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Canada's only desert
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You probably wouldn't associate Canada with having any deserts, since the country is typically attributed with winters that are long and harsh. However, that's not entirely true if you visit the southern region of Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada, known as the Okanagan Desert. In this area, summer temperatures regularly exceed 38˚C (100 °F), and portions of the area receive roughly 250 to 300 mm (10 to 12 inches) of rain per year – compare that to Vancouver, which receives approximately 1120 mm (43 inches) of rain per year. While some areas in British Columbia experience hotter summer temperatures and are at least as arid, the South Okanagan area is home to several species of plants and animals that are not found elsewhere in Canada. For e ...
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19603 |
bio_man |
4 years ago |
The Philippine eagle
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The Philippine eagle ( Pithecophaga jefferyi), also known as the monkey-eating eagle, is found exclusively in the forests of the Philippines. It has brown- and white-coloured plumage, and a shaggy crest, and generally measures 86 to 102 cm (2.82 to 3.35 ft) in length, weighs 4.7 to 8.0 kg (10.4 to 17.6 lb), and has a 2 meter wingspan. It is considered the largest of the extant eagles in the world in terms of length and wing surface. Among the rarest and most powerful birds in the world, it has been declared the Philippine national bird. Unfortunately, however, it is critically endangered, mainly due to massive loss of habitat resulting from deforestation in most of its range. Killing a Philippine eagle is punishable under Philippine law by 1 ...
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1201 |
bio_man |
6 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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4242 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
All trees, regardless of size, break once this wind speed is reached
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The magic number is 42 m/s (94 mph). Using mathematical data and physical experiments, scientists say they have found the law that governs the resistance of wooden beams under stress. According to the study ( link), researchers hung weights from wooden rods and pieces of pencil lead to record the amount of force needed to snap the cylinder. As one might sense, they found that for a fixed length, increasing the diameter made the rods stronger: They could bend more before breaking. This would make tall skinny trees most vulnerable, but, as the team points out, trees don’t grow taller without getting disproportionately thicker as well. By incorporating established laws of tree allometry - which explain the relationship of tree size parameters ...
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12771 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
One-eyed pigeons are terrible with directions
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When homing pigeons fly home they rely on smells, magnetic fields, and vision to guide their way. But how important visual memory is for pigeons has long remained a mystery. According to a new study, pigeons that learned their way home with a blocked left eye couldn’t repeat the same journey when they wore a patch over their right eye, and vice versa. Instead, they flew slightly off course, following more of a curve than a straight line. Since birds lack a corpus callosum, this suggests that a birds’ lack of this key neural structure greatly affects how pigeons are able to find their way home. Source: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1816/20151957 ...
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9084 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Why can't chimps walk upright?
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What can we learn from chimps swinging their hips? In this Nature Video, the walking style of our primate cousins are investigated, and we see what they can teach us about our ambling ancestors.
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5394 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
This rare genetic condition causes an unusual pigmentation
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With a rare genetic condition called erythrism some insects, like this fluorescent pink katydid, develop an unusual reddish pigmentation. It's not enhanced in any way. The coloration ( erythrism) is an adaptation sometimes found among katydids exposed to red or pink foliage, although this one was in the woods off the Appalachian Trail near Mount Peter, N.Y. ...
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1 |
2020 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Pre-crastination
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Some of us may be guilty of procrastination, but we all are pre-crastinators at some level. Procrastination is a serious problem to many of us that like to put off work and cram the night before. Not only is procrastination a behavioral problem, but also one with a psychological implication. Procrastination is the "thief of time". On the other hand, precrastination, discovered to be the complete opposite, is the tendency to do things ahead of time - and really ahead of time- just for the sake of completion. Precrastination was found to be exhibited in pigeons as well. And the fact that we and pigeons have separated in phylogeny 300 million years ago suggests that precrastination is a behavior also found earlier in phylogeny. How has this be ...
