By JAIMIE DING

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A dying octopus in a Southern California aquarium is receiving an outflowing of love and well wishes as she spends her final days pouring her last energy into caring for her eggs — even though they will never hatch.

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Many on social media have reminisced about seeing the giant Pacific octopus named Ghost when they had visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Some shared that they had a tattoo of Ghost or would wear a sweater emblazoned with the beloved cephalopod in her memory.

“She is a wonderful octopus and has made an eight-armed impression on all of our hearts,” the aquarium said on Instagram.

Ghost laid eggs earlier this week and entered the last phase of her life cycle, known as senescence. During this period, the octopus will neglect her own basic needs like eating, instead focusing on protecting her eggs and aerating them to prevent bacteria or other harmful agents from growing on them.

Ghost’s eggs are unfertilized and will never hatch, however. In the wild, giant Pacific octopuses spend their whole lives alone and only come together for a brief instance to reproduce.

“You really can’t combine males and females for any period of time because they don’t naturally cohabitate,” said the aquarium’s vice president of animal care, Nate Jaros. “They’re at high risk or aggression or even potentially death.”

Ghost is originally from the waters of British Columbia, Canada, and arrived at the aquarium in May 2024 from a scientific collector. She was only 3 pounds then but now weighs more than 50 pounds.

The average giant Pacific octopus lives for three to five years. Ghost is estimated to be between two and four years old, Jaros said.

Ghost was a “super active and very physical octopus” who enjoyed spending time with humans, Jaros said.

She was trained to voluntarily crawl into a basket so staff would weigh her and monitor her diet. Sometimes, she would push aside food her caregiver was offering just to interact with them more, Jaros said.

“Octopus in particular are incredibly special because of how charismatic and intelligent they seem to be, and we really form tight bonds with these animals,” Jaros said.

Her caregivers engage her in enrichment activities multiple times a day, putting food inside of toys and puzzles with moving parts to simulate what a octopus would do to hunt live crabs and clams in the wild.

One time, staff spent hours building a large acrylic maze for Ghost to explore.

“She mastered it almost instantly,” Jaros said.

While Ghost receives special attention in a private tank during her last days, the aquarium has already received a new octopus that will carry on her mission of educating the public. Staff will name the 2-pound octopus after spending some time assessing its personality, but it is already “super curious” and “seems to be a very outgoing animal,” Jaros said.

Marine biology student Jay McMahon, of Los Angeles, said he was glad he was able to visit the aquarium in the last few weeks and see Ghost one more time. He said he was inspired to pursue his studies after his parents brought him to the aquarium when he was 4.

“When you make a connection with an animal like that and you know they don’t live for that long, every moment means a lot,” he said. “I just hope she encourages people to learn more about the octopus and how important they are.”

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO and OBED LAMY

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — When Ukrainian immigrant Alex Babich stands in his Indiana backyard craning his neck to look 35 feet into the sky, he isn’t just staring at a sunflower. He is looking at his roots — and his future legacy.

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The flower, nicknamed “Clover” and confirmed Wednesday by Guinness World Records as the tallest sunflower ever measured, stretches as high as a telephone pole.

Achieving the feat holds special significance for the 47-year-old Babich since sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine.

Born and raised in Ukraine, he immigrated to the U.S. at age 14 in 1991 after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Seven years ago, he started growing sunflowers as a symbol of his love for his home country. Babich’s first sunflower was 13 feet tall, then 15, then 19. Quickly, he began asking himself, “How far can we take this?” Babich said the record-breaking flower was the result of “trial and error over years.”

“It’s one of my kids,” he said. “You’re out there every day taking care of it.”

Babich’s 10-year-old son also had an important contribution that earned the towering flower its name. He would climb onto the scaffolding and place four-leaf clovers on the sunflower’s leaves, for good luck.

“I’m going to die someday, but the stories of this flower will live on,” he said. “My kids will be telling this story to the grandkids.”

Alex Babich, pose in front of the structure that surrounds his nearly 36-feet high sunflower that holds the world record for the tallest flower at his home in Fort Wayne, Ind., Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

When measuring day came on Sept. 3, Babich was nervous.

