A team of researchers have recently witnessed behavior in the wild that could offer critical clues about how the endangered whale shark reproduces.&nbsp;



This surprising discovery, made by a research team off northwestern Australia, could be pivotal for the species’ conservation.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/whale-sharks-move-into-dangerous-territory-as-the-climate-warms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Whale sharks</a>, recognized as the world’s largest fish, have long posed a challenge for scientists who strive to understand the details of their life cycles - particularly their mating rituals.&nbsp;



Given that whale sharks are currently listed as endangered, every insight into their reproductive strategies is essential for crafting effective measures to protect them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-collecting-data-on-whale-shark-behavior">Collecting data on whale shark behavior </h2>



At Ningaloo Reef, a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">UNESCO World Heritage Site</a> on the northwestern coast of Western Australia, annual expeditions have taken place each May from 2009 to 2024. This specific timeframe captures the peak period when whale sharks migrate to the region and aggregate in considerable numbers.&nbsp;



Scientists have used these field seasons to observe and collect data on the behaviors of whale sharks, hoping to uncover patterns that would illuminate everything from feeding habits to potential <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fascinating-mating-behaviors-of-leopard-seals-revealed/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mating rituals</a>.



During the 2024 expedition, a research team documented a mature male whale shark engaging in what appeared to be following and biting behaviors toward a smaller female shark.&nbsp;



Although it remains unclear if this encounter culminated in mating, the new observations provide a rare glimpse into the courtship interactions of these elusive giants.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-first-hand-accounts-of-unusual-behavior">First-hand accounts of unusual behavior</h2>



“Following and biting are common copulation behaviours in other species within the subclass of cartilaginous fish that the whale shark belongs to,” explained PhD candidate Christine Barry, a member of <a href="https://www.murdoch.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Murdoch University</a>’s Harry Butler Institute and the <a href="https://www.aims.gov.au/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Australian Institute of Marine Science</a>.&nbsp;



Barry and her colleagues noted that these behaviors have been observed in several other cartilaginous fish, including various shark species. Such actions typically denote an attempt by the male to stabilize or secure the female’s position during mating.



“This is also consistent with previous reports by fishers recounting behaviours they’d observed out on the water of sexually mature males towards females at different aggregation sites,” Barry added.&nbsp;



These anecdotes, now supported by direct evidence, add weight to the idea that whale sharks’ mating rituals may mirror those of other large sharks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-piecing-together-mating-clues">Piecing together mating clues</h2>



The research team, led by Barry alongside Dr. Mark Meekan of the University of Western Australia, published their conclusions in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1507072/full" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.&nbsp;



According to Barry, it is unlikely that the encounter during this expedition resulted in a successful mating event. Nonetheless, the instance of following and biting strongly suggests that whale shark mating behavior follows a pattern akin to many other shark species.



By placing these newly documented behaviors in the broader context of whale shark biology, scientists can form hypotheses regarding the mating process of the species.&nbsp;



Additionally, the research group underscores that knowledge of how whale sharks court and reproduce can significantly boost conservation efforts, particularly as populations remain vulnerable.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-avoidance-behavior-by-female-whale-sharks">Avoidance behavior by female whale sharks </h2>



Whale sharks, which can grow up to 12 meters or more in length, have a global distribution in warm temperate and tropical waters. Despite their widespread presence, many aggregation sites show an overwhelming number of males.&nbsp;



“At Ningaloo Reef, and many aggregation sites around the world, males outnumber females with a ratio of one female to three males,” Barry said. The reasons behind this imbalance have puzzled scientists for years.



“This could explain why female whale sharks may be avoiding aggregation sites. Particularly for juvenile female sharks, the energetic costs of unwanted attention from males could imply a reason for strong male biases,” Barry added.&nbsp;



Female whale sharks, particularly younger ones, might seek refuge in areas with fewer adult males to steer clear of the stress and energy demands associated with repeated courtship attempts.&nbsp;



This avoidance behavior could be a crucial factor influencing whale shark population structures at various aggregation points.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-conservation">Implications for conservation</h2>



One pressing question is what these findings mean for managing whale shark populations worldwide. As an endangered species, whale sharks already face numerous challenges, including interactions with fisheries, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/basking-sharks-are-exceptionally-vulnerable-to-ship-strikes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vessel strikes</a>, and habitat degradation.&nbsp;



Understanding their mating behavior, including how males and females interact at aggregation sites, can aid biologists and policymakers in deciding how to protect critical habitats - such as identifying areas where females can avoid male-dominated gatherings.



The annual expeditions at Ningaloo Reef also serve as a model for studying whale sharks in their natural environment without relying on anecdotal sightings.&nbsp;



By systematically gathering data and applying scientific methods, researchers can more accurately identify patterns and track changes in whale shark behavior over time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-continuation-of-whale-shark-research">Continuation of whale shark research</h2>



This new information about potential mating interactions is just the latest in a series of findings by Christine Barry, Dr. Meekan, and other scientists at Murdoch University’s School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences and partner institutions.&nbsp;



Their previous studies have covered topics ranging from the impact of tourism on whale shark well-being to prey dynamics in waters frequented by these fish.



