Archive for May 2010
Fish with “hands” discovered
Using its fins to walk, rather than swim, along the ocean floor in an undated picture, the pink handfish is one of nine newly named species described in a recent scientific review of the handfish family. Only four specimens of the elusive four-inch (ten-centimeter) pink handfish have ever been found, and all of those were
“City of Gonads” jellyfish discovered
Sporting a reproductive “skyline,” a new species of jellyfish is like nothing else known under the sea, a new study says. Shaped like flying saucers, both males and females of the new jellyfish have gonads on the outsides of their bodies, unlike any of the approximately 3,000 other jellyfish species known to science. Gonads are
UN warns of the economic impact of nature loss
The “alarming” rate at which species are being lost could have a severe effect on humanity, conservationists warned today. Targets set eight years ago by governments to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010 have not been met, experts confirmed at a UN meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. The third Global Biodiversity Outlook report said loss of wildlife
Largest beaver dam discovered in Canada
A Canadian ecologist has discovered the world’s largest beaver dam in a remote area of northern Alberta, an animal-made structure so large it is visible from space. Researcher Jean Thie said Wednesday he used satellite imagery and Google Earth software to locate the dam, which is about 850 metres (2,800 feet) long on the southern
