October 28, 2011 — The White Salmon River in Washington state is flowing again as the nearly 100-year-old Condit Dam was disabled with explosives Wednesday. The reservoir draining took about 2 hours. Further demolition is scheduled in 2012. The event is a significant milestone for river restoration and dam removal nationwide.

Via National Geographic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LxMHmw3Z-U

Beavers

Beaver. Photo by Minette Layne.

It’s believed beavers mate for life and are monogamous. Beaver are good parents with both mother and father taking an active roll in raising kits.

Wolves

Wolves. Photo by Laenulfean.

Wolves practice serial monogamy, meaning they can have several mates throughout a lifetime, but only one at a time. A female wolf will typically mate with one male, but will take another if her mate dies, gets kicked out of the pack or is so injured or sick that he can’t breed.

Swans

Swans. Photo by Debabrata.

Swans form monogamous pair bonds that last for many years, and in some cases these can last for life.

Brolga Cranes

Brolga Cranes. Photo by Lip Kee.

Cranes form lifelong monogamous pair bonds.

French Angel Fish

French Angel Fish. Photo by Lowjumpingfrog.

French angelfish are monogamous and stay in pairs until separated by death. For this reason, they are often seen roaming the reef in pairs.

Gibbons

White-handed gibbons. Photo by cliff1066.

Gibbons are a monogamous species most closely related to us, humans. Gibbons are an exception to the rule – most other great apes are either very promiscuous or live in harem-like families. Even though humans show monogamous traits, they rarely mate for life.

Termites

Termites. Photo by William Cho.

One of the most profound and defining attributes of the termite family is that it is built on monogamy. Termites are faithful. They are probably the most monogamous group of animals on earth. The evolutionary outcome of this commitment to monogamy is a large and integrated family.

Penguins

Penguins. Photo by Cornstaruk.

Adelie penguins usually keep the same mate all their life, unless the mate dies. Emperor penguins are monogamous for a year, meaning they usually change mate every year. There are 17 species of penguins known.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl. Photo by Drew Avery.

Barn Owls are monogamous. Due to their their short lifespan, they often only breed once or twice.

Shingleback Skink

Shingleback Skink. Photo by Derrick Coetzee.

Monogamous shingleback skinks give birth rather than laying eggs.

Wolf Eel

The Atlantic Wolffish, Atlantic relative of the Wolf Eel. Photo by Kamil Porembiński.

A wolf-eels are also unusual fish in being monogamous. A mating pair often lie side by side with their heads together. They form a bond at about four years old, but do not produce eggs until a few years later.

Black Vultures

Black Vultures. Photo by Maureen Leong-Kee.

For black vultures, enforcing monogamy is a family affair: If caught having sex with a bird other than its partner, the vulture gets harassed by not only its mate, but by other vultures in the area.

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  Cyphoma Signatum

  Fingerprint Flamingo Tongue, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the ovulids, cowry allies or false cowries. Photo by Nick Hobgood.

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  Antarctic Krill

  In natural hovering position – the red organs produce the bioluminescence – the hepatopancreas is filled with green phytoplankton, the food of krill, the strait gut in the back is filled with the empty shells of phytoplankton – in the front you see the compound eye. Photo by Professor Dr. Habil. Uwe Kils.

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  Atriolum Robustum

  The Atriolum Robustum is found in the Indo-Pacific region growing up to 2.5cm in length. Found in groups in shallow sheltered water growing on dead coral. Photo by Nick Hobgood.

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  Grapsus Grapsus

  The crab Grapsus grapsus is one of the most common crabs along the western coast of the Americas. Photo by Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps.

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  Nembrotha Kubaryana

  Nembrotha kubaryana, also known as the variable neon slug, is a species of colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Polyceridae. Photo by Nick Hobgood.

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  Soft Coral

  The Alcyonacea, or the soft corals are an order of corals which do not produce calcium carbonate skeletons. Photo by Nick Hobgood.

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  Amphiprion

  Clownfish (Amphiprion) is a genus of the Pomacentridae family. They inhabit coral reefs. The genus consists of 29 species, widespread in the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

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  Giant Cuttlefish

  Sepia apama, also known as the Australian Giant Cuttlefish, is the world\’s largest cuttlefish species, growing to 50 cm in mantle length and over 10.5 kg in weight. Photo by Jacob Bridgeman.

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  Thorny Oyster

  Spondylus have multiple eyes around the edges of the shell, and they have a relatively well developed nervous system. Photo by Nick Hobgood.

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  Entacmaea Quadricolor

  A colony of Entacmaea quadricolor. Young individuals may have about 20 tentacles, with numbers increasing during their lifetime. Photo by Nick Hobgood.

The most well-known flag is the flag designed for the first Earth Day in 1969 by John McConnell. The flag holds a photo transfer of a NASA photo of the Earth on a dark blue background. Because of the political views of its creator^[2] and its having become a symbol of Earth Day, this flag is often associated with environmental awareness, and the celebration of the global community.  The image of the Earth on the flag is public domain and the copyright on the flag design was invalidated in 2001.

Earth Flag by John McConnell

1. ^[1] "Flag of the Earth". Wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2011-10-22. ↩
2. ^[2] "Authentic Earth Flag". Earthflag.net. Retrieved 2011-10-22. ↩

There is also evidence that spruces are the species that can best give us insight about climate change – they can give us a good idea of how it affects tree growth. The Dalarna spruce has genetic material identical to wood pieces found underneath aged over 9,550 years.

World's oldest tree

Previously, Methuselah, a 4,800-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pine ^[2], located in Methuselah alley, Nevada in North America has been cited as the oldest at around 4,800 years old.

There is also a colony of quaking aspens whose roots alone are considered to be around 80,000 years old ^[3]. These aspens are located in the Fish Lake National Forest in central Utah.

1. ^[1] Science Daily: World's Oldest Living clonal tree, 9550 years old, Discovered In Sweden ↩
2. ^[2] FS: Bristlecone Natural History ↩
3. ^[3] Bryce Canyon National Park Service ↩

“All the evidence points to Timema tahoe and Timema genevievae having persisted for over one million years without sex… Timema are indeed the oldest insects for which there is good evidence that they have been asexual for long periods of time,” confirms Dr. Schwander of Simon Fraser University, Canada. ^[1]

Timema. Photos by Bart Ziglstra.

Asexuality allows insects to grow their population rapidly. However, as their genes are being cloned with every generation, Timema are less able to adapt to new environmental conditions or predators. ^[2]

1. ^[1] Davies, Ella. "Sticks insects survive one million years without sex". BBC. Retrieved 21 July 2011. ↩
2. ^[2] Crespi, B.J.; C.P. Sandoval (2000). "Phylogenetic evidence for the evolution of ecological specialization in Timema walking-sticks". J. Evol. Biol. 13: 249–262. Retrieved 19 July 2011. ↩

Canada is set to include the polar bear on its list of species at risk, but not as a threatened or endangered species.

The federal government gave notice this month that it intends to list the Arctic animal as a species of special concern — one level below threatened and two levels below endangered — under the Species at Risk Act.

Via CBC

Source: National Geographic

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 collected from areas around the city of Hobart on the Australian island of Tasmania.

Via National Geographic

"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 the reproductive glands that produce sperm in males and eggs in females.

Via National Geographic