Canadian-bred cow wins World Dairy Expo Holstein show | The Western Producer
A cow bred in Saskatchewan, from Lovholm Holsteins of Balgonie, is the Grand Champion Holstein at the 2025 World Dairy Expo.
www.producer.com
Science & Environment
- Thread starter socratus
- Start date
www.producer.com
does it say eh?Canadian-bred cow wins World Dairy Expo Holstein show | The Western Producer
A cow bred in Saskatchewan, from Lovholm Holsteins of Balgonie, is the Grand Champion Holstein at the 2025 World Dairy Expo.
No, but it has been awarded the title of Miss Saskatchewan and is the odds-on favorite for Miss Canada.
Contender, biggest great white shark recorded in Atlantic, found feeding in cold Canadian waters
The animal was tagged with a tracking device off the Florida-Georgia coast in January.
Author of the article:Spiro Papuckoski
Published Oct 09, 2025 • Last updated 14 hours ago • 2 minute read
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month.
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month. OCEARCH.ORG
Canada has been visited by the biggest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.
Contender, a male behemoth who weighs 750 kilograms and is 4.2 metres in length, was tagged with a tracking device in January off the Florida coastline near Jacksonville by researchers at OCEARCH, a non-profit organization focused on marine science and ocean conservation.
The last signal from the shark was recorded in the early morning hours of Sept. 29 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Quebec. The tracker only produces a signal when the shark’s dorsal fin is above water.
“Only a couple have made it that far north,” Chris Fischer, the 56-year-old OCEARCH founder and expedition leader, told the New York Post.
“An animal like that, spending the summer and fall up north — what are they doing? Well, a lot of what they’re doing is preparing for the winter.”
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month.
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month. OCEARCH.ORG
Fischer said the approximately 30-year-old Contender, named in honour of sport fishing and pleasure boat manufacturer Contender Boats, is fattening up for the winter.
The shark is “putting a lot of pressure on the seals, eating seals constantly, swimming in front of seal colonies, trying to put on some weight before he proceeds back down to Florida for the oncoming winter,” he said.
Fischer pointed out there are environmental benefits for keeping the seal population in check.
“The byproduct of putting that pressure on the seals is really good, they’re guarding our fish stocks,” Fischer said.
“We know that if the white sharks are in front of the seals putting pressure on them, they eat one-fourth as much per day.”
Without the shark’s presence, the seals would wipe out the fish population.
Contender was pinged numerous times off the Florida and Georgia coasts in January and February. He wasn’t tracked again until April and May near the Carolinas.
By July, the great white was located hundreds of kilometres off Nantucket Island before making the long journey north into Canadian waters late last month.
Another ping was registered on Oct. 2, but because the shark was briefly above water, it’s exact location was undetermined.
According to Fischer, finding Contender in colder areas of the ocean reveals how sharks are able to adapt to different temperatures.
“White sharks have the capacity to warm themselves and be in cold water, but they have to have a lot of food,” Fischer said.
“Like horses in winter — as long as they have food, they’re fine. If they run out of food, they freeze very quickly.”
Ultimately, tracking Contender will hopefully help researchers learn more about the animal’s mating grounds.
“These big mature males are hugely important because they can help us understand where and when mating is occurring,” Fischer said
He pointed out that female sharks have complex migratory cycles that span two years while males mate throughout the year.
“There’s never been a white shark mating site identified anywhere in the world in any one of the nine populations,” Fischer said. “It would be a first.”
instagram.com
contenderboats.com
nypost.com
ocearch.org
ocearch.org
torontosun.com
The animal was tagged with a tracking device off the Florida-Georgia coast in January.
Author of the article:Spiro Papuckoski
Published Oct 09, 2025 • Last updated 14 hours ago • 2 minute read
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month.
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month. OCEARCH.ORG
Canada has been visited by the biggest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean.
Contender, a male behemoth who weighs 750 kilograms and is 4.2 metres in length, was tagged with a tracking device in January off the Florida coastline near Jacksonville by researchers at OCEARCH, a non-profit organization focused on marine science and ocean conservation.
