Zebra

Alarm bells have been sounded before about invasive species that might devastate the Chesapeake Bay - the northern snakehead, the scary, land-crossing "Frankenfish" that's now a naturalized resident of the Potomac River comes most immediately to mind. But few have gotten the advance billing for pure destructiveness that the zebra mussel has received. Last fall, six dead zebra mussels were found in the lower Susquehanna River, two of them in Maryland waters - including one at the Conowingo Dam. If history follows its usual course, it's not a matter of "if" but only a question of "when" the freshwater mussels become established in the less saline portions of the Chesapeake Bay. What might result from this?

The zebras made a run for it. Spotting a door ajar, three striped members of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus broke out yesterday from their temporary home in Baltimore's 1st Mariner Arena. But they didn't get far. Evidently bewildered by the bustle on Hopkins Place downtown, Mali, Giza and Lima -- geldings born in Missouri seven or eight years ago -- allowed themselves to be corralled by trainer Karin Houcke and two handlers within half a block of their exit point. No need for a lasso, since each animal wore a bridle.

More zebra mussels have been found in the Maryland portion of the Susquehanna River, state environmental officials confirmed yesterday. The alien mussels, which can cause millions of dollars in damage to water supply and hydroelectric intake pipes and upset the local ecology, were attached to a boat at Glen Cove Marina in Harford County. Earlier this month, a single mussel was found within the intake hydroelectric station at Conowingo Dam, the first sighting in the state. More mussels have been found six miles upstream in Pennsylvania at Muddy Run Reservoir.

For Under Armour, the story was always the same: Form follows function. The Baltimore sports apparel company's gear was designed to keep you sweat-free, while its tight fit showed off the muscular physiques of those lucky enough to have them. The brand was never known for being fashion-forward. But that was then. Now the billion-dollar firm, which as recently as three years ago limited its clothing offerings to shirts, shorts and other athletic wear in only the most basic colors, is looking to up its game — and expand its business — with zebra-print leggings for women and graphic T-shirts with slogans such as "Rain.

STILLWATER, Minn. - In the growing annals of invasive species, the fingernail-size zebra mussel hardly seems as fearsome as others that have recently made headlines - the bighead carp that have been leaping onto fishing boats in the Mississippi River, the "Frankenfish" snakehead that ate a Maryland pond. But what the zebra mussel lacks in style, it makes up for in destructive ability: Tiny but prolific, they can quickly take over a body of water, clogging power plant intake pipes, stealing food and oxygen from other species and even suffocating the native mussels that they attach themselves to and eventually encrust.

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. -- A year and a half ago, it looked as if Lake George, a blue jewel in the green Adirondacks, had dodged a biological bullet -- the zebra mussel, an invasive European mollusk that is clogging pipes, crowding local aquatic life and turning beaches into toe-slicing shell heaps from Michigan to the Hudson River. Scientists had found microscopic mussel larvae in the water, probably imported in the bilges of boats. But lab tests showed that some quirk of Lake George chemistry -- probably a lack of calcium -- seemed to keep them from maturing and reproducing.

The Greatest Show on Earth returned to Baltimore for the first time in five years yesterday, subtly letting residents know that the circus was back in town by parading elephants down Pratt Street.The train carrying animals and performers in the 121st edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus arrived behind the 1100 block of W. Pratt St. about noon, and once the evening rush hour had passed, the beasts of Barnum began their march to the Baltimore Arena.One man jumped up from his dinner table to chase the elephants and zebras as they did a slow stroll past the B&O Railroad Museum.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - The last quagga to walk the Earth died at the Amsterdam Zoo on Aug. 12, 1883. At the time, no one took much notice that the zebra-like animal that once roamed the Karoo - the dry grasslands of southern Africa - like bison had roamed the American West, was gone forever. Ruthlessly slaughtered by European settlers in southern Africa who viewed them as no better than pests competing for grazing land needed for their sheep and goats, quagga in the wild were hunted to extinction.

Betty Sherrill, named one of America's 101 most influential interior designers by House Beautiful, has a thing about leopard.Forget what you've heard about animal prints, that a little goes a long way. Sherrill has taken eight antique French chairs, covered them in faux leopard and placed them in her dining room -- on a leopard-print rug."It's practical, grandchildren-proof, simple and has impact," she explains. "And it wears well."Only a grande dame of design would call an all-leopard dining room practical.

The National Aquarium's new $12.5 million "Blacktip Reef" exhibit, a replica of an Indo-Pacific coral reef that replaces the "Wings in the Water" exhibit, will open July 10, officials announced Monday. Once it is completed, visitors will be able to view the 260,000-gallon self-contained ecosystem through a 27-foot viewing window, as well as from platforms above the water. Visitors also will be able to observe diver demonstrations and feedings. "You're sort of transferred into their world," Jack Cover, the aquarium's general curator, said.