About 85 people had gathered to watch, including several master gardeners from a local university and representatives from the Allen County Department of Weights and Measures. Babich was on a WhatsApp call with a representative from Guinness World Records. A camera crew was filming, and a drone flew overhead. Even Icy D. Eagle, the mascot of the Fort Wayne Komets minor league ice hockey team, was there, according to Guinness.

They used a 40-foot cherry picker to measure the flower. Clover was 35 feet and 9 inches, 5 feet taller than the previous world record holder in Germany.

“It’s very emotional,” Babich said. “It’s as good as it gets for someone who grows giants.”

Alex Babich, climbs on the structure that surrounds his nearly 36-feet high sunflower that holds the world record for the tallest flower at his home in Fort Wayne, Ind., Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Growing up amid food shortages in Ukraine sparked Babich’s love for gardening. His affection for sunflowers deepened after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“We just pray that the war will end, that the killing will stop,” Babich said. “We just hope this inspires some people in the right places. It’s been long enough.”

The sunflower has long been a national symbol representing peace in Ukraine, and since 2022, it has become a symbol of solidarity with the embattled country. In one viral video clip in the war’s early days, a Ukrainian woman confronted a Russian soldier, ultimately offering to “put sunflower seeds in your pocket so they grow when you die.”

In 1996, ministers from the U.S., Russia and Ukraine planted sunflowers at the Pervomaysk missile base to mark the country’s nuclear weapon disarmament. In 1986, after the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant that later brought Babich’s family to the U.S., scientists planted sunflowers to remove toxins from the soil.

Alex Babich, climbs on the structure that surrounds his nearly 36-feet high sunflower that holds the world record for the tallest flower at his home in Fort Wayne, Ind., Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Babich’s sunflower will soon be the star of a documentary, titled “Bloom,” planned for release this summer. In the meantime, Babich has started planting sunflowers around campsites he visited with his family and passing out seed packets to children at festivals.

Plastered onto the seed packets are stickers with the words “Spread the love – sunflower seeds.”

Fernando reported from Chicago.

By ROD McGUIRK

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A regulator has approved a world-first vaccine to protect koalas from chlamydia infections, which are causing infertility and death in the iconic native species that is listed as endangered in parts of Australia.

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The single-dose vaccine was developed by the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland state after more than a decade of research led by professor of microbiology Peter Timms.

The research showed the vaccine reduced the likelihood of koalas developing symptoms of chlamydia during breeding age and decreased mortality from the disease in wild populations by at least 65%.

The recent approval by Australia’s veterinary medicine regulator means the vaccine can now be used in wildlife hospitals, veterinary clinics and in the field to protect the nation’s most at-risk koalas, Timms said on Wednesday.

“We knew a single-dose vaccine — with no need for a booster — was the answer to reducing the rapid, devastating spread of this disease, which accounts for as much as half of koala deaths across all wild populations in Australia,” Timms said in a statement.

“Some individual colonies are edging closer to local extinction every day, particularly in southeast Queensland and New South Wales, where infection rates within populations are often around 50% and in some cases can reach as high as 70%,” Timms added.

Deborah Tabart, chair of the conservation charity Australian Koala Foundation, said resources being spent on vaccinating koalas should be redirected at saving koala habitat.

“At the risk of sounding flippant, how can anyone be so delusional as to think that you can vaccinate 100,000 animals? It’s just ridiculous,” Tabart said on Friday.

Tabart’s foundation estimates there are fewer than 100,000 koalas in the wild. The government-backed National Koala Monitoring Program estimated last year there were between 224,000 and 524,000 koalas.

“I accept that chlamydia is an issue for koalas, but I also want people to understand that they’re sick because they haven’t got any habitat,” Tabart said.

The Queensland Conservation Council, an umbrella organization for more than 50 environmental groups across the state, welcomed the vaccine. But the council’s director, Dave Copeman, echoed Tabart’s focus on preserving koala habitat.

