What does the term crocodylian bring to mind? A big reptile with a chomping jaw? But exactly which environmental factors created today’s large crocodiles?
Category Archives: Animals
20 Amazing Elephant Facts
Elephants! Even though these largest existing land animals are loved, revered, and respected by people and cultures worldwide, they are actually close to the edge of extinction. The escalation of poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict, and mistreatment in captivity are just some of the threats to both African and Asian elephants. So, we urgently need …
This “Salmon Cannon” helps native fish pass over dams
Hydroelectric dams act as obstacles for wildlife, especially migrating salmon. The Whooshh Fish Transport System, also known as the “salmon cannon,” gives fish a much-needed boost over dams so they can swim upstream to spawn.
Wildlife crossings make animals and people safer
Wildlife crossings over (and under) the highways could make animals (both wild and domesticated) and people safer. Our expanding network of roads is interrupting and fragmenting the territories of wild (and also domesticated) animals who need to cross our roads in search of food, water, mates, and shelter. Many are routinely struck and killed by …
Continue reading “Wildlife crossings make animals and people safer”
UN report warns one million species at risk of extinction
We, humans, are destroying the Earth’s wilderness, very fast. Actually, we are the main (and probably the only) cause of the sixth major extinction event in the history of our planet. Now, a recent UN report says at least one million species (animals, plants, and insects) are at the risk of extinction. There will be …
Continue reading “UN report warns one million species at risk of extinction”
It would take at least 3 million years for Earth to recover from the 6th mass extinction
Even if we stop destroying Earth’s wilderness today, it would take 3 to 5 million years for Earth to recover from the 6th mass extinction, scientists warn.
Blue whale facts: How big is the blue whale?
The blue whale (scientific name: Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whales (Mysticeti). Up to 31 meters (102 feet) in length and 190 tonnes (210 short tons) in weight, it is the largest extant animal and also is the heaviest known to have existed. But it’s hard to conceptualize how big …
Continue reading “Blue whale facts: How big is the blue whale?”
A single cell becomes a complete organism in six min. of timelapse
A single cell becomes a complete organism (an alpine newt) in this amazing six pulsing minutes of a timelapse video named “Becoming” published by the Aeon Video channel. A film by Jan van IJken.
28% of vertebrates die because of humans on the land
According to a study published in January in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, on the land, 28% of vertebrates (including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians) die because of humans.
Earth without Moon: what would it be like?
The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite. It is also the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System and the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits. It formed about 4.51 billion years ago from the debris left over after a giant impact between Earth and a …
Continue reading “Earth without Moon: what would it be like?”
