Walruses are the gentle giants of the Arctic. They are among the largest pinnipeds — fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. However, while they have an intimidating size, and are carnivores, these animals are not aggressive.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Facts About Tasmanian Devils
Tasmanian devils are small marsupials with ratlike features, sharp teeth and coarse black or brown fur. Diminutive as it may be, don't be fooled: This creature has a fighting style that is quite intimidating.
Ancient Animal Treasures Found in Bahamas Sinkhole
Fossil skeletons of an unusual land-roaming Cuban crocodile, a tortoise and 25 species of birds including a raptor known as a caracara are among the ancient treasures recently discovered in a sinkhole in the Bahamas.
What Are Sinkholes?
They've swallowed Corvettes in Kentucky, condos in Florida and homes in Texas. Clearly, sinkholes are not to be sneezed at. But what causes these collapses of supposedly solid ground?
Sinkholes are pits in the ground that form in areas where water gathers without external drainage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. As water drains below ground, it can
Ancient Asteroid Destroyer Finally Found, And It's a New Kind of Meteorite
For 50 years, scientists have wondered what annihilated the ancestor of L-chondrites, the roof-smashing, head-bonking meteorites that frequently pummel Earth.
Now, a new kind of meteorite discovered in a southern Sweden limestone quarry may finally solve the mystery, scientists report. The strange new rock may be the missing "other half" from one of the biggest interstellar collisions in a billion years.
Gas-Charged Earthquakes Linked to Mysterious Louisiana Sinkhole
Surges of gas-charged fluid may have explosively generated the earthquakes preceding a giant sinkhole in Louisiana, researchers say.
These findings could lead to a better understanding of howpressurized fluids can trigger earthquakes and tremors, scientists added.
On Aug. 3, 2012, a giant sinkhole formed overnight near Bayou Corne in southeast
Facts About Alligators
Alligators are large reptiles, members of the order Crocodylia. Alligators and crocodiles are, therefore, closely related, and people often confuse one with the other; however, these two reptiles are very different.
An alligator is distinguished by its wide, rounded snout and black color. Also, all of its upper teeth can still be seen when its mouth is closed. Crocodiles, on the other hand, have narrow, pointed snouts, a grey-green color and only the fourth tooth on the lower jaw can be seen when the animal's mouth is closed, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Polar Bear
Polar bears are large, white bears that like cold climates, fatty meals and long days of hunting. No matter how adorable polar bears look, these animals are not cuddly. In fact, polar bears are ferocious hunters, and they are the biggest carnivores among land animals.
Orcas: Facts About Killer Whales
Orcas are often called killer whales. Though they don't typically attack humans, this name is still well-chosen due to the animal's ability to take down large marine animals, such as sea lions and whales. In fact, orcas will prey on almost any animal they find in the sea, in the air over the water or along the coastline. To hunt, killer whales use their massive teeth, which can grow up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) long.
Mystery of Greenland's 'Disappearing Lakes' Solved
Geoscientists have solved a decade-long mystery of how some of the large lakes that sit atop the Greenland ice sheet can completely drain billions of gallons of water in a matter of hours.
In 2006, Greenland's North Lake, a 2.2 square-mile (5.6 square kilometers) supraglacial meltwater lake, drained almost 12 billion gallons of water in less than two hours. In a study published two years later, researchers determined that this astonishing phenomenon is
10-Million-Year-Old Snake Revealed in Living Color
The fossilized remains of a snake that lived 10 million years ago don't look very colorful to the naked eye today. But preserved within are cell structures that revealed to scientists the colors that would have dappled its skin while the animal was alive.
Though the pigment grains held within the snake's cells were long gone when scientists discovered the fossil, the cell shapes resembled several types of pigment cells in modern snakes that contain various kinds of color information.
It's a Girl! Ancient Viral Genes May Determine a Baby's Sex
It's a boy! Or maybe it's a girl, but either way, new research suggests that the sex of mouse babies, and perhaps the sex of human babies, may be influenced by a newfound way to deactivate ancient viral genes that have been embedded in mammal genomes for more than a million years.
In the research, the scientists looked at viral DNA that is active in the mouse genome. Viral DNA can become part of an animal's genome when a kind of virus called a retrovirus infects a cell, and slips its genes into the DNA of host cells. (The most notorious retrovirus is HIV, the virus behind AIDS.)
How High Will the Seas Rise, Really?
A recent high-profile study led by US climatologist James Hansen has warned that sea levels could rise by several meters by the end of this century. How realistic is this scenario?
We can certainly say that sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, after several millennia of relative stability. The question is how far and how fast they will go, compared with Earth's previous history of major sea-level changes.
Alaska Volcano Erupts, Spewing Ash 20,000 Feet into the Air
A snow- and ice-covered volcano located in Alaska's Aleutian Islands erupted Sunday (March 27), spewing a cloud of ash about 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) into the sky, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported.
The volcano — called Pavlof for the Russian name "Paul" or "St. Paul" — erupted at about 4 p.m. local time (8 p.m. EDT) Sunday. The area also had elevated seismic activity at 3:53 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In response, the Alaska
305-Million-Year-Old 'Almost Spider'
A new fossil found in France is almost a spider, but not quite.
The arachnid, locked in iron carbonate for 305 million years, reveals the stepwise evolution of arachnids into spiders. Dubbed Idmonarachne brasieri after the Greek mythological figure Idmon, father of Arachne, a weaver turned into a spider by a jealous goddess, the "almost spider" lacks only the spinnerets that spiders use to turn silk into webs.
Elegant Earth
Alien worlds may be all the rage, with their mystique and promise, but the orb we call home, planet Earth, has all the makings for a jaw-dropping blockbuster movie: from the drama of explosive volcanoes, past meteor crashes and catastrophic collisions between rocky plates to the seeming fantasy of the ocean's deep abysses swirling with odd life and tales of the coldest, hottest, deepest, highest and all-out extreme spots.
Did you know Earth is not actually a sphere? That we are rocketing around the sun at 67,000 mph? That the majority of Earth's fresh water is locked up in Antarctica?
We pawed through our archives to gather together just 50 of the most amazing and interesting facts about Earth. Enjoy the journey.
Animal Groups
Warm-blooded animals regulate their own body temperatures; their bodies use energy to maintain a constant temperature. Cold-blooded animals depend on their surroundings to establish their body temperatures.
Global Warming
Many climatologists believe that increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gasses” released by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, are warming the Earth. The mechanism commonly known as the “greenhouse effect” is what makes the Earth habitable. These gasses in the atmosphere act like the glass of a greenhouse, letting sunlight in and preventing heat from escaping.
The Greenhouse Gas Effect
The greenhouse effect is a natural process by which some of the radiant heat from the Sun is captured in the lower atmosphere of the Earth, thus maintaining the temperature of the Earth's surface. The gases that help capture the heat, called “greenhouse gases,” include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and a variety of manufactured chemicals. Some are emitted from natural sources; others are anthropogenic, resulting from human activities.
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