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9123 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Our ancestors never really noticed the color blue
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Our perception has heavily depended on how well we can accurately describe our surroundings. And this description relies on our language. Our ancestors apparently were not capable of perceiving the color blue. If they did, they were not capable of noticing it, simply because there was no term in language for blue. The first civilization to document and affirm the color blue was the Ancient Egyptian Civilization. In fact, the Ancient Egyptians were the only ancestors that were able to produce blue dyes! Moreover, philologists have compared Hindu, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew and many more languages only to find no mention of the color blue. However, just because the term for blue did not exist, does not mean our ancestors did not perceive blue. T ...
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2842 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Nature's gymnast lurking in the deserts of Morocco
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Found in the deserts of Morocco, the cartwheeling spider ( cebrennus rechenbergi) uses all eight of its legs to cartwheel and roll away from predators. Using forward or backward flips, this movement effectively doubles its normal walking speed similar to acrobatic flic-flac movements used by gymnasts. Interestingly, C. rechenbergi is the only spider known to use this unique form of rolling locomotion!
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4149 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
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1860 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Ice spikes
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Have you forgotten your water properties? Check out the video for a review and an explanation as to why ice spikes form.
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2 |
1759 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Bees up-close
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Barry from Bee Movie has taught us that without bees, we won't survive. These pollinators may terrify us when they are swarming around out at the park, but they are more terrifying if they were not around. What is happening to our bees with domestication? What have we lost? What are we trying to restore? The answers to these questions are in this video. Check it out
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2644 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Humans and Earth - the battle
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When you turn on your TV, it is the definition of ironic to watch the news channels for information about planet mass destruction. Whilst when you step outside your door, it is quite alarming and obvious that our earth is suffering. When every person around you, from toddlers to elderly, own some for of technology, with no means of recycling old items. When students, each with their own copies of pages. When potable water has not yet reached the most needy of nations. When human greed is apparent with every innovative idea claiming to "revolutionize "a domain brought up to make a quick buck. Drilling, mining, industrialization, politics, scavenging for resources, suffocating our environment... This may all seem negative, but coming from a ...
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2757 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Watch this ex-circus lion feel grass for the first time
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This lion, named Will, spent his life with a traveling circus in Brazil. "For 13 long years, the lion had been confined to a cramped cage and denied any semblance of a normal existence," the Sao Paulo sanctuary wrote.
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1623 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
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1 |
12692 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
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24634 |
ehd123 |
8 years ago |
Floaters
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Have you ever chillaxed (chilling and relaxing ) under the sun, cloud watching, and all of a sudden noticed transparent blobs floating around? Did you know what these things were? I know I didn't until I saw this:
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2 |
6486 |
ehd123 |
9 years ago |
We are the stars, we are the universe
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I'd like to share this mind-opening video. Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?" This is his answer. By far, one of the best...
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4503 |
ehd123 |
9 years ago |
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1 |
13141 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Rainbows on fire
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Fire rainbows are a rare phenomenon that only occur when the Sun is higher than 58° above the horizon and its light passes through cirrus clouds made of ice crystals. These captivating atmospheric displays are scientifically known as circumhorizontal arcs. While the name "fire rainbow" might suggest a connection with fire or rainbows, it's essential to understand that this phenomenon has nothing to do with fire and isn't a true rainbow. The process behind fire rainbows is intricate. When sunlight interacts with ice crystals in cirrus clouds, the light is refracted, or bent, in a specific way. For a circumhorizontal arc to form, the Sun must be at a relatively high angle in the sky, usually exceeding 58 degrees. This angle allows sunlight to e ...
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2344 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
All corn today, as we know corn, is GMO corn
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Here's how 9,000 years of selective breeding has changed corn from a wild grass - that required a hammer to peel - to the juicy yellow ears of deliciousness we know today.
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5116 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Beware of the frog glue
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Look at this fat little frog nugget. This is the native Australian crucifix frog, named for the ginormous cross pattern that runs across its back. When threatened, it oozes a milky 'frog glue' to render itself a terrible meal.
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9216 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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2 |
6571 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
What grows faster than bamboo?
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Some species of bamboo can grow as fast as 3 feet a day. Also those type of bamboo were used to kill. By staking victim over sharpen bamboo tops as the bamboo grew. It went slowly through the victim.
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1658 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Can this sea snail cure herpes?