Moving forward, the researchers intend to broaden their focus to include additional observational and genetic studies, in hopes of confirming how often such pre-mating behaviors occur and what leads to successful reproduction.&nbsp;



In this way, the data gleaned at Ningaloo Reef and other aggregation sites may help scientists develop clearer conservation strategies tailored to the unique reproductive needs of whale sharks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-saving-the-largest-fish-in-the-sea">Saving the largest fish in the sea</h2>



The newly documented behaviors at Ningaloo Reef represent a pivotal step in unraveling one of the great mysteries of marine biology: how whale sharks reproduce.&nbsp;



While much remains to be learned about courtship and mating in these gentle ocean giants, the direct observations of following and biting offer valuable context for a species that has long eluded scientific understanding.



With further research, scientists hope to clarify whether female whale sharks avoid highly male-dominated sites as a means to reduce the stress and energy costs of unwanted attention.&nbsp;



Such knowledge could shape guidelines for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-marine-protected-areas-boost-human-health/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">marine protected areas</a> and responsible ecotourism that minimize disturbances to whale shark breeding practices.&nbsp;



Ultimately, uncovering the nuances of whale shark mating is a vital piece of the puzzle in ensuring the survival of these endangered animals for generations to come.



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Whale shark mating behaviors observed for the first time in the wild

A team of researchers have recently witnessed behavior in the wild that could offer critical clues about how the endangered whale shark reproduces.&nbsp; This surprising discovery, made by a research team off northwestern Australia, could be pivotal for the species’ conservation.&nbsp; Whale sharks, recognized as the world’s largest fish, have long posed a challenge for scientists who strive to understand the details of their life cycles - particularly their mating rituals.&nbsp; Given that whale sharks are currently listed as endangered, every insight into their reproductive strategies is...

Chickens aren’t known for their brains – but maybe they should be. Studies of chicken psychology show the birds may be a lot smarter and more complex than they get credit for.

The new foray into chicken studies was undertaken by <a href="https://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/the-someone-project/">The Someone Project</a>. The project’s goal is to gain a better understanding of the cognitive abilities of farm animals.

“At least some birds are now known to be on par with many mammals in terms of their level of intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction,” said Dr. Lori Marino, the author of the scientific review. “Yet, views of chickens have largely remained unrevised by this new evidence.”

She acknowledged that chicken psychology seems like a strange topic to research. However, she wondered if the birds really deserved their reputation as lacking in intelligence.

So Marino dove into the literature on chickens and analyzed dozens of scientific studies on their mental abilities.

The review turned up a number of interesting facts about chicken psychology:
<ul>
 	<li>By the time chicks are five days old, they can differentiate between larger and smaller amounts of items like food.</li>
 	<li>Chickens can follow a ball’s trajectory even as it disappears from their sight, a skill shared by primates.
They appear to be able to perceive the passage of time and anticipate future events.</li>
 	<li>Chickens socialize and have a complex hierarchy. Individual chickens can assess their social “rank” and behave accordingly with hens of higher or lower status.</li>
 	<li>De-beaked chickens show defensive behaviors for months after the procedure. De-beaking is a common practice in large egg production operations that cage their hens.</li>
 	<li>Mother hens show different parenting styles that may be based on varying personality traits.</li>
 	<li>Chickens demonstrate both self-control and self-assessment in social situations, which may indicate some self-awareness.</li>
</ul>
One study Marino reviewed involved a computer exercise. Chickens had to peck at a screen consistently to get food. The first peck after six minutes delivered the food.

Not only did the hens in the study grasp that they had to keep pecking at the screen, they began pecking much faster when the clock was almost at six minutes. This showed both that they understood the concept, and that they could figure out when the food was about to come, the authors of that study said.

“My overall conclusion is that chickens are just as cognitively, emotionally and socially complex as most other birds and mammals in many areas,” Marino wrote.

Marino’s review was published in the journal <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10071-016-1064-4">Animal Cognitition</a>.

The Someone Project is the research arm of <a href="https://www.farmsanctuary.org/">Farm Sanctuary</a>, a nonprofit farm animal rescue organization.

Farm Sanctuary promotes vegan diets, but the organization’s main goal is to improve the lives of farm animals and end factory farming. Three sanctuaries in New York and California provide homes for rescued farm animals awaiting adoption.

Chicken psychology: birds may be smarter, more complex than we thought

Chickens aren’t known for their brains – but maybe they...

For some species, conservation efforts began paying off in 2016. For others, they weren’t enough. Endangered species around the world continued their march toward extinction in 2016, and a few disappeared forever.

The giraffe is one example. Habitat loss and isolation has landed the world’s tallest mammals on the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List</a>. The database of vulnerable, endangered, and extinct species is maintained by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a>.

Elephants have seen a decline, too. Africa lost about a third of its elephants in just seven years. Poaching has long been the main culprit behind the deaths, spurring several countries including China and the U.S. to enact or strengthen ivory bans.

Madagascar’s ring-tailed lemur also saw a huge drop in numbers. The two main factors were habitat loss and hunting, the IUCN reported. Lemurs are also popular on the illegal pet market, it said.