The last signal from the shark was recorded in the early morning hours of Sept. 29 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Quebec. The tracker only produces a signal when the shark’s dorsal fin is above water.
“Only a couple have made it that far north,” Chris Fischer, the 56-year-old OCEARCH founder and expedition leader, told the New York Post.
“An animal like that, spending the summer and fall up north — what are they doing? Well, a lot of what they’re doing is preparing for the winter.”
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month.
Contender, a great white shark tagged in January off the Florida and Georgia coasts, has been tracked all the way to Canada late last month. OCEARCH.ORG
Fischer said the approximately 30-year-old Contender, named in honour of sport fishing and pleasure boat manufacturer Contender Boats, is fattening up for the winter.
The shark is “putting a lot of pressure on the seals, eating seals constantly, swimming in front of seal colonies, trying to put on some weight before he proceeds back down to Florida for the oncoming winter,” he said.
Fischer pointed out there are environmental benefits for keeping the seal population in check.
“The byproduct of putting that pressure on the seals is really good, they’re guarding our fish stocks,” Fischer said.
“We know that if the white sharks are in front of the seals putting pressure on them, they eat one-fourth as much per day.”
Without the shark’s presence, the seals would wipe out the fish population.
Contender was pinged numerous times off the Florida and Georgia coasts in January and February. He wasn’t tracked again until April and May near the Carolinas.
By July, the great white was located hundreds of kilometres off Nantucket Island before making the long journey north into Canadian waters late last month.
Another ping was registered on Oct. 2, but because the shark was briefly above water, it’s exact location was undetermined.
According to Fischer, finding Contender in colder areas of the ocean reveals how sharks are able to adapt to different temperatures.
“White sharks have the capacity to warm themselves and be in cold water, but they have to have a lot of food,” Fischer said.
“Like horses in winter — as long as they have food, they’re fine. If they run out of food, they freeze very quickly.”
Ultimately, tracking Contender will hopefully help researchers learn more about the animal’s mating grounds.
“These big mature males are hugely important because they can help us understand where and when mating is occurring,” Fischer said
He pointed out that female sharks have complex migratory cycles that span two years while males mate throughout the year.
“There’s never been a white shark mating site identified anywhere in the world in any one of the nine populations,” Fischer said. “It would be a first.”
OCEARCH on Instagram: "OCEARCH Founder Chris Fischer shares the latest update from our fishing and science crew in Nova Scotia. In just two days, the team successfully tagged and released five white sharks, adding critical new data to the OCEARCH Glo
753 likes, 9 comments - ocearch on October 8, 2025: "OCEARCH Founder Chris Fischer shares the latest update from our fishing and science crew in Nova Scotia. In just two days, the team successfully tagged and released five white sharks, adding critical new data to the OCEARCH Global Shark...
instagram.com
Home - Contender Boats
Each model starts as a concept with a stringent set of expectations that must be met to be a Contender.
contenderboats.com
‘Biggest ever’ great white shark Contender surfaces just off Canada – plumping up on seals
The biggest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic has resurfaced just off the coast of Canada – where he is plumping up on seals ahead of winter.
nypost.com
OCEARCH - Protect our Sharks. Protect our oceans.
Uncovering The Secrets Of The Ocean’s Top Predator To Help Save Our Oceans
ocearch.org
OCEARCH Shark Tracker
OCEARCH is a data-centric organization built to help scientists collect previously unattainable data in the ocean.
ocearch.org
Contender, biggest great white shark recorded in Atlantic, found feeding in cold Canadian waters
The biggest great white shark recorded in the Atlantic Ocean made its way into the Gulf of the St. Lawrence on Sept. 29. Read more.
New species of Jurassic 'sword dragon' found in U.K.
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Oct 10, 2025 • 1 minute read
101025-43423db2fd54d2e1e0c49c04b6a190cd68f7c69c
The newly identified reptile is about the size of a dolphin. Photo by - /UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER/AFP
London (AFP) — A skeleton found on Britain’s Jurassic Coast has been identified as a new species of ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile that once ruled the seas, scientists said Friday.
