Five mass extinctions have happened in Earth’s history, and numerous experts have warned that a sixth mass extinction could already be underway as a result of human activity since the Age of Exploration. Some scientists have even suggested that nearly 40% of the species (opens in new tab) currently residing on our planet could be […]
Tiny tardigrades can survive conditions that would kill most other forms of life. By expelling their body’s water and transforming into a seemingly lifeless ball called a tun, they enter a state of dried-up suspended animation in which they can survive for decades without food and water and withstand extreme temperatures, pressures and even the […]
Deep in a Tanzanian rainforest in 1972, a famous aging chimpanzee matriarch called Flo breathed her last breath. For her son, Flint, it seemed to be an unbearable loss. The chimp, who was unusually bonded to his mother, suddenly grew listless, losing his appetite and becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the troop. “He […]
(Image credit: The Pokémon Company) (opens in new tab) Pokémon, or “Pocket Monsters,” are the stars of the hugely popular franchise of the same name that spans video games, trading cards, TV shows, movies and toys. What makes these fictional creatures so appealing to so many people is, in part, their uncanny resemblance to real-world […]
The wreck of Captain James Cook’s Endeavour is under threat not just from shipworms, but also from fish, crustaceans, and the ocean itself, maritime archaeologists warn. The wooden ship rests off the coast of Rhode Island, in the US, and is already worm-eaten. Experts from the Australian National Maritime Museum say time is critical in […]
Name: Bathynomus yucatanensis. Yikes! What the hell is that? Can we do this properly, the Pass notes way? Sorry. Age: Somewhere near the 160m year mark. From fossil records, that’s how long giant isopods are calculated to have been around. Isopod? It’s a type of crustacean. And bathynomus yucatanensis is a giant one of those? […]
The animal kingdom boasts some incredibly long lifespans that far exceed the average human’s. While humans may have an “absolute limit” of 150 years (opens in new tab), this is just a blink of an eye compared with the centuries and millennia that some animals live through; and some animals can even stop or reverse […]
In early 2020, ornithologist Noah Strycker found himself walking amongst several thousand chinstrap penguins on Elephant Island, a remote blip of snow-covered rock just off the Antarctic Peninsula. He was there to carry out a census of the island’s penguin colony, which hadn’t been properly surveyed since 1970. “I’ll never forget the sight, sound, and…smell,” […]
The Cretaceous period was the last and longest segment of the Mesozoic era. It lasted approximately 79 million years, from the minor extinction event that closed the Jurassic period about 145 million years ago to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event 66 million years ago. The name comes from “creta,” the Latin word for chalk, because […]
Recently discovered tomb of official dating back more than 2,000 years contains dozens of animals and two mummies Dozens of mummified mice were among the animals found in an ancient Egyptian tomb that was unveiled on Friday. The well-preserved and finely painted tomb near the Egyptian town of Sohag – a desert area near the […]