“It’s really good news. Chlamydia is one of the key stresses that has been putting pressure on koala populations,” Copeman said.

“Koalas were at risk before chlamydia outbreaks, and they will remain at risk even if we manage chlamydia perfectly, because we keep on destroying their habitat,” he added.

Koalas are listed as endangered species in the states of Queensland and New South Wales and in the Australian Capital Territory, with habitat loss due to wildfires and urban expansion as the major threats. Chlamydia can cause urinary tract infections, infertility, blindness and death.

FILE – A koala sits in a tree at a koala park in Sydney, Australia, May 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

Treatment with antibiotics can disrupt an infected koala’s ability to digest eucalyptus leaves — its sole food source — leading to starvation, the university said in a statement.

The research has been supported by the federal, New South Wales and Queensland governments.

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said his government had contributed to the vaccine’s development through a 76 million Australian dollar ($50 million) Saving Koalas Fund.

“We know that koalas need help to fight diseases like chlamydia. It’s a widespread threat impacting their reproductive health and causing infertility,” Watt said in a statement.

Koalas are iconic Australian marsupials, like wombats and kangaroos. They spend most of their time eating and sleeping in eucalyptus trees, and their paws have two opposing thumbs to help them grasp and climb up tree trunks.

Australia’s wild koala populations have declined steeply in the past two decades.

Facing compounded threats from disease, habitat loss, climate change and road collisions, koalas could become extinct by 2050, according to a 2020 assessment from the New South Wales government.

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and BRIAN WITTE

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A post on an anonymous chat platform triggered a lockdown at the U.S. Naval Academy this week, and authorities investigating what turned out to be a false report of a gunman then shot and injured a midshipman who had mistaken them as a threat, a military official said Friday.

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The base that hosts the academy went into lockdown around 5 p.m. Thursday after it received a threat. However, the official said the threat wasn’t real — it came from a computer belonging to a former midshipman who was later confirmed to be in another part of the country. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely about an ongoing investigation.

The false report comes amid anxiety over a spate of recent violence at schools nationwide, including the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah college. A shooting at a high school in Denver this week left two students injured and the gunman dead, while a shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school left two children dead and 17 injured just over two weeks ago.

During the lockdown at the Naval Academy on Thursday, the Navy said in a statement at the time that it was responding to “reports of threats” but that the lockdown was “out of an abundance of caution.”

Police were seen near Bancroft Hall, which houses midshipmen in more than 1,600 dorm rooms. It is considered the biggest single college dormitory in the world, according to the school’s website.

Online speculation and misinformation led to reports that ranged from an assailant who was dressed in a police uniform to several injured midshipmen.

Colin Campbell, a student at nearby St. John’s College, said he heard multiple alarms go off at the academy after 5 p.m., warning of an “active threat” over loudspeakers.

“It was extraordinarily loud, multiple speakers going off at the same time,” said Campbell, who was walking near the academy at the time.

About 90 minutes after the lockdown took effect, the school’s deputy commandant emailed students, telling them that as law enforcement worked to secure the school, a midshipman mistook police for a threat and engaged them, according to the official.

The official added that the midshipman was armed with a parade rifle and struck an officer in the head. Law enforcement, in turn, fired on the midshipman, striking him in the arm. The account was reported earlier by The New York Times.

Hours later, at 9:40 p.m., a Navy statement confirmed that there was no threat of an active shooter and that one person was flown by helicopter with injuries but was in stable condition. The lockdown was lifted shortly after midnight.

The wounded midshipman has been released from the hospital, the academy said in a statement Friday. A member of the naval security force also received minor injuries, the academy said, and was treated at a hospital before being released.

“A full investigation into the incident is underway with NCIS and law enforcement,” the academy said in a news release.

Lucille Trott, who attends St. John’s College and lives across the street from the academy, described hearing the alerts and what followed as a terrifying experience after a week of gun violence in the country.

“On 9/11, the week that we’ve been having, so many shootings, so much gun violence, I feel like there needs to be a major shift in just the climate right now,” Trott said. “It all just makes one big pressure cooker.”

Toropin reported from Washington.