Three Interesting Nature Stories from the Recent News
There have been many interesting news items in recent weeks. I talk not of government or politics. These are stories related to science and nature. Often, it is far more interesting. Please see the links to explore more.
- Photographer Captures Image of Duck Mom with 56 Babies
That picture above is not a sea monster! Experts agree that it must be a mommy merganser duck playing babysitter or surrogate for all of these youngsters. The photographer caught 56 of them on camera, but said there were some 20 more that joined another time. Positively incredible.
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/supermom-duck-babies-lake-Bemidji-cizek
- Worm Frozen for 42,000 Years Comes Back to Life
When the permafrost melts, all kinds of things come out of it. There are animals like mammoths that were perfectly frozen and come out almost like new (except they are dead). Not dead are some weird creatures that resuscitate after tens of thousands of years. In particular, such as this, there were many worms frozen. When thawed, two of them actually came back to life, one of them 42,000 years old. Such a long sleep!
- Big Fruit Tree in Thailand Depends on Elephants to Spread Seeds
A relative of the custard apple (quite a delicious fruit that we often enjoy here on my island also!) depends on animals to disperse its seeds. This fruit called Platymitra macrocarpa is eaten often by animals. In the communities that researchers studied, elephants consumed only 3% of the seeds, but accounted for 37% of the seeds that produced viable seedlings. Deer ate far more seeds, but accounted for a lot less productive seeds growth than the elephant dung.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180718143100.htm
Thumbnail picture by the photographer Brent Cizek, available from the MNN.com link above. Elephant in Thailand picture from Earth.com, which also has another version of this news story: https://www.earth.com/news/elephants-survival-tropical-tree/ .