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Vampire bats are terrorizing a village in Ecuador.
Win Initiative/Getty Images
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Welcome to Planet 100 for August 20, 2010. Here's what we're covering today.
WATCH VIDEO: Vampire Bat Killing Spree
Vampire Killing Spree
The BBC reports that at least four children have died after rabid vampire bats attacked Awajun indigenous communities in remote part of Peru.
More than 500 people were reportedly bitten by the vampire bats and Peru's health ministry has sent emergency teams to vaccinate villagers in the affected area of Urakusa, located close to the border with Ecuador. Most have now been vaccinated and are safe from future attacks.
Rabies outbreaks from vampire bats are a regular occurrence in Amazon countries, the highest death toll came in 1990 when 73 people were killed in Brazil.
Via: ENN
Coral Sperm
With news that rising water temperatures are killing Indonesia's coral reefs at one of the fastest rates ever recorded, enter innovative solution to save the reefs.
Scientists at University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Smithsonian Institution are building up a bank of frozen sperm and embryos of Hawaiian coral species to protect them from extinction caused by warm and polluted waters. In theory, the frozen cells can be unfrozen 1,000 years in the future to restore populations.
Hawaiian corals are especially impacted by pollution as well as intensely destructive fishing practices such as dynamite fishing and trawling.
Via: Treehugger
Australia Wave Power
One of the benefits of being an island nation? Wave power. The World Energy Council just named Australia's southern shores as the world's most promising site for the development of wave power. If just 20% of the possible wave power sites in Australia were developed, the whole country could be run entirely by the sea.
Via: Inhabitat
Credits:
Vampire bat ©Win Initiative/Getty Images
Peru ©Getty Images
Bats in a cave © AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley
coral underwater © AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara, File
coral reef ©Comstock/Thinkstock
test tubes © Chris Sattlberger/Getty Images
Australia coast Alex Canton, Creative Commons
Wave ©iStockphoto/Thinkstock
