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Animals Life on Earth

Lullaby to the snoring elephant

This lullaby to the snoring elephant is all you need to hear today! There’s definitely a strong bond between Lek and Faa Mai. Watch and listen to Lek’s lullaby to the snoring elephant Faa Mai at Elephant Nature Park Chiang Mai, Thailand. Speakers/headphones on!

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Life on Earth Animals Environment Plants

Rainforests of the World [Infographic]

Rainforests are the oldest living ecosystems and without a shadow of a doubt, the most vital habitats on Earth. They cover only 6% of the Earth’s surface but yet they contain more than half of the world’s plant and animal species. According to the current estimates, around 40% to 75% of all biotic species are indigenous (see notes 1) to the rainforests.

What’s more, there are probably millions of species of plants, insects, and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests.

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Space Exploration Animals Earth from Space Life on Earth

A cosmonaut’s view, just after launching a tiny satellite into the orbit

On August 15, 2018, two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station performed one of the longest spacewalks in the history of space exploration. During the spacewalk lasting 7 hours and 46 minutes, Expedition 56 Flight Engineers Sergey Prokopyev and Oleg Artemyev manually launched four small technology satellites and installed a German-led animal-tracking project named Icarus onto the Russian segment of the space station. Two of the satellites were only the size of tissue boxes.

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Climate Animals Environment Life on Earth

We have an ethical obligation to relieve individual animal suffering

Last winter, unforgettable video footage online showed a starving polar bear, struggling in its Arctic hunting grounds. Because of global warming, the ice was thin and the food supply was scarce. The video generated a wellspring of sympathy for the plight of this poor creature, and invigorated calls for stronger efforts to combat climate change – and rightly so.

Such advocacy on behalf of wildlife usually focuses on species and the effects of human-caused climate change on their survival and wellbeing as the ecosystems on which they depend undergo drastic changes. Thus, we should act to save the polar bear – that is, the polar bear species – by doing what we can to preserve its natural ecosystem. I am fully behind this kind of advocacy. Anybody who cares about the future of our planet and its occupants should be.

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Prehistoric Animals Climate Global Warming Life on Earth

Dinosaur Killer Asteroid Triggered a Global Warming [And It Lasted 100,000 Years!]

Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid or comet at least 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter impacted a few miles from the present-day town of Chicxulub in Mexico (hence it is dubbed as the “Chicxulub impactor”, the “dinosaur-killer”), at around 64,000 kilometers per hour (40,000 mph). The impact has created a crater (Chicxulub crater) more than 180 km (110 miles) in diameter. But, what’s more, the energy of the impact (which is equivalent of about ten billion Hiroshima atom bombs) vaporized the rock which was rich in sulfur compounds, filling the air with a thick cloud of dust, similar to that created by a catastrophic volcanic eruption.

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Global Warming Animals Climate Insects Life on Earth Plants

Most species hold their geographic range if we limit global warming to 1.5°C [new study]

If we limit global warming to 1.5°C rather than 2°C above the pre-industrial levels by the year 2100, the impacts of climate change would be much less dramatic, a new study says. According to the researchers, for vertebrates and plants, the number of species losing more than half their geographic range by 2100 will be halved when warming is limited to 1.5°C, compared with projected losses at 2°C. It would be even better for insects, the most diverse group of animals on Earth: the number is reduced by two-thirds.

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Animals Life on Earth

Endangered animals more likely to get donated if they’re cute, study says

43% of Americans would be more likely to donate to an endangered animal if it was cute, according to a study titled “Selective Sympathy: Comparing Sentiment Toward the Appearance of Endangered Species” published by African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). A team at AWF has surveyed 1k Americans on how much they know about wildlife conservation, and how much they’re willing to open their wallets to help endangered animals. Here’s what they found.

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Prehistoric Animals Evolution Geography Geology Insects Life on Earth Planet Earth Plants

Here’s What did Ancient Earth Look Like

I stumbled upon an amazing web page showing what did ancient Earth look like. On the “Dinosaur Pictures and Facts” web page (dinosaurpictures.org), there’s also an interactive animation. On this page, you can either select the years (i.e. 600 million years ago) or jump to a particular event (i.e. first multicellular life) and see how ancient Earth did look like then. You can also remove the clouds and stop the Earth’s rotation if you want to.

Categories
Animals Evolution Life on Earth

20 Amazing Lion Facts

The Lion (Panthera leo) is the second-largest cat in the world, after the tiger. The lion and tiger are closely related and they share a very similar body type. As its scientific name suggests, Lion is one of the five members of the Panthera genus (see notes 1). Here are 20 amazing lion facts.

Categories
Life on Earth Animals Places

The Man Who Flies With Migrating Birds

Using a two-seater ultralight aircraft built by himself, Frenchman Christian Moullec flies with migrating birds since 1995. In that year, dubbed the “birdman“, Moullec, saw that lesser white-fronted geese were struggling with their migration from Germany to Sweden. Inspired by the work of the famous Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz (see notes 1), known as “the man who walked with geese”, he decided to help them and built his handmade aircraft.

Today, if the weather permits, he flies with birds almost every day and guides them through their journey. This stunning footage published by National Geographic shows Moullec, “the man who flies with migrating birds” guiding the flocks of vulnerable species in his ultralight and taking enthralled passengers with him. According to National Geographic, he takes tourists up to fly with birds from March through October.