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PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM DEAN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
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Beware! The trafficking has been little known, but big in scale. We’re talking giant clams, massive mollusks (pictured above) that can grow four feet across and weigh 500 pounds. Criminals kill them and smuggle them to China for their shells, which can be carved like ivory (now banned by China). One seizure of clams weighed 132,000 tons. That’s five times heavier than the Statue of Liberty, Dina Fine Maron reports for our Wildlife Watch unit. (Wildlife Watch is our investigative reporting partnership with the National Geographic Society, focusing on wildlife crime and exploitation. Learn more about the Society's mission here.)
Quake hits Pakistan: Early Thursday, a strong quake struck southern Pakistan, and Reuters reported an initial toll of 20 deaths and 300 people wounded. Hundreds of homes collapsed. Nat Geo's Maya Wei-Haas says the region sits at the boundary of three tectonic plate—the Indian the Eurasian, and the Arabian—and earthquakes are common.
Goodbye Columbus: The zoo in Ohio’s capital is about to lose its accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, NBC4 in Columbus reports. Its former CEO and chief financial officer quit after allegations they misused zoo property for personal profit, and a documentary in August alleged former longtime zoo director Jack Hanna had had improper ties to the big cat trade.
Speaking of zoos: A binturong (a carnivore similar to a civet) and a fishing cat at a zoo in Illinois have been confirmed positive for COVID-19, the USDA reports. This is a first for both species in the United States, Natasha Daly says. In Washington, D.C., all six lions and two tigers who tested positive for COVID-19 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are improving, the zoo says.
It’s Otis! That’s the name of this year’s Fat Bear Week winner. The social media contest featured images of heavyweight bears from southwest Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve packing on the pounds before winter. Otis, the three-time previous champ, believed to weigh over a thousand pounds, triumphed again in a reader vote, CNN reports.
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