Hurricane Irma is officially the most powerful storm system ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the Caribbean Islands are going to be hit hard. Hurricane Irma: fears for Caribbean islands as category 5 storm hits – live (20 minutes ago): "Irma moved into the record books late on Tuesday with sustained wind speeds of 185mph (295kph), making it the most powerful ever recorded over the Atlantic Ocean. There have been three other storms in the Atlantic region that were as strong – 2005's Wilma, 1988’s Gilbert and a 1935 great Florida Key storm all reached 185mph – but all were in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, where warmer waters make battering hurricanes more likely. Hurricane Allen, which got to 190mph in 1980, was another that hit its peak over the Gulf of Mexico. Irma is currently over water that is one degree celsius (1.8F) warmer than normal, fuelling its intensity."
As of today the general expectation is that Irma will turn north and go right up the Florida panhandle. There are already evacuations in the Florida Keys (the islands to the south) and Miami. A vast and powerful storm, this could have serious consequences for ZooMiami The Naples Zoo Monkey Jungle Jungle Island Palm Beach Zoo Lion Country Safari Then it depends on what happens as it continues North Weather modeling of hurricane track: https://s.w-x.co/irma-tracks-ecmwf-5sep0z.jpg Video of Irma's first landfall RCI Guadeloupe on Twitter
Lest ye all forget ... it will have the greatest impact on the Leewards, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbuda, Puerto Rico, Culebra, Hispaniola and Cuba ..., then on to Bahamas. Think of all the Island fauna and the various zoological establishments there. The devastation is so much the greater here as ocean is direct on their frontdoorstep. Plus: rescue and repair will have to be shipped in from afar ...
ZWF Miami has started preparations and have started “preparing for the worst and hoping for the best”
I'm more worried about some of the wildlife in the Caribbean islands over which the hurricanes have passed. In particular the Barbuda Warbler, which is endemic to that island. The reporting has, naturally, been solely about the human cost (and of course I'm not trying to detract from that cost) but Barbuda has reportedly had 90% of its buildings destroyed. The island has been described as "reduced to rubble" and "barely habitable". The island is only 62 square miles in extent. [EDIT: later aerial video shows, at least, a lot of low scrub still present on the island.] Hurricane Irma was a Category 5 when it hit Barbuda, and the island is about to be hit again, by Hurricane Jose which formed directly behind Irma and is expected to be a Category 4 when it passes over Barbuda. [EDIT: Hurricane Jose veered off its predicted course and hence missed a direct hit on Barbuda.] Caribbean wildlife is obviously adapted to cope with hurricanes - small birds like warblers hide out near the ground amongst roots and rocks, for example - but in today's world the populations are often restricted by human influences, meaning that the effects of natural disasters can potentially be devastating (e.g. as has been seen previously in the Cozumel Thrasher and the Montserrat Oriole).
Here is an article on the impending (and potentially catastrophic) Hurricane Irma about to hit Florida. The bottom of the article has a brief bit about Zoo Miami. Hurricane Irma will batter Florida and ‘devastate the United States,’ officials warn
Hurricane Irma: Where it is now, and what we know Hurricane has gone through the Florida Keys and hit Naples (home of Caribbean Gardens zoo and of course thousands of souls). It is predicted to continue up the west coast of Florida and wreak havoc all the way up including the Tampa area, which usually escapes severe hurricanes. Their last major one was almost a century ago in 1921. Home to Busch Gardens, Florida Aquarium, Lowry Park Zoo, Big Cat Rescue, Safari Wilderness and millions of residents.
Something I hadn't thought about. Before the storm surge hits with its mass of water, water gets pulled out to feed the storm. Two manatees were left high and dry as Sarasota Bay drained when the water was pulled into the approaching storm. People save manatees marooned in drained bay
Havana was flooded. How this affected the national zoo, the city zoo and the national aquarium has not been reported yet.
Good news from Zoo Miami on the Today show In wake of Hurricane Irma, Miami zoo animals are OK (including rhino)
I've also seen from the BBC videos of key deer. As many of you know the keys have been badly hit by the storm and this species of deer is highly endangered, so the video gives hope that some are ok at least.
an article (with the video mentioned above) about the Key Deer and Hurricane Irma, although apparently even a magazine called The Scientist doesn't know the difference between a species and a subspecies: http://www.the-scientist.com/?artic...e/Optimism-for-Key-Deer-After-Hurricane-Irma/ Among the island residents who stayed to weather the hurricane are Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium), a federally endangered species numbering fewer than 1,000 individuals. “They are pretty good at protecting themselves. They have been on those Keys going back to the Wisconsin Ice Age, so they know what to do,” Fleming tells The Scientist. “We really didn’t have an enormous level of concern.” The most tangible sign of optimism came from CBS Miami reporter David Sutta, who taped four Key deer jogging alongside a debris-strewn road in Big Pine Key today. The Keys are home to more than two dozen threatened or endangered plant and animal species, including Bartram’s hairstreak butterfly and the Lower Keys marsh rabbit. Fleming says FWS staff will be looking to see how all of them fared as soon as his colleagues can return to the islands.
In reference to my post on the stranded manatees, here is an explanation of this rare occurence: 'Once in a Lifetime Tidal Event': Why Irma Drained Shorelines
Richard Branson's Necker Island was devastated by Irma, but most of the animals survived. This article says 60 lemurs survived - earlier articles mentioned there being 81 lemurs on the island, so I'm not sure if 20 died or if the number was already down to 60 before the hurricane. Richard Branson's Necker Island Devastated by Hurricane Irma Richard Branson's Necker Island Torn Apart by Irma, Some Exotic Animals MIA (UPDATE) Here's an earlier (2016) article about the animals: Necker Island: Animal Antics
an article about the Ardastra Gardens and Zoo in Nassau (Bahamas) preparing before the arrival of Irma (this is a few days old): Bahamas zoo moves 150 animals before Hurricane Irma hits | Daily Mail Online I just looked on their Facebook page and they are open today with no losses. They said of the article, "The quotes aren't exactly right...but a nice story on what we've been doing the past 2 days getting the zoo ready for Irma."
Really bad for a lot of Caribbean islands, but thankfully not as bad for Florida as predicted. Perspective | Why Hurricane Irma wasn’t far worse, and how close it came to catastrophe
El Acuario Nacional de Cuba se recupera tras el paso del huracán Irma No losses at Acuario Nacional de Cuba in Havana. Dolphins, sea lions, marine turtles and fish are well. Cientos de flamencos muertos en Cayo Coco por el huracán Irma A large breeding group of wild carribean flamingos was completely devasted at Cayo Coco by hurricane irma. Take note,many times animals in captive collections can survive better these disaters than wildlife. Flamingos in Cuba fall victim to Hurricane Irma (Graphic Content)
Some news concerning the Barbuda warbler - a one-day survey trip on September 22nd found a total of eight warblers. The plan now is to do an intensive survey to find out roughly how many warblers now remain and also to aid the recovery of wildlife on the island by replanting native trees and mangroves destroyed by the hurricane. Good News! Conservationists Excited to Find Surviving Barbuda Warblers on Devastated Island
