biodiversity

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    Rare Seafaring Birds Follow Tropical Cyclones to Find Better Feeding Opportunities

    Rare Seafaring Birds Follow Tropical Cyclones to Find Better Feeding Opportunities

    A new study has found that a rare and wide-ranging North Atlantic seabird — Desertas petrel (Pterodroma deserta) — demonstrates unique foraging behaviors that involve following tropical cyclones during hurricane season in order to exploit the storms’ dynamic conditions. Unlike other seabirds who spend the majority of their lives flying above the open ocean, these […]

    UK Butterfly Numbers at Record Low in ‘Warning Sign to Us All,’ Conservationists Report

    UK Butterfly Numbers at Record Low in ‘Warning Sign to Us All,’ Conservationists Report

    Following record-low reports of butterflies in the UK, British charity Butterfly Conservation is sounding the alarm. The charity, which crowdsources data from UK participants through their Big Butterfly Count, put out a blog post explaining that participants are reporting “just over half” the amount of butterflies compared to this time last year. This year’s Big […]

    Scientists Discover ‘Dark Oxygen’ on Seafloor, Challenging Ideas on the Origin of Life

    Scientists Discover ‘Dark Oxygen’ on Seafloor, Challenging Ideas on the Origin of Life

    Scientists have discovered “dark oxygen” being created on the ocean seafloor by “polymetallic nodules” that potentially support life, new research in the journal Nature Geoscience shows. Andrew Sweetman, the study’s lead author and member of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), believes the nodules create oxygen because they behave like natural batteries. “If you […]

    South Africa Passes Its First Climate Change Act

    South Africa Passes Its First Climate Change Act

    South Africa has passed its first Climate Change Act, a sweeping law that will set limits for big greenhouse gas emitters and require that every town and city publish an adaptation plan with the objective of meeting the country’s carbon emissions reduction commitments in accordance with the Paris Agreement. South Africa is a member of […]

    Koalas Can Predict the Hottest Summer Days and Lower Their Body Temperatures Accordingly, Study Finds

    Koalas Can Predict the Hottest Summer Days and Lower Their Body Temperatures Accordingly, Study Finds

    A new study by researchers in Australia has found that iconic and endangered koalas have the ability to regulate their body temperatures more than previously thought. For the first time, scientists have observed free-ranging, wild koalas drastically lowering their core body temperatures during cool mornings in preparation for the most sweltering summer days. “This strongly […]

    Fruit Bats Have Cognitive Abilities Previously Believed to Be Exclusive to Humans, Research Finds

    Fruit Bats Have Cognitive Abilities Previously Believed to Be Exclusive to Humans, Research Finds

    Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have studied free-ranging fruit bats in a colony in Egypt to answer the long-standing question of whether animals have complex cognitive abilities previously thought to exist only in humans. The study focused specifically on mental time travel, episodic memory, delayed gratification and planning ahead, a press release from TAU […]