How cathedral termites got to Australia to build their 'sky-scrapers'

They build among the tallest non-human structures (proportionately speaking) in the world and now it's been discovered the termites that live in Australia's remote Top End originated from overseas - rafting vast distances and migrating from tree-tops to the ground, as humans later did. Mounds of the cathedral termite Nasutitermes triodiae...

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New species of parasitic wasp discovered in the eggs of leaf-rolling weevils in Africa

A new species of parasitic wasp has been obtained from the eggs of weevils, associated with bushwillows, collected and identified by Dr. Silvano Biondi. Given the tiny insect from northeastern Gabon is the first record of its genus for West-Central Africa, the researchers Dr. Stefania Laudonia and Dr. Gennaro Viggiani, both affiliated with...

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400 Million-Year-Old Marine Worm with Terrifying Snapping Jaws Found in Canadian Museum

An international team of scientists found that an ancient fossil stored in a Canadian museum since mid-1990s actually belong to a new species of extinct primordial worm with terrifying snapping jaws. Pictured above is a bristle worm. The ancient fossil stored in a Canadian museum is considered to be a giant extinct bristle worm, or the ...

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Can you Spot the Animals Camouflaged in These 5 Images?

Camouflage is nature's gift to a few lucky animals who can either use it to escape predators or sneak up on their lunch. It's truly astounding how well some animals blend in with their environments. Can you even see these animals in their closeups? Meet 5 of the world's craziest camouflagers. Do You See The Baron Caterpillar? Native...

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11 Wild Animal Species You Never Knew Were Endangered

Orangutans   There are two species of orangutans: Bornean, ones that prefer the ground over the trees, and Sumatran, which have longer facial hair and develop closer bonds with each other. A century ago, their global population was more than 230,000. Now there are between 45,000 and 69,000 Bornean (endangered status) and only...

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Man Drives Hours Every Day In Drought To Bring Water To Wild Animals

In a land as parched as Kenya's Tsavo West National Park, no visitor arrives with more fanfare than the water man. That would be Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua. And when he rumbles down the dusty road bearing some 3,000 gallons of fresh water, the elephants, buffalo, antelope and zebras come running. They've come to know the water man by the...

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Here’s why viral photos of these obese tigers are not funny or cute

Plump furry animals can seem cute but are they healthy? This is the debate that has gripped people online. Pictures of really obese tigers rolling on the floor have gone viral on social media and it has raised some serious concerns about animals’ health conditions. The viral pictures of the obese tigers at the Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin...

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Why your dog never forgets

Scientists have long wondered whether what underlies 'smart' behaviour in animals is cognitive processes – in other words, thinking, an expression of some kind of intelligence. Researchers started by studying non-human primates and have since demonstrated remarkable cognitive abilities in other mammals, including dogs. They have shown...

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Cute animals with troubling political positions

We are all so used to seeing pictures of cute animals and assuming they are harmless and friendly creatures, full of love and peace. But it's not so, according to comedian Alice Frasier. Here are some adorable animals with terrible political positions. We’ve always just accepted that cute animals probably have cute thoughts. If we’ve thought...

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If Anything Can Make You Feel Better, It’s This Istanbul Street-Cat Documentary

Torun jokingly calls Kedi “uplifting terrorism” when we meet to chat about her charming feline flick. But the film is more than just a cute cat video blown up to feature length; it’s a slice-of-life portrait of Istanbul, which is crawling with the creatures that have become the heartbeat of the city’s daily rhythm. She profiles seven camera-ready...

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12 Facts About Chinese Zodiac Animals

Chinese New year is a celebration of the first day of the first month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar. The tradition, believed to have started as early as 2300 BC, is based on a 12-year-long cycle, with each year in the cycle corresponding to a particular zodiac animal sign: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey,...

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