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Australian scientists are creating a new herpes-blocking drug using a protein found in the blood of abalones. If successful, it could prevent the virus from entering human cells, thereby prevent future outbreaks of cold sores.
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1 |
4331 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Blood of Heroes from ancient times
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Elafonisi Beach on the Greek island of Crete has pastel pink sand! That rosy hue is caused by tiny particles of pink shells and coral that have been ground down over many years of erosion.
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2 |
5474 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Snapping turtles: Nature's answer to the bear trap
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Woah. This is an Alligator Snapping Turtle from the Suwanee River in Florida, and you don't want to mess with it - it delivers a nasty bite and can hold onto its victims for several HOURS. This guy was caught as part of routine environmental surveys involving Professor Arthur Georges, the Chief Scientist of the Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra.
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1 |
5328 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
How an elephant scratches its waist
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Here's a good reminder of how enormous elephants are - this one's using a Volkswagen as a scratching post. Photographed in South Africa, the elephant was in musth, which is a sexually aggressive period experienced by elephant bulls once a year.
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1 |
5233 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Shake, rattle, and roll
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The earthquake that struck Chile in 2010 was the sixth largest ever recorded - and made itself felt as far away as Antarctica. After the quake, several Antarctic seismic stations registered "icequakes," probably due to fracturing of the ice as the planet’s crust shook.
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4385 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
A 'multi-berry' tree
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Meet Italy’s double tree, the Bialbero de Casorzo. That cherry tree on top isn't being parasitic - its roots have grown right through the hollow truck of the mulberry tree into the earth below, so there's no stealing of nutrients going on here.
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2 |
6717 |
duddy |
9 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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5394 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
This fish looks like a melon
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This is the red-eyed gaper, a type of anglerfish that can be found up to 2km below the ocean's surface. Its large head and red blobby face may not look too attractive, but the gaper lures prey in with the shiny patch between its eyes.
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0 |
5848 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Beautiful double red rainbow
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This double red rainbow was photographed over a Greek sunset by Manolis Thravalos. The optical phenomena is a result of Rayleigh scattering, which is the scattering of light by tiny particles in the atmosphere. This scattering is what causes the Sun to appear yellow and the sky to appear blue, and also results in red sunsets where the atmosphere is thicker around the horizon.
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4597 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Professional leaf roller
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This leaf-rolling weevil has made the meticulously rolled nest it's standing on without silk or adhesives, simply by using cuts, crimps and creases.
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0 |
1595 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Firenado!
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What's worse than a tornado in your front yard? A firenado. A woman in the US captured this incredible photo of a natural phenomenon known as a firewhirl. First documented by Australian scientists in 2003, firewhirls can grow to 30 metres tall.
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0 |
2715 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Clouds that look like rainbows
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'Fire rainbows', also known as iridescent clouds, are a rare phenomenon that only occur when the Sun is higher than 58° above the horizon and its light passes through cirrus clouds made of ice crystals. At the right alignment, the ice crystals act as a prism, and refract the light to look like a rainbow. ...
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1 |
2457 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Go home nature. You are drunk!
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This is the Wilson's bird-of-paradise, found exclusively on the tiny islands of Waigeo and Batanta in the Raja Ampat archipelago of West Papua. That turquoise cap isn't made of feathers - it's actually a patch of very brightly coloured bald skin.
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1 |
3276 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
An amazing birdhouse made by nature's engineers
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Believe it or not, a bird made this. Vogelkop gardener bowerbirds from New Guinea go to extraordinary lengths to build a love nest from interwoven sticks and decorative objects to appear more attractive to a female.
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0 |
2496 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
This will make you appreciate pill bugs way more
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This bizarre little beetle is a species of pill bug from the Monteverde cloud forest of Costa Rica. Just 5 mm long, it can shrink itself even smaller when threatened by curling itself up into a perfect ball.
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0 |
2903 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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1 |
2157 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
The amazing intelligence of crows
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Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human.
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1 |
1963 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A promising initiative for bees and hotel owners
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Luxury hotels in Sydney are now producing their own honey by setting up bee colonies on their rooftops. The Shangri-La already has five rooftop beehives that have produced 14 kilograms of honey since late last year for use in the hotel’s restaurants and kitchens. Considering the amount of honey used in these big hotels, this is a pretty promising initiative!