Illegal fishing has driven both the totoaba fish – the main target – and the vaquita porpoise – collateral damage – one step away from extinction off the coast of Mexico. IUCN lists both as “critically endangered." Though the totoaba’s numbers are unknown, the IUCN believes no more than 60 vaquitas are left in the wild.

Other endangered animals that continued to bleed numbers in 2016 include African rhinos, the Ploughshare tortoise, orangutans, leopards, and red wolves.

Meanwhile, Toughie the frog died, triggering the complete extinction of the Rabbs’ tree frog. Toughie had been the last of his kind for some time.

The Bramble Cay melomys, a unique rodent species that lived only on the tiny island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, also went extinct. High tides and storm surges brought by rising oceans has wiped out the reef island’s vegetation, and flooded it repeatedly.

Other extinctions in 2016: the Laysan honeycreeper, Pagan reed warbler, Raiatea starling, Tatum Cave beeting, Stephan’s riffle beetle, and others.

The Addax antelope, with just three members left in the wild, may follow in the next few years.

Though conservationists are taking steps to slow the march toward extinction, in some cases human industry has taken precedence. In Aceh, Indonesia, the government ruled against conservationists fighting to protect the last intact forest in the world that houses orangutans, tigers, rhinos, and elephants. Plans for the forest: tearing it down to replace it with palm oil plantations.

Still, the news isn’t all bad. New tech solutions are emerging to combat illegal fishing worldwide. Nepal had its second year in a row without rhino poaching. Thailand shuttered its infamous Tiger Temple, and an international agreement to ban the endangered pangolin trade is moving ahead.

March toward extinction continued for many species in 2016

For some species, conservation efforts began paying off in 2016....

In the video, thousands of starlings fly together, creating loops and whorls in what looks like a mesmerizing aerial ballet. The magnificent mass of birds separates, each part pirouetting around the other, then comes back together again.

The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ui7A7v0Ivs">30-second video</a>, captured by amateur photographer Marco Campazas over Logrono City in Spain, shows the acrobatic masterpiece of flight known as a murmuration.

“I was driving my car and through the window noticed the birds,” Campasaz told <a href="http://swns.com/">SWNS</a>, the independent news site that published his video. “I stopped straight away and filmed them. … I managed to capture the end of their display before they all landed and went to sleep for the evening.”

Starlings are small birds native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and parts of Australia. They’ve also been winging their way across North America ever since they were imported by a Shakespeare fanatic in New York in 1890. The fan wanted to introduce every bird mentioned by the Bard to the continent.

Wherever they are in the world, starlings are known for their massive flocks, including the incredible acrobatics they perform before settling down to sleep many evenings.

According to scientists, the displays – and the massive flocks generally – have both social and practical purposes:
<ul>
 	<li>Starlings have taken “safety in numbers” to an extreme. As a swarm grows to include thousands of starlings, each individual member is safer from predators.</li>
 	<li>The murmurations themselves appear to have started as a safety measure. When starlings gather in large flocks and swoop about erratically in an aerial ballet, it’s difficult for a bird of prey to focus on and capture any individual bird. In fact, ornithologists have often observed birds of prey near murmurations.</li>
 	<li>The exercise warms the birds up before they cluster together in their roosting spots. By gathering together, they can keep warm longer overnight.</li>
 	<li>Starlings also exchange information about good feeding locations and safe areas at night. That makes post-murmuration gatherings a great way to spread news.</li>
</ul>

Video captures thousands of starlings flying together in stunning aerial ballet

In the video, thousands of starlings fly together, creating loops...

A tide of dead fish has washed ashore on Nova Scotia over the past six weeks, but there’s no need for concern yet, according to one Canadian scientist.

Since late November, thousands of dead herring have turned up on more than 60 miles of the peninsula’s southwestern coastline. That would be weird enough on its own, but scores of lobsters, clams, starfish, and other marine creatures have joined them in the weeks since.

A week ago, a decaying humpback whale carcass washed up on the shore.

Even so, tests of the area’s waters have shown no cause for alarm, Dr. Kent Smedbol, the <a href="http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/index-eng.htm">Department of Fisheries and Oceans</a> manager of population ecology.

Scientists tested conditions in the Bay of Fundy and found nothing out of the ordinary, Smedbol said. Temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen tests all came back normal. A camera took a look at the seafloor and found plenty of live lobsters.

Examination of the dead fish showed no signs of disease, parasites, or toxins, Smedbol said. Even so, the <a href="http://www.inspection.gc.ca/">Canadian Food Inspection Agency</a> and the DFO have warned residents not to pick up or eat any of the fish washed ashore, in case of contamination.

An environmental cause likely would have caused a larger die-off, and animals on the ocean floor would likely have died in larger numbers, he said.

One working theory is that some of the deaths may have been caused by a holiday storm system. One storm over the holidays caused a sudden temperature drop and rough surf in shallow waters near Digby, which may have killed some of the fish, Smedbol said.

Still, it will take more investigating to solve this mystery, he said.

