These ancient rats were the size of lap dogs

These ancient rats were the size of lap dogs - The Washington Post:

Odd! Birds Screech at Avian Funerals

When confronting a dead jay splayed out on the ground, the birds dashed to a tree and began a series of loud, screeching calls to attract other jays, which joined and added their voices to the choir. Iglesias found that these shrieking sessions could last from a few seconds to as long as 30 minutes.

http://www.livescience.com/23102-some-jays-have-screeching-funerals-for-dead.html

Eyeless Creature Discovered in Undersea Tunnel

A previously unknown species of an eyeless crustacean was discovered lurking inside a lava tube beneath the seafloor.
The creature, named Speleonectes atlantida, lives in the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world's longest submarine lava tube on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands off the western coast of northern Africa. The discovery, which has implications for the evolution of an ancient group of crustaceans, will be detailed in September in a special issue of the journal Marine Biodiversity.
While in the cave, the international team of scientists and cave divers also discovered two previously unknown species of annelid worms.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090825/sc_livescience/eyelesscreaturediscoveredinunderseatunnel

Both the creatures and the tubes under the sea are interesting from an RPG point of view.

Northwest dirt seeking giant worm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090711/ap_on_sc/us_giant_palouse_earthworm

MOSCOW, Idaho – The giant Palouse earthworm has taken on mythic qualities in this vast agricultural region that stretches from eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle — its very name evoking the fictional sandworms from "Dune" or those vicious creatures from the movie "Tremors."

The worm is said to secrete a lily-like smell when handled, spit at predators, and live in burrows 15 feet deep. There have been only a handful of sightings.

But scientists hope to change that this summer with researchers scouring the Palouse region in hopes of finding more of the giant earthworms. Conservationists also want the Obama administration to protect the worm as an endangered species, even though little research has been done on it.