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2 |
2343 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
What it takes to find a mate
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This is a mating ritual being performed by a colony of James's Flamingoes ( Phoenicoparrus jamesi), native to Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. The males will all vocalise together, sticking their necks and heads straight up in the air, and turning them back and forth in unison to attract the females. ...
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0 |
4130 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
China's spectacular rainbow mountain range
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China's world famous landmarks like the Great Wall and army of terracotta soldiers draw millions of visitors a year but the Middle Kingdom has another drawcard that is equally breath-taking despite being largely unknown.
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0 |
5156 |
duddy |
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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0 |
4208 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
The end of baldness
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In a world’s first researchers have converted adult cells into stem cells that regenerated into different cell types of human skin and hair follicles. The follicles produced hair shaft and could be used for hair regeneration. Is this the end of baldness?
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1 |
3192 |
duddy |
10 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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1 |
2992 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's smallest penguins
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Rockhopper Penguin gregarious marine birds are among the world's smallest penguins, standing about 20 inches (50 centimeters) tall.
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1 |
5327 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Blue lava!
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A volcano in Indonesia produces lava that looks BLUE! Though the molten sulfur looks red in daylight, during the night, the blue flames that reach heights of 5 meters (16 feet) are highly visible. The sulfur, which is right around its melting point at 115°C (240 °F), is pumped away from the volcano so it can cool and be collected by miners for 680 rupiahs per kilogram (about 2.5 cents per pound).
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0 |
7852 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
House plants could one day power our computers
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Researchers have discovered a novel method to harness photosynthesis to create electricity. By attaching nanotubes to plant cells, the researchers were able to direct the electrons that plants free during photosynthesis down a wire and generate electrical current – and it was twice as powerful as electricity gathered from solar cells.
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2 |
7672 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
How to stand out in Australia
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A 2-year-old albino kangaroo has been spotted in Canberra’s Namadgi National Park. Albino kangaroos in the wild usually don’t survive because they stand out and become an easy target for predators. Albino animals also have a genetic predisposition towards sight and hearing issues, making life in the wild almost impossible—but Rene(e), which is always surrounded by its mob, has survived against all odds.
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0 |
4682 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Volcanic rings
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Mount Etna is blowing smoke rings! The volcano on the coast of Sicily, Italy, is emitting steam rings around 100 metres in diameter.
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0 |
3938 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Birds with purple crowns
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These beautiful birds are called purple-crowned fairy wrens, endemic to northern Australia. The picture was taken by ornithologists (bird banders) studying the birds as part of population monitoring in Australia. The way they are holding them is called "photographer's grip" which gently secures the legs while keeping the rest of the bird free. Handling time is generally very short.
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0 |
5929 |
duddy |
10 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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0 |
12070 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's rarest bird
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The Bali myna ( Leucopsar rothschildi) is one of the rarest birds in the world. Thanks to poaching, their wild population hit an all-time low of just six individuals in 2001, but their numbers have since increased to around 50 wild mature birds. And just this month, the Bali Starling Conservation Project, which is home to 100 Bali mynas, has celebrated the birth of four healthy chicks to add to their breeding program. ...
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0 |
3978 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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0 |
2622 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Jumping spiders
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Meet the green jumping spider ( Mopsus mormon), Australia’s largest—and perhaps cutest—jumping arachnid. These spiders hunt in the day time, moving fast to attack their prey, and camouflaging against green leaves. If you see one, leave it alone. Although their bite won’t kill you, it’s extremely painful.
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0 |
5483 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A fascinating looking whale
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This is Migaloo, the albino white humpback whale. His name is derived from an Aboriginal word that means “white fella.” Migaloo is a favorite for whale watching enthusiasts. He is believed to be the only documented white humpback whale in the world. He was discovered in 1991 and quickly became popular with tourists and locals alike. Since then, sightings have been rare. He migrates from Antarctica to Australia on a yearly basis, and some years he slips by undetected. Most of these photos were taken in 2012 on Migaloo’s return to Antarctica. ...