Scientists will continue to examine the dead creatures to try and determine a cause, officials said. They will also examine the humpback whale to see if it is connected to the die-off. It appears to be very decomposed, Smedbol noted.

DFO scientists have also contacted the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> and environmental officials in the United Kingdom. Recent fish kills off the coast of Long Island in New York and on the coast of Cornwall in the UK are probably not connected to the Nova Scotia event, officials said, but working together might help all three groups figure out the puzzle.

The most common cause of fish kills is a lack of oxygen in the water, which can be caused by massive algae blooms, major temperature changes, drought, and overpopulation. Toxins and disease can also lead to fish die-offs.

Scientists stumped as thousands of dead fish wash up on Nova Scotia

A tide of dead fish has washed ashore on Nova...

Giant pandas have moved off the endangered list and the tiger population has grown for the first time in a century – proof that conservation efforts can make a difference, advocates said. 

Even so, there is much more work to be done to prevent more animal species from going extinct, according to conservation groups like the <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/">World Wildlife Fund</a>.

The panda made its move in September, when the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> switched it from “endangered” to "vulnerable" on its <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List</a> – one step further away from extinction. The list keeps track of animal populations, highlighting those at risk of disappearing forever.

The rebound in panda population came after years of work by China’s government and conservation groups to preserve giant panda habitat. The groups worked with local communities and created wildlife corridors to connect isolated panda communities with their neighbors.

“The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity,” WWF Director General Marco Lambertini said in a <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/giant-panda-no-longer-endangered">press release</a> at the time.

Similarly, there are about 600 more tigers now than there were in 2010, bringing the total tiger population to about 3,890 worldwide. It’s the first time tiger numbers have gone up in more than 100 years.

Advocates credit conservation efforts for the uptick in tigers, too. The WWF cited its work with local communities, other conservation organizations, and the governments of four countries in the tiger boom.

Poaching and habitat loss could undo the gains made by these two species, advocates warn. According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/29/more-tigers-poached-india-so-far-this-year-than-2015">The Guardian</a>, more tigers were poached in India in the first four months of 2016 than in all of 2015. Habitat loss remains a huge threat, too.

And while some endangered animals got a boost, others are still struggling, the WWF said.

For example, Nepal has racked up its second year straight with no evidence of rhino poaching, the group said, but African rhinos still face threats from illegal poachers.

In September, the same month the good news about pandas was announced, eastern gorillas were shifted to “critically endangered.” The primates have seen a 70 percent collapse in their numbers in just 20 years, mainly due to illegal hunting, according to IUCN. The gorillas are now just one short step from complete extinction, along with the western gorilla and Bornean and Sumatran orangutans.

Giraffes made it onto the Red List, too, after their numbers plummeted more than 40 percent in just three decades. The main problem they face is habitat loss, advocates said.

Still, the WWF, <a href="http://www.defenders.org/">Defenders of Wildlife</a>, and other groups that work to save endangered species celebrated 2016 as a year of positive milestones.

Among them:
<ul>
 	<li>An agreement to ban all trade of the pangolin, an endangered mammal similar in appearance to an aardvark. The scales of the pangolin are used in Chinese medicine, and its meat is considered a delicacy in several countries.</li>
 	<li>China has released a plan to shut down its legal ivory trade and crack down on the ivory black market in the country. These new conservation efforts are good news for African elephants.</li>
 	<li>Florida panthers are expanding northward; for years, they’ve lived only in the southernmost part of the state. Additionally, a new ocelot den was found in Texas, and a pair of jaguars seem to have moved to Arizona.</li>
 	<li>The black-footed ferret, once believed to be extinct, has been making itself at home in national parks and on public lands thanks to a captive breeding program. The ferrets have been reintroduced at 28 sites throughout the western U.S., Mexico and Canada, and scientists have been using innovative methods to vaccinate them in the wild.</li>
 	<li>New regulations and new technology helped to combat illegal hunting, fishing, poaching, and trade of wild animals.</li>
</ul>

Conservation efforts paid off for endangered species in 2016

Giant pandas have moved off the endangered list and the...

When you’re making your New Year’s Resolutions, it’s easy to reflect on the past year and see only regrets. You’re looking at things to change and improve, after all, not the good things.

But you should take the time to celebrate the positives, too – all the progress made and the happy events. Here are eight good things that happened for the Earth in 2016. Let them inspire you as you make plans for the new year.
<h3>1. More people are getting involved as citizen scientists.</h3>
Citizen science – when everyday people work with trained scientists to collect data or study a problem – used to be seen as a hobby for wealthy dabblers.

Now, it allows involved citizens to get involved in the good things scientists are doing, helping them gather the massive amounts of vital, necessary data they need to do their jobs. In exchange, they get an inside look at science from the other side.

This year, citizen scientists helped <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/citizen-scientists-conserve-penguins/">NASA conserve penguins</a>, aided in the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/meadow-restoration-california/">study of Sierra Nevada meadows</a> and carbon storage, joined the Audubon Society to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/audubon-society-christmas-bird-count/">count birds around the world</a>, downloaded an app to <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/quake-app-records-tremors/">measure earthquake activity</a> for the University of California, and more.

