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Zonkey?
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This is Ippo, a three-month-old Italian zonkey. She is the result of a union between a male zebra and a female Amiata donkey, which is an endangered breed of donkey native to southern Tuscany. Genetic differences between the zebra and the donkey - donkeys have 62 chromosomes and zebras have between 32 and 46 - mean that hybrids like this are most often the result of a male zebra pairing with a female donkey. So far there have only been three recorded cases of a male donkey siring a zebra hybrid. ...
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4474 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
You've only ever seen one side of the moon
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Did you know that the Moon's rotation is locked to its orbit around Earth by a bulge of material under the Moon's surface? This material is denser than the rest of the Moon's surface material, and Earth's gravity pulls on it especially strongly. The side of the Moon containing the bulge always faces Earth. We call it the near side and we call the other side, which we never see from Earth, the far side. People often mistakenly use the term "dark side" when referring to the far side of the Moon, forgetting that the far side is fully illuminated by the Sun whenever we see a new moon from Earth. If we were to look from high above the Earth-Moon system, we would see the Moon rotate once per month with respect to the stars. This is its sidereal ro ...
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13933 |
bio_man |
A year ago |
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6319 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
World’s oldest flamingo
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Did you know Australia was home to the world’s oldest flamingo? Unfortunately 'Greater' has died at the grand old age of 83 at Adelaide Zoo in South Australia. Greater was almost blind, and quite an enigma - its sex and origin was a complete mystery.
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2990 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's stinkiest plant
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The three-metre-tall titan arum is one of the world’s stinkiest flowers. It smells like rotting flesh to attract flies and other insects which get stuck at the base and digested. It also only blooms for a few hours to a few days, so is often only seen in bloom in gardens rather than in the wild.
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5389 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
World's rarest mushroom
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A star-shaped mushroom, called the Devil’s Cigar ( Chorioactis geaster) is one of the world’s rarest fungi. These fungi had been detected only in central Texas, two remote locations in Japan, and most recently in the mountains of Nara. The Devil’s Cigar is a dark brown cigar-shaped capsule that transforms into a tan-coloured star when it splits open to release its spores. It is also one of only a few known fungi that produce a distinct whistle sound when releasing its spores. ...
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1805 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
World's most dangerous spider
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Latrodectus mactans, or Southern black widow or simply black widow, is a highly venomous species of spider. They are well known for the distinctive black and red coloring of the female of the species and for the fact that she will occasionally eat her mate after reproduction (hence the name – Black widow). The species is native to North America. The venom might be fatal to humans. Although these spiders are not especially large, their venom is extremely potent. They are capable to inject the venom to a point where it can be harmful. The males, being much smaller, inject far less venom. The actual amount injected, even by a mature female, is very small in physical volume. When this small amount of venom is diffused throughout the body of a he ...
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2380 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's largest bat
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Not sure how real the photo is, but there are really huge bats in Australia. Check out the video below:
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3 |
2176 |
savio |
10 years ago |
World's largest animals
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The blue whale is not only the largest animal alive currently, but is likely the largest animal ever to have lived. Depending on the location, blue whales can grow to be 33 meters (108 feet) and weigh as much as 181 metric tons (200 imperial tons).They can live to be 90 years old and ingest about 3.6 metric tons (4 imperial tons) of krill each day. Blue whale are considered endangered by the IUCN.
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4205 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's first x-ray image of a human body part
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Wilhelm Conrad Röentgen, a physics professor at the University of Wurburg in Germany, was experimenting with electric current flow in a partially evacuated glass tube in 1895 and one night he noticed a glow caused by an unknown radiation. He named the phenomenon x-radiation and few months later he took the first x-ray photograph of a body part: the bones in his wife’s hand – and one can even see her wedding band. The first even x-ray image was of a key.
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1930 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's deadliest tree
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The manchineel tree ( Hippomane mancinella) has taken the title of world’s most dangerous tree. This evergreen grows up to 15 metres (49 ft) tall, and is native to tropical southern North America and northern South America. It has reddish-greyish bark, small greenish-yellow flowers, and shiny green leaves ranging in size from 5 to 10 cm (2–4 inches) long. All parts of the tree contain strong toxins, some unidentified. The leaves and fruit of the tree superficially resemble an apple tree, however one bite of the tree’s fruit can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding, or death due to an acetylcholine inhibitor known as physostigmine found in the fruit. In addition, its milky white sap contains phorbol and other skin irritants, producing s ...
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4236 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Wombats have cube-shaped poop
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Wombat droppings are cube-shaped. This prevents them from rolling away when marking their territory. These cube-shaped poop looks like, but doesn't taste like chocolate brownies.
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12065 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Wolf-like, fox-like, dog-like mammal
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The maned wolf ( Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest canid found in the grasslands of southern Brazil. Its markings resemble those of foxes and wolves, yet it's neither related to wolves nor foxes despite its appearance and name, but is actually closer to dogs. And, unlike other large canids, the maned wolf does not form packs. It hunts alone, usually between sundown and midnight, and kills its prey by biting on the neck or back. Interestingly, a large fraction of its diet (over 50%, according to some studies) consists of vegetable matter, including sugarcane, tubers, and fruit; this is unusual for canids. The maned wolf is generally shy and flees when alarmed by humans, and it poses little direct threat to humans. Luckily, the animal is w ...
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2397 |
bio_man |
5 years ago |
Wolf spider babies hang on for dear life
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The wolf spider is the only species of spider that carries its offspring this way -- live, hatched and wriggling on her back! After a gestation of 9 to 27 days (dependent on temperature) during which the eggs are carried around in a silk globe attached to the mothers stomach, the offspring hatch and climb on to her back. They stay there until they're ready to hunt alone.
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2728 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Why electronics have become inexpensive
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One-time use technology or throw-away electronics are becoming increasingly popular with consumers and product manufacturers. Apart from the disposable cameras offered in the 1980s and into the late 90s, tech-based companies could rarely offer such convenience due to the cost of certain parts required. The main reason why companies can now offer inexpensive products, including smartphones and computers, without compromising on modern technology or quality is due to the wide-spread production and availability of transistors – a major component of computers or any microprocessor (shown above). A comparison of laptops prices. Left: Macintosh Portable M5120 [1989] Right: Typical ASUS laptop sold today A transistor is simply an on/off switch made ...
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3628 |
bio_man |
5 years ago |