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1 |
5096 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Massive drain plug
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The Monticello Dam holds back Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California, USA. The morning glory spillway associated with the dam is the largest in the world; it is a funnel-shaped outlet that allows water to bypass the Monticello Dam when it reaches capacity (1370 m³/s). The Glory Hole is located about 61m from the dam; the distance from the funnel to the exit point - which is situated in the south side of the canyon - is about 213m. The outside diameter is 22m, slowly narrowing to 8.5m at the exit. Water spills over the lip of the Glory Hole when the lake reaches 1,976,037,908 cubic metres (1,602,000 acre-feet). The spillway is designed to handle a maximum of 1,370,319 litres of water per second (362,000 gallons of water per second); this ha ...
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2 |
6456 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
This moth is a work of art
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This is the Giant Leopard Moth, a strictly nocturnal species native to parts of North America and Mexico. These moths start life as an incredibly black and bristly caterpillar, and once they grow into adulthood, they never eat, and instead focus on mating and passing their genes onto several clutches of eggs. ...
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0 |
3531 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A fascinating real-life optical illusion
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A fascinating optical illusion can be found at the southwestern tip of Mauritius Island. If seen from above, this part of the island seems to be melting into the ocean, forming a spectacular underwater waterfall. We owe this to a runoff of sand and silt deposits (the light-coloured portion of the water) and the downward pull of the receding waves.
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0 |
5885 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Gold comes in many different forms
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The Golden Tortoise beetle is found in the Americas. They feed on the leaves of plants related to the sweet potato, including the morning glory and bindweed, though they rarely eat enough to cause serious damage to the plant.
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1 |
5279 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Ink poisoning
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Varieties of the inky cap mushroom can be around the world. While they are edible, ingesting alcohol while eating the mushrooms increases symptoms of nausea and vomiting, and can even cause a heart attack. After the mushroom has released its spores, the cap begins to liquefy. The thick black liquid that is seen dripping from the edges is how the inky cap got its name.
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1 |
4557 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Next time you experience acne, try not to remember this
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Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevisare are parasitic mites that particularly favour the hair follicles of eyebrows and eyelashes and measure a mere fraction of a millimeter long. They crawl about your face in the dark to mate and then crawl into the pores to lay their eggs and die. Healthy adults have around one or two mites per square centimetre of facial skin, though people with the condition rosacea can have 10 times more. Demodex does not have an anus and therefore cannot get rid of its faeces. Instead, their abdomen gets bigger and bigger, and when the mite dies it decomposes and releases its faeces all at once into the pore. ...
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5278 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Strange looking plants
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The island of Socotra is one of the most isolated non-volcanic landforms in the world. Sitting 240 km east of the Horn of Africa and 380 km south of the Arabian Peninsula, its geographic isolation over millions of years has ensured that a third of its plant species are found nowhere else on Earth. Clockwise from the top are dragon blood trees, desert roses, and a native succulent, Dorstenia gigas. ...
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2630 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Picking your way into a lady's heart
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The velvety ladybird spider is a fascinating arachnid found in northern and central Europe. They live in burrows with silk trip-wires that help them catch large-sized prey. The males have bright red backs with four black spots and emerge only for a couple of weeks in May to breed. The male will only mate if he manages to avoid all trip wires—if he falls, he may become the meal.
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0 |
3211 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Fewest feathers of all birds
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Hummingbirds, like this little golden rufous hummingbird, have up to 1,500 feathers, which is the fewest number of feathers of any bird species in the world.
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0 |
3225 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Commensalism
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Sloths have a commensal relationship with several insects. Their thick fur readily traps bacteria and algae, which makes a good home for many beetles. The beetles are able to lay their eggs in a place that is rich in nutrients upon hatching, and the sloths don’t care either way. One sloth was reported to have over 900 beetles living in its fur!
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0 |
4605 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Ever seen a potoo?
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Potoos are a small New World family of solitary and nocturnal birds. Most are so poorly known they seem more fiction than substance, their gruff or wailing cries ghostly delusions of the dim nocturnal world they inhabit.