Comparable in size to a dolphin, the ichthyosaur has been named Xiphodracon goldencapensis, or the “Sword Dragon of Dorset”, after the English county where the near-complete skeleton was discovered.
It is “the only known example of its kind in existence and helps to fill an important gap in the evolutionary fossil record of ichthyosaurs”, the University of Manchester said.
Ichthyosaur expert Dean Lomax, an honorary research fellow at the university, led the three-strong team of paleontologists who carried out the analysis.
Ichthyosaurs were reptiles who spent their lives under water. They are not considered to have been dinosaurs.
The sword dragon dates back to the Pliensbachian period, which occurred around 190 million years ago.
The skeleton was discovered near Golden Cap, in Dorset, in 2001, but has only recently been analysed by palaeontologists.
It includes a skull with a huge eye socket and a long sword-like snout.
Scientists said the animal would have been about three metres long and would have eaten fish and squid.
The research was published on Friday in the Papers in Paleontology journal.
The skeleton is due to go on display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:AFP
AFP
Published Oct 10, 2025 • 1 minute read
101025-43423db2fd54d2e1e0c49c04b6a190cd68f7c69c
The newly identified reptile is about the size of a dolphin. Photo by - /UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER/AFP
London (AFP) — A skeleton found on Britain’s Jurassic Coast has been identified as a new species of ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile that once ruled the seas, scientists said Friday.
Comparable in size to a dolphin, the ichthyosaur has been named Xiphodracon goldencapensis, or the “Sword Dragon of Dorset”, after the English county where the near-complete skeleton was discovered.
It is “the only known example of its kind in existence and helps to fill an important gap in the evolutionary fossil record of ichthyosaurs”, the University of Manchester said.
Ichthyosaur expert Dean Lomax, an honorary research fellow at the university, led the three-strong team of paleontologists who carried out the analysis.
Ichthyosaurs were reptiles who spent their lives under water. They are not considered to have been dinosaurs.
The sword dragon dates back to the Pliensbachian period, which occurred around 190 million years ago.
The skeleton was discovered near Golden Cap, in Dorset, in 2001, but has only recently been analysed by palaeontologists.
It includes a skull with a huge eye socket and a long sword-like snout.
Scientists said the animal would have been about three metres long and would have eaten fish and squid.
The research was published on Friday in the Papers in Paleontology journal.
The skeleton is due to go on display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.
New species of Jurassic 'sword dragon' found in U.K.
The research was published on Friday in the Papers in Paleontology journal.
A long-lost ancient Roman artifact reappears in a New Orleans backyard
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jack Brook
Published Oct 11, 2025 • 3 minute read
This photo provided by Tulane University classical archeologist Susann Lusnia in October 2025 shows a Latin inscription on the 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus, discovered in a New Orleans backyard.
This photo provided by Tulane University classical archeologist Susann Lusnia in October 2025 shows a Latin inscription on the 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus, discovered in a New Orleans backyard. Photo by Susann Lusnia via AP /AP
NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans family cleaning up their overgrown backyard made an extremely unusual find: Under the weeds was a mysterious marble tablet with Latin characters that included the phrase “spirits of the dead.”
“The fact that it was in Latin that really just gave us pause, right?” said Daniella Santoro, a Tulane University anthropologist. “I mean, you see something like that and you say, ‘Okay, this is not an ordinary thing.”‘
Intrigued and slightly alarmed, Santoro reached out to her classical archeologist colleague Susann Lusnia, who quickly realized that the slab was the 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus.
“When I first saw the image that Daniella sent me, it really did send a shiver up my spine because I was just floored,” Lusnia said.
Further sleuthing by Lusnia revealed the tablet had been missing from an Italian museum for decades.
Sextus Congenius Verus had died at age 42, of unknown causes, after serving for more than two decades in the imperial navy on a ship named for the Greco-Roman god of medicine, Asclepius. The gravestone calls the sailor “well deserving” and was commissioned by two people described as his “heirs,” who were likely shipmates since Roman military could not be married at the time, Lusnia said.