Want to join them? One group of trained scientists created a <a href="http://scistarter.com/blog/2016/11/projects-we-are-thankful-for/#sthash.l0GWvsae.dpbs">list of the citizen science projects</a> they’re most thankful for this past Thanksgiving.
<h3>2. Animals embark on comeback tours.</h3>
Every year brings new animals to the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List</a> of endangered species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and unfortunately, 2016 was no exception. But on the plus side, 2016 also showed that the Red List and other initiatives to save endangered animals work.

In September, the giant panda was <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/group-the-giant-panda-is-no-longer-endangered/">taken off of the endangered list</a> by the IUCN, though it is still vulnerable. Wildlife biologists gave credit to China’s anti-poaching efforts and work to maintain panda habitats.

More than <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/07/492976575/most-humpback-whales-taken-off-endangered-species-list">half of humpback whale populations</a> were also taken off the list. Other rebounding species include the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/pacific-fisher-weasel-back/">Pacific fisher</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/08/11/these-adorable-foxes-once-nearly-extinct-have-made-a-record-breaking-comeback/">Channel Island foxes</a>, and the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/black-footed-ferrets-make-home-colorado/">black-footed ferret</a>. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/11/world-tiger-count-rises-for-first-time-in-100-years/">World tiger numbers</a> are up for the first time in a century. 
<h3>3. China took steps to shut down its ivory black market.</h3>
With African elephant numbers dwindling due to illegal poaching, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/china-ivory-trade-ban/">China made a bold move</a> at the end of the year. It announced that it would shut down its legal ivory industry in hopes of destroying China’s ivory black market. 

Despite government regulations on legal ivory, poachers have managed to slip illegally gotten elephant tusks into the Chinese market for years. Chinese citizens who work in the ivory industry will be shifted to other trades, China said.

China has taken other steps to do good things for wildlife this year. Along with several other countries, they began taking steps to crack down on the illegal trade of pangolins, too.
<h3>4. International partnerships formed to protect the world’s oceans.</h3>
In October, a number of countries – including the U.S., Russia, China and the European Union – signed a deal to turn Antarctica’s Ross Sea into the world’s largest marine reserve. About 16,000 species call the “Last Ocean” home. 

As the Ross Sea is so remote, it has been largely untouched by fishing and other industries. The nations that joined the agreement hope to keep it that way. The protections will go into effect on Dec. 1, 2017. 

In the same month, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Peru promised to increase their collaboration in protecting seven World Heritage Sites in the Eastern Tropical Pacific that include the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1">Galapagos Islands</a>, <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1138">Coiba National Park</a>, <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/820">Cocos Island National Park</a>, and the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1216">Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary</a>, among others. The sites face many similar challenges, such as illegal fishing and threats to vulnerable species like leatherback turtles. 
<h3>5. Renewable energy investments seem to be crushing fossil fuels.</h3>
In 2015, construction of renewable energy plants outstripped traditional fossil fuel plants for the first time, the <a href="https://www.iea.org/">International Energy Agency</a> announced in the spring of 2016. 

It’s a trend that appears to have continued, with global investments in wind and solar power nearly double the investments in fossil fuel plants in 2016. Falling prices for coal and oil triggered downsizing in those industries, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-06/wind-and-solar-are-crushing-fossil-fuels">Bloomberg reported</a>. 
<h3>6. The U.S. declared nine new national monuments.</h3>
Nine new national monuments were declared in 2016, including wild natural landscapes like <a href="https://www.nps.gov/kaww/index.htm">Katahdin Woods and Waters</a> in Maine, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/camo/index.htm">Castle Mountains</a> in California, and Gold Butte in Nevada. These newly protected areas can be visited by hikers, photographers, and nature lovers, and may someday be considered for national park sites.
<h3>7. Fish have more room to swim.</h3>
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced the launch of its <a href="http://www.hewlett.org/openriversfund/">Open Rivers Fund</a>. The fund, launched with a $50 million grant, will help communities around the U.S. safely dismantle obsolete dams and restore rivers and fish habitat. The first three projects will be the Matilija Dam in California, the Nelson Dam in Washington, and several dams and obstructions on the Rogue River in Oregon.

The fund’s inspiration was a series of studies that found dams in the West have altered 70 percent of the region’s rivers and nearly destroyed several fish populations. Dam removals on the Penobscot and Elwha rivers in the Pacific Northwest have been good things for fish populations in the region. 
<h3>8. Chernobyl becomes a home for wildlife.</h3>
An explosion of a nuclear reactor turned Chernobyl into a radioactive wasteland three decades ago. The disaster caused the humans living in nearby Pripyat, Ukraine to flee – and the wild reclaimed the region.

In 2016, the <a href="http://tree.ceh.ac.uk/">TREE Project</a> planted motion-sensitive cameras throughout the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and captured photos of boars, wild horses, wolves, bears, foxes, owls, and other animals living among the ruins of the town and in the wilds around it.

While the photos give little indication of how the radiation is affecting and changing the animals that live in the disaster zone, they did capture young as well as unbranded adult Przewalski’s horses. Since the horses released into the exclusion zone were branded, at least some of the offspring seem to be surviving, the scientists said.

