Ha, I know you don't care about Betta fish -- but there was no way I could use the graphic of a polar bear eating a cub. That's the newest OMG from Copenhagen though: Polar bears are eating each other because global warming has taken all their sources of food.
Thing is though, male polar bears have always eaten cubs, and fights, killings, and eatings are not uncommon.
From Polar Bears International:
Male polar bears, like males of other ursids, will kill and eat dependent cubs (Hansson and Thomassen 1983; Larsen 1985; Taylor et al. 1985; Derocher and Wiig 1999). Although this activity does not account for a large percentage of the mortality, it is a curious cause of death in young bears. A male bear that kills cubs fathered by another probably confers some survival advantage to cubs he fathered by eliminating possible competitors for resources. Also, female bears undergo a lactational anestrus. By killing her cubs, a male interrupts that anestrus, and theoretically could breed with the female, inducing her to have his cubs rather than the cubs of some other male. Infanticide, therefore, is a mechanism by which males can increase their relative fitness.
To their credit, this Times article at least admits that Inuit leaders say this is a normal occurrence.
But why is this story out there? My guess is that the zealots are starting to panic and are looking for one last mass-hysterical push. More lying isn't what they need. When you've been caught in a lie, the way out isn't to toss another lie out there.
(BTW -- Unless I miss my guess, look for the word "trick" to be thrown around like crazy by those climate data fudgers. "Manipulate data? No, oh yes Miriam, a coffee would be great... um, and could you do that trick of putting cream and sugar in it? Now where was I...." )
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