The tablet had been in an ancient cemetery of around 20 graves of military personnel, found in the 1860s in Civitavecchia, a seaside in northwest Italy about 30 miles (48 kilometres) from Rome. Its text had been recorded in 1910 and included in a catalog of Latin inscriptions, which noted the tablet’s whereabouts were unknown.
The tablet was later documented at the National Archeological Museum in Civitavecchia prior to the Second World War. But the museum had been “pretty much destroyed” during Allied bombing and took several decades to rebuild, Lusnia said. Museum staff confirmed to Lusnia the tablet had been missing for decades. Its recorded measurements — 1 square foot (0.09 square metres) and 1 inch (2.5 centimetres) thick — matched the size of the tablet found in Santoro’s backyard.
“You can’t have better DNA than that,” Lusnia said.
She said the FBI is in talks with Italian authorities to repatriate the tablet. An FBI spokesperson said the agency could not respond to requests for comment during the government shutdown.
A final twist to the story suggests how the tablet made its way to New Orleans.
As media reports of the find began circulating this week, Erin Scott O’Brien says her ex-husband called her and told her to watch the news. She immediately recognized the hunk of marble, which she had always seen as a “cool-ass piece of art.” They had used as a garden decoration and then forgot about it before selling the home to Santoro in 2018.
“None of us knew what it was,” O’Brien said. “We were watching the video, just like in shock.”
O’Brien said she received the tablet from her grandparents _ an Italian woman and a New Orleans native who was stationed in the country during the Second World War.
Perhaps no one would be more thrilled by the tablet’s rediscovery than Sextus himself. Grave markers were important in Roman culture to uphold legacies, even of everyday citizens, Lusnia said.
“Now Sextus Congenius Verus is being talked about so much,” Lusnia said. “If there’s an afterlife and he’s in it and he knows, he’s very happy because this is what a Roman wants — to be remembered forever.”
![new-orleans-ancient-headstone[1].jpg](https://forums.canadiancontent.net/data/attachments/29/29805-4772a4d57951187a922d49c9ded6a915.jpg "new-orleans-ancient-headstone[1].jpg")
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jack Brook
Published Oct 11, 2025 • 3 minute read
This photo provided by Tulane University classical archeologist Susann Lusnia in October 2025 shows a Latin inscription on the 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus, discovered in a New Orleans backyard.
This photo provided by Tulane University classical archeologist Susann Lusnia in October 2025 shows a Latin inscription on the 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus, discovered in a New Orleans backyard. Photo by Susann Lusnia via AP /AP
NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans family cleaning up their overgrown backyard made an extremely unusual find: Under the weeds was a mysterious marble tablet with Latin characters that included the phrase “spirits of the dead.”
“The fact that it was in Latin that really just gave us pause, right?” said Daniella Santoro, a Tulane University anthropologist. “I mean, you see something like that and you say, ‘Okay, this is not an ordinary thing.”‘
Intrigued and slightly alarmed, Santoro reached out to her classical archeologist colleague Susann Lusnia, who quickly realized that the slab was the 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus.
“When I first saw the image that Daniella sent me, it really did send a shiver up my spine because I was just floored,” Lusnia said.
Further sleuthing by Lusnia revealed the tablet had been missing from an Italian museum for decades.
Sextus Congenius Verus had died at age 42, of unknown causes, after serving for more than two decades in the imperial navy on a ship named for the Greco-Roman god of medicine, Asclepius. The gravestone calls the sailor “well deserving” and was commissioned by two people described as his “heirs,” who were likely shipmates since Roman military could not be married at the time, Lusnia said.
The tablet had been in an ancient cemetery of around 20 graves of military personnel, found in the 1860s in Civitavecchia, a seaside in northwest Italy about 30 miles (48 kilometres) from Rome. Its text had been recorded in 1910 and included in a catalog of Latin inscriptions, which noted the tablet’s whereabouts were unknown.
The tablet was later documented at the National Archeological Museum in Civitavecchia prior to the Second World War. But the museum had been “pretty much destroyed” during Allied bombing and took several decades to rebuild, Lusnia said. Museum staff confirmed to Lusnia the tablet had been missing for decades. Its recorded measurements — 1 square foot (0.09 square metres) and 1 inch (2.5 centimetres) thick — matched the size of the tablet found in Santoro’s backyard.