Some of the scientists studying the area believe that as the wildlife take over, it will <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/060418-chernobyl-wildlife-thirty-year-anniversary-science/">return to the bogland</a> it was before humans carved out a niche – especially as the beavers begin gnawing down trees.

2016 in review: 8 good things that happened for the Earth

When you’re making your New Year’s Resolutions, it’s easy to...

Some early birds are taking the warmer climate as a sign it’s time to migrate, and they’re missing out on food because of it, a new study has found.

Biologists and bird experts from the <a href="http://www.ed.ac.uk/">University of Edinburgh</a> have been checking the travel itineraries of hundreds of migrating bird species across five continents. After hearing reports in the birding world of earlier migrations, they began collecting and analyzing data to determine if and how migration patterns are changing. 

“On average, avian spring migration times have advanced over time and as spring has become warmer,” <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12612/abstract">the study found</a>.

As the average surface temperature of the planet rises, the birds begin migrating earlier, the researchers discovered. When the mean temperature in a region rises one degree, the birds arrive at their summer breeding grounds a day earlier on average.

However, the feeding conditions at the birds’ summer homes are not changing along with their flight schedules. Even arriving just a couple of days early can mean that birds miss out on the best nesting spots – because they’re not yet available – and the prime wild buffets.

On the flip side, birds that migrate much longer distances are less affected by the temperature changes, the researchers found. That means they now arrive behind everyone else – and get crowded out of nesting locations and breeding sites.

That now-late arrival can cut their hatchlings’ chances of survival, as resources are depleted.

Another finding: larger-bodied birds travel earlier than their smaller-bodied cousins. Those early birds may already be large and in charge by the time smaller ones reach the best summer breeding and nesting sites.

While some of the migration changes may be natural fluctuations, the scientists studied data over several years to get a better picture of long-term patterns. They also looked at changes in the birds’ diets and the habitat of their winter roosting locations, but found no changes that corresponded to the earlier migration starts.

The study was published in <a href="http://www.journalofanimalecology.org/">Journal of Animal Ecology</a>. It was supported by the <a href="http://www.nerc.ac.uk/">Natural Environment Research Council</a>.

Early birds don't get the worm: warmer weather has birds migrating too soon

Some early birds are taking the warmer climate as a...

China has taken steps for a big change in in 2017. The country has laid out a plan to shut down its ivory trade by the end of the year, in an effort to protect vulnerable African elephants.

The vow could be a game-changer in making illegal poaching of the elephants too unprofitable to continue, according to environmental groups.

China plans to shut down the commercial processing and sale of ivory beginning in March of 2017. By the end of the year, it plans to completely shutter the industry, the Chinese government said in a statement released today. 

The country will encourage those who work in the industry, such as ivory carvers, to turn their skills to other fields. One example Chinese officials offered was retraining to work on artifact restoration in museums.

China also plans a concerted crackdown on the illegal ivory trade.

“China has shown great leadership in the fight to save African elephants,” said Elly Pepper, the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>’s deputy director of wildlife trade. “Setting such an aggressive timeline to close – once and for all – the largest domestic ivory market in the world is globally significant.”

The conservation group called on other countries to shut down their own ivory industries.

Ivory artifacts and ivory-carving have been traditional parts of China’s culture for centuries. Elephant tusks are turned into statues, or used as a canvas for detailed, intricate scenes.

In 1989, an arm of the United Nations banned the sale of ivory in hopes of saving elephants’ lives. As herd numbers began to increase, the international organization began allowing the sale of ivory stockpiled before the ban in 2008. The legal trade of already existing ivory could prevent more poaching, officials believed at the time.

China created a complex paper trail meant to account for every bit of the country’s massive 68-ton stock, purchased from several African nations. 

However, the auction system used to organize the ivory trade within the county proved too lucrative for poachers to ignore, and even shutting it down in 2011 didn’t put a dent in the illegal ivory trade in China.

It’s very difficult to tell ivory age, the NRDC said, making it more difficult for countries to determine when ivory is poached if poachers are not caught in the act.

And since China continued to allow the trade of ivory and artifacts that were in the country before the 1989 ban, criminals have been able to use the legal ivory market to slip poached tusks into the country, officials said.

The only way to stop the trade is to phase out the legal trade of ivory, so that all ivory sales can be banned, the government has decided.

Ivory poaching has skyrocketed in recent years, leading to about 35,000 elephant deaths, according to the NRDC. African elephant populations on the savanna have declined by about 30 percent in seven years, the organization said in a press release.

Ivory trade ban tops China's list of New Year's Resolutions

China has taken steps for a big change in in...

Don’t worry, 2016 hasn’t been all bad. As all of the celebrity deaths, dirty politics, and creepy clowns stole our attention, researchers were working quietly behind the scenes, studying our planet. And it paid off – they’ve discovered 133 new species of plants and animals this year. 

The new species were discovered on five continents and in three oceans, and range from blood-sucking ants, to a new bird virus, to the most beautiful fish one scientist had ever seen. 