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2736 |
savio |
10 years ago |
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6001 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Baby blue eyes
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Waardenburg Syndrome is a rare autosomal genetic disorder that has possible bright blue eyes as one of its qualifying criteria, along with possible deafness (common). Actually, the cause of the blue eyes is a form of albinism that may include patches of non-pigmented skin or forehead hair, regardless of ethnicity. There are four types of Waardenburg Syndrome, with a mix of possible characteristics as the determinant. Medical challenges increase with type. The boy in the picture is displaying two major symptoms of type 1; bright blue eyes and dystopia canthorum, a condition where the inner corners of the eyes are set more widely apart, but with normally distanced eyes. ...
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3943 |
savio |
10 years ago |
How to train a tree
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A bonsai tree is “trained” to grow as a dwarf by pruning and shaping the branches. But seeds from the tree would produce trees that grow to normal size. This shows the there is no inheritance of the characteristics acquired by pruning.
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5562 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Ring trick
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Belugas apparently fashion their own entertainment by creating bubble rings and then catching them. A beluga at Sea World Kamogawa, near Tokyo, was snapped in the act, and another at the Shimane Aquarium has been seen performing the trick.
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6467 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A parrot with a wicked hairstyle
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This is a Palm Cockatoo, also know as the Goliath Cockatoo. Palms are distinguished by their size, huge beak (second only to the Hyacinth Macaw among psittacines and largest proportionate to size), solid black feather coloration, large open crest, bare red cheeks, and red and black tongue. You have to see their tongues to believe the coloration. It's amazing. Palm Cockatoos are severely threatened. They are CITES Appendix I birds and are protected in Australia. As a testament to their rarity, typical prices in the U.S. for Aterrimus Palms are around $8000 and Goliaths around $14,000. Perhaps contributing to their rarity is the fact that, according to both Low and Forshaw, they lay only one egg per clutch. ...
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5911 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Largest animal that has ever lived
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Blue whales are not only the largest animal alive right now, but they are believed to be the largest animal that has ever lived. They are listed as endangered by the IUCN, but a group of researchers hopes to designate 10% of the ocean as protected by 2020. Despite their slow reproduction times, researchers believe this will be enough to help rebound their number
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7027 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Surviving nuclear war
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This Bonsai tree was planted in 1626, and survived the atomic bomb at Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, 68 years ago today. It was given to the people of the United States as a Bicentennial Gift in 1976.
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3114 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Colorful trees
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These are rainbow eucalyptus trees ( Eucalyptus deglupta) and they hail from the Philippine Islands. The trees get their name from the striking colours observed on their trunks and limbs. Although it may look like someone took a paintbrush to them, these colours are entirely natural. Unlike most trees, the rainbow eucalyptus does not have a thick, cork-like layer of bark on its trunk. The bark is smooth and as it grows it 'exfoliates' layers of spent tissue. This exfoliation technique occurs at different stages and in different zones of the tree. Once a layer is shed, a new fresh green bark is exposed. As this new bark ages, we can see the tissue change colour to dark green followed by a bluish colour, then to purple and pink-orange and then f ...
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4066 |
savio |
10 years ago |
The bleeding tooth fungus
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The bleeding tooth fungus grows in Europe and North America. While young, the fungus looks like it is oozing blood. The red liquid is actually an anticoagulant. It lives on the roots of conifer trees and exchanges nutrients in a mutually beneficial relationship. And, if you're wondering, they are inedible.
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2415 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Great Blue Hole of Belize
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This is the Great Blue Hole of Belize in Central America, and at 300 metres across and 124 m deep, it's thought to be the largest submarine cave on Earth. It was first discovered by French explorer Jacques Cousteau, and was formed over a period of around 140,000 years when the sea levels were much lower than they are now. As the sea levels rose, a number of limestone caves were flooded over time to create this almost perfect circle. It's now home to several species of fish and reef shark. ...
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2797 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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1 |
3571 |
bio_man |
10 years ago |
Arizona's Antelope Canyon
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Slot canyons are much deeper than they are wide, and are most commonly sandstone or limestone. This is Antelope Canyon, located in Northern Arizona. There is enough room to move around comfortably at the bottom, but the opening on top is only 2-3 feet wide.
