It took evolution 3 or 4 billion years to produce humans. If the climate had completely failed just once in that time then evolution would have come to a crashing halt and we would not be here now. So to understand how we came to exist on planet Earth, we’ll need to know how Earth managed to stay fit for life for billions of years.
One of the most enduring tropes about crocodiles is to describe them as “living fossils”. They are cold, slow-moving, and scaly, so they look like how one might picture a dinosaur. Like many clichés, there is an element of truth to this comparison. The crocodiles from 200 million years ago look surprisingly like the ones we know today.
Today, pigeons have made themselves feel at home in the cities like New York, but they actually belong to the seaside cliffs in the rest of the world where they were domesticated thousands of years ago. They were farmed for protein at first, like chicken. Then they were bred as messengers. Around the 16th century, pigeons became show birds because of the hobbyists. And when Europeans moved to North America in the same century, they brought pigeons with them. To cut it short, the link between humans and pigeons goes way back.
Explore 20 fascinating grizzly bear facts, from their habitat and diet to their physical characteristics and conservation status. Get a closer look at these majestic North American brown bears!
The vast tropical rainforest-the largest of its kind-is diminishing at an alarming rate. If the Amazon Rainforest is destroyed, the effects on Earth will be devastating.
Species are going extinct at an unprecedented rate. Wildlife populations have fallen by more than two-thirds over the last 50 years, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund. The sharpest declines have occurred throughout the world’s rivers and lakes, where freshwater wildlife has plummeted by 84% since 1970 – about 4% per year.
Michael Obersteiner, University of Oxford; David Leclère, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and Piero Visconti, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia), also known as the ounce, is a large cat and one of the five species classified in the genus Panthera, others being the lion (Panthera leo), tiger (Panthera tigris), jaguar (Panthera onca), and leopard (Panthera pardus). It is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. Here are 20 amazing snow leopard facts.
The world looked very different for early humans, and their daily life was vastly different from that of people living in the 21st century. Our five senses, once crucial to our survival, are easy to take for granted. For most modern humans, food is easily accessed, and we spend the bulk of our time indoors, well protected from the elements and various dangers.
Akashinga: The Brave Ones tells the real story of Akashinga, the all-female anti-poaching unit in Zimbabwe that is revolutionizing the way animals (particularly elephants) are protected and communities are empowered.
The movie is executive produced by the well-known Canadian filmmaker and environmentalist James Cameron and directed by Maria Wilhelm, the Executive Director of the Avatar Alliance Foundation and President & COO of CAMERON Companies.
According to a report published by the World Economic Forum, whales are a surprising weapon in the fight against climate change. Scientists say saving whales could be key to limiting global warming.