“Biodiversity scientists estimate that we have discovered less than 10 percent of the species on our planet,” Dr. Shannon Bennett said in a press release from the <a href="https://www.calacademy.org/">California Academy of Sciences</a>.

The Academy publicized the 133 finds, which were discovered by Academy-associated scientists. Bennett is the Academy’s chief of science.

“Each of these species – known and as-yet-unknown – is a wonder unto itself, but may also hold the key to ground-breaking innovations in science, technology, or society,” Bennett said of the discoveries. “Species live together in rich networks that thrive on complexity whether we can see it or not.”

Among the finds: 

Dracula ants

A stunning 43 new species of ants were discovered this year, including several species of creepy, crawly “Dracula ants,” or Stigmatomma. Many of the new ant species, including Stigmatomma, were discovered in Madagascar.

Dracula ants build tiny colonies underground, where they feed off of their own larvae. They wound the young ants to drink their hemolymph – a blood-like substance in larval insects. They live most of their lives underground or in rotten eggs, and also prey on centipedes and beetles.

Thorny grandfather

Another new species of insect spotted in Madagascar is Thevenetimyia spinosavus, which means “thorny grandfather.” The insect looks like a bee, but it isn’t. It’s a bee fly, which are known for imitating other insects such as bees (like their name indicates), wasps, and even spiders.

What makes this particular bee fly unique, however, is that it is long, slender, and covered in grey bristles. It also has spikes on its thorax. The other bee flies in Madagascar are shorter and chubbier, and the new discovered doesn’t seem to be closely related genetically. In fact, it’s more similar to bee flies in northern Africa, showing the species likely has a wide range.

Bee flies, including the new discovery, do pollinate plants like their true bee doppelgangers. However, their larvae are fierce, and often attack and eat the larvae of other species.

A ‘twilight zone’ fish

The Grammatonotus brianne is the deepest new fish discovery made by human hands, according to the Academy. It’s a stunning pink and yellow species of groppo discovered by deep-diving scientists in a “twilight zone” reef off the coast of the Philippines.

“This groppo is the most beautiful fish I’ve ever seen,” said Dr. Luiz Rocha, who spotted the new species along with <a href="http://www.bishopmuseum.org/">Bishop Museum</a> research associate Brian Greene. The groppo shows how little humans know about the ocean’s deep reefs, he said.

It was one of 24 new fish species described in 2016.

A frightening new avian virus

Bird flu may be what worries humans, but the newly discovered Poecivirus may cause a lot more trouble for birds. The virus has been linked to a disease that has harmed birds and stumped scientists for years – it may even be the cause, or one of them. 

Scientists have studied Avian Keratin Disorder for more than a decade, but learned little about the disease. It causes birds’ beaks to grow out of control, making it difficult for them to eat or preen their feathers. All birds, but especially water birds, use preening to spread waterproof oils on their feathers, which keep the birds warm and dry. Birds with overgrown, deformed beaks from AKD often suffer from cold and hunger, eventually dying.

The new virus was discovered among DNA fragments from bird populations in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. It appears to be from the picornavirus family, which also includes human illnesses like polio and the common cold. The researchers will need to continue studying the disease to determine if it is the cause of AKD. 

Other new discoveries include a species of armored lizard with unique defensive habits from Angola, a new species of coral off the coast of California, seven brightly colored new sea slug species, a new pink flower in Mexico, and 36 new types of ground beetles – most of them from a single national park in Madagascar. Scientists also discovered fossil remains of previously unknown ancient sea urchin and sand dollar species.

California Academy of Sciences reveals 133 new species discovered in 2016

Don’t worry, 2016 hasn’t been all bad. As all of...

The Obama administration has ruffled some feathers with five potential plans that would limit mining projects on federal land to protect the greater sage grouse. 

Greater sage grouse numbers have been in decline in recent years as they lose habitat to development and industrial projects such as mining. Between 200,000 and 500,000 are left in the western U.S. 

The sage grouse is important because rises and falls in its numbers can be a bellwether for the health of sagebrush ecosystems in the West. Much like the canaries once used by miners, when the birds begin dying, other animals tend to follow.

None of the options restrict currently approved mining and energy exploration projects, though future oil and gas drilling projects would need to use directional drilling from a distance to avoid disturbing the grouse.

It would be up to the incoming Trump administration which of the plans – if any – to put into place.

But the plans have drawn skeptics. 

“Federal land grabs are never popular in Nevada and the latest one by the BLM is no different,” Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada <a href="http://www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=pressreleases&amp;id=E691B1AB-F2AF-4C45-A7DE-82CC2C2322C2">said in a statement</a>. “A mining ban does little to help sage-grouse and will devastate northern Nevada’s future economic competitiveness.”

He would work with the Trump administration to focus sage grouse protection efforts on preventing wildfires, not private mining projects on federally owned lands, he said.

The <a href="https://www.blm.gov/">Bureau of Land Management</a> has teamed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and ranchers across the western states in the <a href="http://www.sagegrouseinitiative.com/">Sage Grouse Initiative</a>. The project partners private landowners with public lands managers to protect and maintain sage grouse habitat. Efforts include removing invasive plant species from sage land, restoring wet meadows, and wildfire prevention. 

