Wildlife officials have pulled four alligators from a lagoon at Walt Disney World after a two-year-old boy was dragged into the water by an alligator.

 

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Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

JOHN Muir, the “father of the National Parks” who “saved the American soul from total surrender to materialism”, died a century ago this year. 2014 will be marked by Muir celebrations in the US and his native Scotland. April 21 has been designated John Muir day.

The US political stalemate in Congress is showing no signs of easing, leaving government services from informational websites, to international war graves, closed.

Much of the vast machinery of the US government has ground to a halt as Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for a partial shutdown that closed federal agencies, national parks and research facilities across the nation.

HUMANS have changed the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and all of its oceans. We impact on 83% of the world’s land and have permanently altered a third of it.

No tickets for London’s big event? Get into the Olympic spirit on a tour with a sporting twist, says Sally Howard

Sixty-four bison from Yellowstone National Park have been shipped almost 500 miles to north east Montana’s Fort Peck Reservation, under a long-stalled relocation initiative meant to repopulate parts of the American West with the animals.

A PAPER in the current edition of Irish Birds, The Birds of the Phoenix Park, County Dublin, gives the results of a survey carried out during the summer of 2007 and the following winter. The author is Olivia Crowe.

A female grizzly bear killed a man who was hiking with his wife in Yellowstone National Park after the couple apparently surprised the animal and its cubs.

A CONVICTED killer who escaped from an Arizona prison said after his capture that he had planned to overdose on heroin at Yellowstone National Park and let bears eat him to end the fear and panic he was experiencing on his escape.

A bear rampaged through an American campsite killing one man and injuring two other people in the middle of the night.

A grizzly bear killed a man just outside Yellowstone National Park, apparently just hours after researchers trapped and tranquillised the animal.

POOR old Iceland is in the dog-house.

Caverns of liquid salty water which could provide a home for extra-terrestrial life may lie beneath the icy surface of one of Saturn’s moons, scientists believe.

THE Democratic Republic of Congo’s mountain gorilla population grew by about 13% in what one primate expert called a “baby boom” even as a rebel conflict forced rangers to flee the park.

A full field of 24 are set to go to post for Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup, with eight European raiders having made the final cut following the declaration stage.

Aidan O’Brien admits it would “mean the world” to win the Emirates Melbourne Cup at Flemington next week.

Yeats and Septimus lead a strong challenge for Aidan O’Brien as he bids for yet another Group One victory in Saturday’s Irish Field St Leger at the Curragh.

OFF The Record is likely to swerve the William Hill Great St Wilfrid Stakes at Ripon on Saturday because of the prospect of rain-softened ground.

Authorized remains the red-hot favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe after delighting trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam in his final piece of preparatory work.

Authorized will face a maximum of 14 rivals in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

EXPERIENCE gained over the course and distance at the Festival should give Wassily Kandinsky the edge in the Irish Stallion Farms 2-Y-0 Maiden at Galway today.

Lucarno put another spanner in the works of the St Leger betting as the John Gosden-trained colt repelled Aidan O’Brien’s army to take the Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur Stakes.

RETURNING wolves to America’s most famous national park has started to restore its lost ecological balance, say scientists.

GODOLPHIN admit Laverock has it to do if he is to bolster the tremendous record of Sheikh Mohammed’s operation in Saturday’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

SERGEANT Cecil could yet tackle next week’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

FRANKIE DETTORI and Peter Chapple-Hyam are experiencing conflicting emotions as Authorized puts his record on the line in today’s Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

Peter Chapple-Hyam admits to feeling the nerves as Vodafone Derby hero Authorized prepares for his first test against older horses in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

AIDAN O’BRIEN has declared four horses, including George Washington, for the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown tomorrow, with riding arrangements a trifle surprising.

Authorized heads 19 confirmations for the Vodafone Derby at Epsom on Saturday.

Marcus Tregoning can still dream of back-to-back victories in the Vodafone Derby after Aqaleem emerged as a possible for the Epsom Classic.

Teofilo’s shock withdrawal from the Stan James 2000 Guineas has left a field of 24 set to line up for Saturday’s first Classic at Newmarket.

Christophe Soumillon has been booked to ride the Aidan O’Brien-trained Eagle Mountain in the Stan James 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.

Holy Roman Emperor, second-favourite for the Stan James 2000 Guineas, is an eyecatching nomination for the American Triple Crown.

Trinity College, already as low as 16-1 with the sponsors for the Stan James 2000 Guineas, will try to maintain his unbeaten record at the Curragh tomorrow.

Scientists fear a giant explosion could rock Yellowstone National Park, one of the USA’s top tourist destinations which inspired the setting for the Yogi Bear cartoons.

Up to 700 people have been evacuated from eastern Arizona’s Fort Apache Indian Reservation after a 2,000-acre wildfire destroyed sacred sites.

Australian officials have declared that the worst of the 16-day bushfire crisis is over.

Cool weather today allowed 15,000 firefighters to contain many of the wildfires that have been burning out of control across Australia’s most populous state.