We, humans, are destroying the Earth’s wilderness at an incredible pace. Scientists say we have destroyed 10% of Earth’s wildlife habitat in just 25 years. Since 1993, 3.3 million km2 of global wilderness areas, particularly in the Amazon basin (almost 30%) and central Africa (14%) were lost. This is almost twice of the size of Alaska!
Continue reading We are Destroying the Earth’s WildernessCategory Archives: Animals
Comparison of some animals’ claws
I stumbled upon this picture on Twitter today. This chart compares some wild animals’ claws (including Siberian tiger, African lion, Jaguar, Cougar, Grizzly bear, and Polar bear).
Continue reading Comparison of some animals’ claws
Largest great white sharks ever recorded
What are the biggest great white sharks ever recorded? The great white shark (scientific name: Carcharodon carcharias) is not the biggest shark (that title goes to the whale shark), but they are the largest predatory fish on Earth. According to the Guinness World Records Book, full-grown adults are average 4.3-4.6 meters (14-15 feet) in length, and generally, weigh 520-770 kg (1,150-1,700 lb). But there are many (unconfirmed) claims of huge specimens up to 10 meters (33 feet) in length. Newspapers and home photo albums are full of unconfirmed huge great white tales. And although few have been properly authenticated, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that the largest great white sharks grow to more than 6 meters (20 feet) in length.
8 major extinctions due to human interference
If you are one among the many who have watched the movie Rio and have fallen in love with the adorable lead named Blu, then I have some terrible news for you! As on this date, the Spix’s Macaw has been declared “extinct as in wild”.
Continue reading 8 major extinctions due to human interference
Top 15 Largest Birds in the World
Birds (Aves) range in size and weight from the 5 cm (2 in) and 1.6-2 grams bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m (9 ft) and 104-156 kg (229-344 lbs) ostrich. Here are the top 15 largest bird species in the world (by body weight).
Birds form one of six basic animal groups, with the others being amphibians, fish, invertebrates, mammals and reptiles. They are endothermic vertebrates, characterized by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. They reproduce by laying of hard-shelled eggs (eggs fertilize inside the female). The fossil record indicates that birds are the last surviving group of dinosaurs. So, they are also termed avian dinosaurs.
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!
Continue reading Lullaby to the snoring elephant
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 Notes 1 to the rainforests.
What’s more, there are probably millions of species of plants, insects, and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. They are responsible for 28% of the world’s oxygen turnover. More than 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest only, that’s why it has been described as the “lungs of our planet”.
Unfortunately, rainforests are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation. The loss is huge, and probably hundreds or even thousands of undiscovered species going extinct every single day. We are losing them forever.
Continue reading Rainforests of the World (Infographic)
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.
Continue reading A cosmonaut’s view, just after launching a tiny satellite into the orbit
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
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.
Continue reading We have an ethical obligation to relieve individual animal suffering
Dinosaur-killer Asteroid Triggered a Global Warming which 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”), 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.
This cloud blocked out the sun at least for a decade and caused a global, dark winter: even in the tropics the temperatures were barely above freezing, and the average global temperature was below 0°C (32°F). Before the impact, the average global temperature was around 26°C (47°F), so this means a huge drop. And the recovery time was more than 30 years! The dinosaurs which had dominated the Earth for more than 150 million years were used to living in a lush climate and were already in decline, so non-avian dinosaurs couldn’t survive after the last deadly blow.
