Researchers in the Amazon have discovered the world's largest snake species - an enormous green anaconda - in Ecuador's rainforest that split off from its closest relatives 10 million years ago though they still nearly look identical to this day. A video shared online shows the scale of these 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) reptiles as one of the researchers, Dutch biologist Freek Vonk, swims alongside a giant 200-kilo (441-pound) specimen. It was thought that there was only one species of green anaconda in the wild, the Eunectes murinus, but the scientific journal Diversity this month revealed that the new "northern green anaconda" belongs to a different, new species, Eunectes akiyama. "What we were there to do was use the anacondas as an indicator species for what kind of dam...
Read MoreDay: March 3, 2024
One by one, the crate doors swing open and five Arctic foxes bound off into the snowy landscape. In the wilds of southern Norway, the newly freed foxes could struggle to find enough to eat, as the impacts of climate change make the foxes’ traditional rodent prey more scarce. In Hardangervidda National Park, where the foxes have been released, there hasn’t been a good lemming year since 2021, scientists say. That’s why the scientists breeding them in captivity are also maintaining more than 30 feeding stations across the alpine wilderness stocked with dog food kibble – a rare and controversial step in conservation circles. Two white Arctic foxes play after mating, inside their enclosure at the station near Oppdal, Norway, March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner “If the food is ...
Read MoreA giant statue dating back about 2,500 years has been restored to Sicily's Valley of the Temples, an archeological site which ancient Greek poet Pindar described as "man's finest city." The 8-metre high representation of the mythological giant Telamon once supported the temple of Zeus, one of the famed Doric constructions on the site that art historians consider the principal ancient Greek historical record outside Greece itself. "Telamon will become ... the new international ambassador of an archaeological site with no equals worldwide", said Sicily's cultural heritage councillor Francesco Paolo Scarpinato. The stone statue returned to guard the temple on Thursday, following 20 years of restoration work. In ancient times the giant was one of numerous Telamon statues that wer...
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