Known for its remarkable camouflage, the potoo has a striking appearance with mottled feathers that help it blend into tree bark. They are most active at night, using their wide mouths to catch insects in flight. Potoos are also famous for their eerie calls, which can often be heard in their natural habitats, adding an intriguing element to the soundscape of the rainforest.Their eyes have unusual slits in the lids which allow potoos to sense movement even when their eyes are closed.
The dik-dik is a small species of antelope native to the bushlands and savannas of eastern and southern Africa. Characterized by their petite size, large eyes, and elongated snouts, dik-diks stand about 12 to 16 inches tall at the shoulder and typically weigh between 20 to 30 pounds. They are known for their shy nature and are often seen in pairs or small family groups. Their diet primarily consists of leaves, shoots, and fruits, and they have adapted to their environment by being able to survive with minimal water.
The cassowary recognized for its striking appearance, it has a distinctive blue and black plumage, a helmet-like casque on its head, and long, sharp claws, which can be dangerous. Cassowaries are known to be elusive and solitary, primarily feeding on fruits, but they also consume fungi, insects, and small animals. Its claw can easily cut open predators such as crocodiles, pythons, and dingos. And, unfortunately, humans can fall victim to the cassowary. Be wary!
Anhingas are large, dark waterbirds with a long, thin neck, a long, thin, pointed bill, a long tail and silver patches on their wings and are found in southeastern swamps.
At first the parents feed the chicks by dripping partially digested fish down their throats. As the chicks grow older, they shove their heads into their parents’ beaks to reach their food.
Antechinus: The tiny marsupials where males have sex until they die — then females eat their corpses
Name: Antechinus (Antechinus)
Where it lives: Australia
What it eats: Insects, spiders, centipedes and sometimes frogs and small reptiles
Why it's awesome: Antechinuses are little marsupials about the size of gerbils with a bizarre reproductive system: the males have sex until they die from organ failure.
There are 15 species of Antechinus all with the same deadly mating system. Their breeding season is a frenzied period lasting just two to three weeks. During this time, males give up sleep to have as much sex as possible, going for up to 14 hours at a time in the hope of passing on their genes. Once the breeding season ends, all the males drop dead.
Males die as a result of stress and exhaustion. During the mating window, testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol surge in their bodies. The increase in testosterone prevents them from processing the cortisol, causing organ failure and death. Read More »
Traces of cocaine discovered in mummified brain tissue reveal that Europeans were chewing coca leaves — possibly for medical or recreational purposes — in the 17th century, two centuries before the earliest known documented use of the New World plant in the Old World, a new study finds.
More than 500 species of cichlids have evolved in Africa's Lake Victoria over the past 15,000 years. A vibrant blue and purple fish with a flower or brain-like protrusion on its forehead
(Image credit: JethuynhCan via Getty Images)
The universe is made up of 68.3% "dark energy" (an unknown substance that causes the universe's expansion to accelerate), 26.8% dark matter (an unknown form of matter) and 4.9% ordinary atoms, very precisely measured from the cosmic microwave background — the afterglow of radiation from the Big Bang.
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Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: (Herschel) ESA/NASA/Caltech, (Spitzer) NASA/JPL/Caltech, (WISE) NASA/JPL/Caltech; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Webb ERO Production Team; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, CC BY
Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed the 3,200-year-old remains of a military barracks containing a wealth of artifacts, including a sword with hieroglyphs depicting the name of Ramesses II.
Image credit: Courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
The structure contains a series of storerooms used to hold grain and ovens for baking. The team also found the remains of pottery containing the bones of animals, including fish. Multiple cow burials were also unearthed at the site, Ahmed El Kharadly, an archaeologist with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities who led excavations at the site, told Live Science in an email.