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3191 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
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3867 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Why do some people sneeze after staring into bright light?
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18% to 35% of people are "sun sneezers" who have genetically inherited the photic sneeze reflex. The photic sneeze reflex (also known as photoptarmosis) is a condition of uncontrollable sneezing in response to numerous stimuli, such as looking at bright lights or periocular (surrounding the eyeball) injection. Unfortunately, its exact mechanism of action and evolutionary purpose is not well understood. ...
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2885 |
bio_man |
11 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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2739 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
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3039 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |
How giraffes sleep at night
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This is how baby giraffes sleep. Adult giraffes are even stranger. They sleep very little -- it's estimated that they sleep just half an hour to an hour every day, in short five minute naps through the night. During sleep they rest their neck on their hind legs but usually remain standing.
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3276 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Gastric brooding frogs
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Gastric brooding frogs went extinct thirty years ago - but today, scientists announced that they have taken a massive step forward in bringing this extinct creature back to life. A team of Australian scientists succeeded in cloning one of these frogs and taking it to the stage of an embryo, and they have now announced that they plan to go all the way and resurrect the gastric brooding frog using cloning technology.
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2 |
2833 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Termites are nature's architects
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Termites are pretty astonishing creatures by anyone's standards -- their queens are thirty times the size of soldiers and they produce an amazing thirty eggs per minute. Relative to their size, termites build the largest structures in the animal kingdom. Their towers can reach an incredible 25ft (7.6m) high and 40ft across (12.1m) - and that's just above the ground! They can burrow as far as 225ft (68m) below the surface.
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4261 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Curvy trees
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This is a remote forest in Western Poland, where 400 pine trees have grown with a curvature in their trunk structure and it turns out that no one really knows exactly what caused it. There are, however, a few theories: 1) The main theory seems to suggest that this is the result of human interference. It is believed that this is a tree farm and the trees were forced to grow horizontally in their youth to make a carpenters life easier. The curved shape can be induced by laying a heavy object over a young tree stem. Phototropism will cause the stem beyond the heavy object to grow toward the sky, while the growing stem beneath and behind the heavy object will develop what is called morphogenetic compression wood - which ultimately makes the curv ...
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2 |
3279 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
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1 |
6018 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
13 Hidden faces
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This is a famous optical illusion, known as the '13 hidden faces'. It is also an attractive piece of art. How many can you find? It is considered that if you can find 10 faces you have normal powers of observation. If you find 15, you have above average observation skills, if you discover 21 or more, you have extremely keen observation skills. The faces that are most obvious are the ones in the foreground, along the path. They are lit up and our eyes are drawn naturally to them. The faces in shadow are perhaps more tricky to observe. Let me know if you find more, here are my solutions ...
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7612 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Halla tree fruit
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This is the fruit of the Halla tree ( Pandanus tectorius). The tree grows to 4–14 m (13–46 ft) tall and is found from Port Macquarie in New South Wales to northern Queensland, Australia and Indonesia east through the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked and is a major source of food in Micronesia. ...
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7087 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |
Barbados thread snakes
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At first, it just looks like a worm. But when you peek closer, it slithers like a snake. It sticks its tongue out like a snake. It creeps you out like a snake. Discovered under a rock in 2006 in Barbados, this thread snake is as thin as spaghetti and smaller than any of the 3,100 other known snake species. Researchers believe it is the smallest a snake can evolve to be.
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5976 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Smallest known monkey in the world
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This is the pygmy marmoset ( Cebuella pygmaea), the smallest known monkey in the world. They are found in western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia and they typically live in the understory of the rain forest near rivers. Males weigh around 140 grams (4.9 oz), and females only 120 grams (4.2 oz).
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0 |
4087 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Mount Fuji with a hat
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This is an example of a lenticular cloud, also known as altocumulus standing lenticularis. These are stationary, lens-shaped clouds that are formed at high altitudes. They are included in the middle layer cloud family because the bases of the clouds are stationed between about 2,000 and 7,000 meters. These clouds form when moist air is forced to flow up around mountains and large hills. The water is super cooled and condensed from air below the dew point temperature.
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4801 |
duddy |
11 years ago |