On the other side of the aisle is Randi Spivak, the public lands program director for the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. She called on incoming Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a Montana politician who calls Teddy Roosevelt his inspiration to follow in Roosevelt’s footsteps and conserve sage grouse habitat on public lands.

<a href="https://twitter.com/Spivak14/status/814521001551790080">On Twitter</a>, Spivak thanked President Obama and his administration for moving to designate nearly 2 million acres of public lands as national monuments. The Center for Biological Diversity has also launched a “resistance movement” called Earth2Trump to fight what they view as attacks on the environment and civil rights by the President-elect. 

The administration’s proposed plans are part of a promise it made in September 2015. At that time, it chose not to list the prairie bird for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The administration, along with the BLM, <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</a>, and <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/">U.S. Forest Service</a>, believed that the sage grouse could be protected without being placed on the endangered list. 

Protection under the Endangered Species Act would have strictly limited mining, agriculture, drilling, and other activity in sage grouse habitat on both public and privately owned lands.

The greater sage grouse is listed as “near threatened” by the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22679503/0">Red List</a>, maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature to monitor which species are in danger of going extinct. “Near threatened” is the first step away from “least concern.” 

The plans proposed by the Obama administration are <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/70697/94514/114120/SFA_DEIS_Main_Text_508.pdf">available to review as a PDF</a> from the Bureau of Land Management.

Feds: mining limits on public lands could protect greater sage grouse

The Obama administration has ruffled some feathers with five potential...

New research identifies a "gray zone" of speciation, during which time two species that seemed to have evolved too far from each other to mate can continue to exchange genes.

The study, which was published this week in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2000234">PLOS Biology</a>, highlights a new system for measuring genetic divergence.

The authors of the analysis, a French team of biologists, modeled the altering effects of the different patterns of variation seen in animal genomes. These patterns, including natural selection and drift and migration rates, affect different parts of the animal genome in their own ways.

By disentangling the effects of such known patterns of variations, researchers succeeded in detecting new patterns of variance, and identified those that related to species divergence.

The study uncovered a genomic gray zone focused on molecular divergence between 0.5 and 2 percent difference, within which populations in the process of divergence can continue to exchange genes.

It was previously believed the transitionary phase called speciation marked the end of interbreeding between two species. Some genes continue to be freely exchanged between populations while others remain isolated within the gray zone, supporting both speciation and genetic diversity.

The same genomic gray zone applied to 61 population pairs including mussels, gorillas, trumpet worms, earthworms, butterflies and mosquitoes. This proved that speciation is potentially limited among all animal species.

"Our report of a strong and general relationship between molecular divergence and genetic isolation across a wide diversity of animals suggests that, at the genome level, speciation operates in a more or less similar fashion in distinct taxa, irrespective of biological and ecological particularities," researchers concluded.

---

Credit: Earth.com author Chrissy Sexton

Scientists find a gray zone of speciation among animals

New research identifies a "gray zone" of speciation, during which...

When an invasive species enters a new ecosystem, all native species must stay weary. Invasive species rapidly reproduce, which changes the dynamic of the entire ecosystem. The new species can directly threaten native species’ way of life by: predation, competing for the same food, preventing natives from reproducing and bringing diseases. In addition, the invasive species can also effect the natives indirectly by fighting for their acoustic space.

Animals have a limited amount of acoustic space that they have to share with other species within their ecosystem. When an invasive species enters the ecosystem they create overlapping sounds when they send mating signals and signals to defend their territory. These invasive sounds block natives from vocally communicating.

According to previous studies, native species have changed their vocals when outside noise, such as traffic or construction, increased. However, researchers question if this same vocal adjustment is made when an invasive species enters the ecosystem.

Jennifer Tennessen et al. from <a href="http://www.vassar.edu">Vassar College </a>tested this theory by conducting a study on an invasive Cuban tree frog, Ostenpilus septentrionalis. She studied the effect that the invasive tree frog’s vocal calls had on the native tree frog calls.

The researchers predicted that tree frogs with similar acoustic sounds, measured by structure and frequency, to the invasive tree frogs would modify their sounds but tree frogs with different calls would not adjust their sounds. To test this theory, they studied a native species that had similar calls, green tree frogs, Hyla cinerea, and a native species that had different calls, pine woods tree frogs, Hyla femoralis.

They concluded that the green tree frogs modified their sounds but the pine woods tree frogs did not. The green tree frogs would shorten their vocal calls and increase the loudness more often when the invasive Cuban tree frog was around.

This study helps prove that when an invasive species enters an ecosystem, some native species adjust their vocal calls to adhere to a new species’ vocal calls entering the limited acoustic space. Adjusting their calls lowers overlapping sounds in the acoustic space and strengthens their vocal signals.

These adjustments can have negative effects on mating success for native species due to their call duration. Future studies need to be conducted to examine the effects of modified calls from invasive species competition for acoustic space.

---

Credit: Earth.com author Hannah Parker

Invasive species compete for acoustic space with the natives

When an invasive species enters a new ecosystem, all native...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Satellites have become essential to our survival

[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...