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Long-necked antelope
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The gerenuk, also known as the Waller’s gazelle, is a long-necked species of antelope found in dry thorn bush scrub and desert in Eastern Africa. The word gerenuk comes from the Somali language, meaning “giraffe-necked”. Gerenuks have a relatively small head for their body, but their eyes and ears are proportionately large.
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4221 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
How apes go fishing
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This is the first photograph taken of an orangutan using a tool to fish in Borneo. The photo captures a moment when this male was using the pole to catch fish trapped in the locals’ fishing lines.
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3121 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Bloody trees
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The dragon’s blood tree ( Dracaena draco) has a thick red resin that makes the plant appear to be bleeding when it is cut. These subtropical plants form huge umbrella-like canopies and can grow for hundreds of years, but they are currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to the trademark resin being used in traditional medicine, violin staining, and even for embalming the dead.
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5499 |
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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7670 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Here's how to preserve the Amazon rainforest
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In 2005 Swedish millionaire Johan Eliasch purchased a 400,000-acre (1,600 km 2) area of land in the heart of the Amazon rainforest from a logging company for the sole purpose of it’s preservation. Johan Eliasch, born in Sweden, is the Chairman and CEO of Head N.V. the global sporting goods group, and is the former Special Representative of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 2005, Johan Eliasch created the Rainforest Trust and purchased for preservation purposes a 400,000-acre (1,600 km2) rainforest area in the heart of the Amazon rainforest near the Madeira River. Johan Eliasch co-founded Cool Earth in 2006, a charity he co-chairs, which sponsors local NGO's to conserve endangered rainforest and has over 120,000 registered members. ...
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4548 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Monkeys can purr too!
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This is the Caqueta titi monkey, and its babies purr just like cats when they're happy. It is one of more than 400 new species of animals and plants that have been discovered in the past four years in the Amazon rainforest, along with a vegetarian piranha and a flame-patterned lizard.
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6480 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Walking leaves
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This stunning creature is the Amazonian leaf-footed bug ( Diactor bilenatus), a species that can be found throughout South American, in parts of Central America and on some Caribbean Islands. Although they look beautiful, when threatened the insect releases a bitter, unpleasant odour to scare of potential predators.
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7419 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
How to withstand a piranha attack
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The arapaima ( Arapaima gigas) is one of the biggest freshwater fish on the planet and has evolved a multi-layer defence against the piranha. Its scales have an ultra-tough outer shell, which promotes tooth fracture at the point of penetration. The scales are also a corrugated shape, which deflect pressure to overlapping layers of collagen underneath.
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5037 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A new species of giant fish as been discovered
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The new species is member of the arapaima genus, which contains some of the world’s biggest freshwater fish that breathe air and weigh up to 200kg. Found in the central Amazon of Brazil, the new fish has been named Arapaima leptosoma and is the first new species of arapaima described since 1847.
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3941 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
This is not an optical illusion
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See anything peculiar? If you look closely, you'll see an Eastern screech owl hiding in plain sight. These owls are nocturnal and their amazing camouflage allows them to go largely unnoticed in the daytime. These owls only grow to about 22 cm (8.5 in) tall and weigh about 244 grams (8.6 oz), but they have been observed hunting squirrels and rats who rival them in length and weight. Eastern screech owls are found in North America from Canada all the way down to Mexico. ...
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3169 |
savio |
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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5905 |
savio |
10 years ago |
New species discovered in the Western Hemisphere
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Meet olinguito, or Bassaricyon neblina, the first species of carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. This cute teddy bear-like nocturnal mammal is native to Central and South America, and spends most of its time in the treetops, coming down to the forest floor occasionally to eat fruits such as guava.
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3933 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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3104 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Nature's kiss
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Check out this beautiful flower. At first glance, it looks like a set of lips, but in actually, these are the flowers that are produced by Psychotria elata, a plant that grows in Central and South American tropical forests.
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4058 |
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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4063 |
savio |
10 years ago |