodinae
• Genus: Dendrolagus
• Species: 12, including Dendrolagus bennettianus (Bennett's tree-kangaroo), Dendrolagus goodfellowi (Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo), Dendrolagus matschiei (Huon tree-kangaroo) and Dendrolagus spadix (Lowlands tree-kangaroo).

Rat-kangaroos

• Family: Potoridae
• Genera & species: Aepyprymnus rufescens (Rufous bettong or Rufous rat-kangaroo), Bettongia (four species of bettongs, or short-nosed rat-kangaroos), Caloprymnus campestris (desert rat-kangaroo)

Musky rat-kangaroos

• Family: Hypsiprymnodontidae
• Genus & species: Hypsiprymnodon moschatus