“You can’t have better DNA than that,” Lusnia said.
She said the FBI is in talks with Italian authorities to repatriate the tablet. An FBI spokesperson said the agency could not respond to requests for comment during the government shutdown.
A final twist to the story suggests how the tablet made its way to New Orleans.
As media reports of the find began circulating this week, Erin Scott O’Brien says her ex-husband called her and told her to watch the news. She immediately recognized the hunk of marble, which she had always seen as a “cool-ass piece of art.” They had used as a garden decoration and then forgot about it before selling the home to Santoro in 2018.
“None of us knew what it was,” O’Brien said. “We were watching the video, just like in shock.”
O’Brien said she received the tablet from her grandparents _ an Italian woman and a New Orleans native who was stationed in the country during the Second World War.
Perhaps no one would be more thrilled by the tablet’s rediscovery than Sextus himself. Grave markers were important in Roman culture to uphold legacies, even of everyday citizens, Lusnia said.
“Now Sextus Congenius Verus is being talked about so much,” Lusnia said. “If there’s an afterlife and he’s in it and he knows, he’s very happy because this is what a Roman wants — to be remembered forever.”
A long-lost ancient Roman artifact reappears in a New Orleans backyard
A New Orleans family cleaning up their overgrown backyard made an extremely unusual find.
Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano unleashes new burst of hot ash
Several villages have been blanketed in ash and debris
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Oct 15, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
In this photo released by Geological Agency (Badan Geologi) of the Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spews volcanic material during an eruption in East Flores, Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.
In this photo released by Geological Agency (Badan Geologi) of the Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spews volcanic material during an eruption in East Flores, Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, erupted for a second straight day Wednesday, spewing towering columns of hot ash that later blanketed villages. No casualties were immediately reported.
Indonesia’s Geology Agency said an eruption in the early morning sent lava and clouds of ash up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) high. Another burst less than nine hours later sent a towering mushroom-shaped ash cloud as high as 8 kilometers (nearly 5 miles) into the air.
The rumbling volcano on remote Flores island erupted three times Tuesday. Avalanches of searing gas clouds mixed with rocks and lava fell down the slopes in the morning and midday eruptions. The third eruption of the day lit up the night sky with glowing lava and bolts of lightning.
Several villages have been blanketed in ash and debris, Hadi Wijaya, head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, said in a statement. He warned residents to be vigilant about heavy rainfall that could trigger lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano.
The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) mountain has been at the highest alert level since an eruption on June 18, and an exclusion zone was set at 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the crater as eruptions became more frequent. Its major eruption in November 2024 killed nine people and injured dozens. It also erupted in March.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
torontosun.com
Several villages have been blanketed in ash and debris
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Oct 15, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
In this photo released by Geological Agency (Badan Geologi) of the Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spews volcanic material during an eruption in East Flores, Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.
In this photo released by Geological Agency (Badan Geologi) of the Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spews volcanic material during an eruption in East Flores, Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, erupted for a second straight day Wednesday, spewing towering columns of hot ash that later blanketed villages. No casualties were immediately reported.
Indonesia’s Geology Agency said an eruption in the early morning sent lava and clouds of ash up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) high. Another burst less than nine hours later sent a towering mushroom-shaped ash cloud as high as 8 kilometers (nearly 5 miles) into the air.
The rumbling volcano on remote Flores island erupted three times Tuesday. Avalanches of searing gas clouds mixed with rocks and lava fell down the slopes in the morning and midday eruptions. The third eruption of the day lit up the night sky with glowing lava and bolts of lightning.
Several villages have been blanketed in ash and debris, Hadi Wijaya, head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, said in a statement. He warned residents to be vigilant about heavy rainfall that could trigger lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano.
The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) mountain has been at the highest alert level since an eruption on June 18, and an exclusion zone was set at 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the crater as eruptions became more frequent. Its major eruption in November 2024 killed nine people and injured dozens. It also erupted in March.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano unleashes new burst of hot ash
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 280 million people, has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the Ring of Fire