Return Of The Bison

Since 2007 a group of European bison's (Wisent) has been brought back into a nature area in the dunes of the Nehtherlands. They live a wild but secluded nature area. Outside of the breeding season you can wander around to find them grazing.



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(thanks Cora)

Corgi Snow Party

Just a bunch of corgis having fun in the snow.



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A New Hammerhead Shark Species May Have Just Been Disccovered

image credit @FIU

Scientists have found a genetically unique population of miniature sharks off the coast of Belize. The bonnetheads' DNA looked good - but it also looked sort of odd. The samples taken in Belize were startlingly different from the rest of the bunch.

Scientist Kevin Feldheim said he and his colleagues were quite surprised with their results. They thought they were doing a standard analysis of a shark population and suddenly they were looking at a whole new species.

Dutch Zoo To Let Female Choose Mate O A Tablet

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Dutch zoo hopes to increase the breeding chances of a female orangutan by seeing if she will choose a preferred mate on a touchscreen before they are introduced.

The Apenheul primate park in Apeldoorn will show Samboja, an 11-year-old female, pictures of possible partners from an international great ape breeding programme. The aim is to gain greater insight into how female orangutans make their mating choices.

This 500-Million-Year-Old Sea Creature Boggles The Imagination

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A stubbly, worm-like creature featuring as many as 30 limbs combed the seafloor during the early Cambrian period, according to new research. Its bizarre appearance and feeding behavior are unlike anything ever seen before.

Researchers digging in British Columbia’s Burgess Shale have uncovered the fossilized remains of a 500 million-year-old lobopodian. The newly described animal was given the name Ovatiovermis cribratus. Scientists say it's one of the earliest examples of arthropods in the fossil record.

10 Bizarre Recently Discovered Animal Species

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Modern human beings have lived on Earth for about 200,000 years. In that time, we've been almost everywhere - on land, in the sea, and on (and under) the water. You'd think we'd pretty much seen it all.

However, that's not the case. Nature is full of surprises. As these 10 bizarre, newly discovered animal species indicate, such discoveries also increase, alter, and sometimes contradict our understanding of biodiversity, ecological relationships, and evolution itself.

Flying Cretaceous Monster Ate Dinosaurs For Breakfast

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It's been said that azhdarchid pterosaurs, which can only be described as bird-reptile-dinosaur-esque-things, were the largest flying animals. These giant beasts - which roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous period roughly 66.5 million years ago - were reptiles but not actually dinosaurs. Despite being winged, they weren't birds, either.

Thousands Of Sharks Visit A Sea Mount

In the Pacific, a tiny island 300 miles away from the shore hides a giant mountain beneath the waves that forms a home for thousands of plankton feeding fish.

These fish attract Tuna, and the Tuna attract thousands of Sharks. Watch this video to learn more about this fascinating food chain, and hear some weird but true facts about the visiting Hammerhead Sharks.



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(thanks Cora)

The Secret History Of The First Cat In Space

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On October 18th, 1963, the Centre national d'études in France was set to send a small cat named Félix into space. After lagging behind its Soviet and American competitors, France was eager to stake its claim in the space race - with cats, for some reason. But on launch day, the mischievous little beast went missing - and an accidental heroine stepped in to take his place. Her name was Félicette.

On October 24th, 1963, Félicette jetted 130 miles above Earth on a liquid-fueled French Véronique AG1 rocket, soaring high above the Algerian Sahara Desert. She returned just fifteen minutes later, already a decorated heroine for her nation.

(via Neatorama)

The 'Almost Human' Gorilla Who Drank Tea And Went To School

John Daniel was no ordinary gorilla. For starters, he was called John Daniel. And he had his own bedroom, drank tea and cider, and could purportedly do his own washing up. Villagers in Uley adopted the lowland gorilla after he was captured in Gabon by French.

In 1917, he was spotted for sale in a London department store by Uley resident Maj Rupert Penny. Penny's sister, Alyce Cunningham, raised John as a human boy in the village and used to send John on regular walks with the children of Uley junior school, according to Groom.

There Is One Animal That Seems To Survive Without Oxygen

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It is microscopic, looks a bit like a jellyfish, and survives in a place that would kill every other known animal species. In 2010, at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, a research team found evidence of an animal able to live its entire life without oxygen.

The tiny Mediterranean animals belong to a group called the loriciferans. Loriciferans are about the size of a large amoeba. They live in muddy sediments at the bottom of the seas. But supposedly, that mud should contain some oxygen to allow the animals to breathe. The mud in the L'Atalante basin at the bottom of the Mediterranean does not.

(thanks Paul-René)

The Maleo - The Bird That Can Fly The Moment It Hatches

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Beneath the red hot sand of an Indonesian island something stirs. A large egg is hatching and soon the newborn creature will dig its way out to the surface and take its first gulps of fresh air.

Yet no parent watches over it. This sounds as if it should be a young turtle, thrusting its flippers sideways as it makes its desperate lurch towards the ocean. It is not, however. This is a bird. More remarkable still is that when it emerges the chick will already be able to fly.

Wolf-Sized Otters Prowled The World Six Million Years Ago

image credit YouTube

Paleontologists working in China have uncovered the fossilized remains of a previously unknown species of ancient otter. Weighing 110 pounds, these fearsome predators were among the largest otters to have ever lived.

The otter family dates back over 18 million years, but not much is known about these semi-aquatic creatures owing to the poor fossil record.

(via Neatorama)

Dog With The Longest Tail

You have to watch out when Keon the Irish wolfhound starts wagging his tail because it is a huge 76.8 cm (30.2 in) long. Guinness World Records recently visited Keon and his family in Westerlo, Belgium, to present the extraordinary canine with an official certificate.



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25 Animals That Scientists Want To Bring Back From Extinction

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Over the millennia, animals have gone extinct on Earth for many different reasons. Sometimes it's because of a dramatic climate shift. Other times it was because of human intervention.

Advances in science, specifically biotechnology, could enable scientists to bring some of these animals 'back' from extinction, and there are a few already on the list.

Dog Afraid Of Car Rides? Here's How To Get Your Dog Comfortable With Riding In The Car

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When a dog is having a hard time with car rides it is an issue from the dog's past. Somewhere the dog decided that car rides are bad. The dog's point-of-view is that the car ride is a horrible thing.

Since there are times when you simply have to get your dog into the car, you should work on these issues sooner - rather than later. Here are the steps for getting your dog comfortable with car rides.

Ruby Seadragon First Glimpse In The Wild

Researchers at Scripps Oceanography and the Western Australian Museum capture on video the first-ever field sighting of the newly discovered third species of seadragon. As they observed two Ruby Seadragons on video, the scientists uncovered new details about their anatomy, habitat, and behavior.



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The Gelada: Unique Primate From The Roof Of Africa

image credit: Donald Macauley

High up in the Ethiopian mountains lives the Gelada. It lives nowhere else and although its closest living relative is the baboon, with its hairless face and short muzzle the gelada looks more like a chimpanzee.

Isolated in these remote Ethiopian Highlands (often called The Roof of Africa) the Gelada has developed a way of existence (one might call it a culture) all of its own.

A Horse And His Rubber Chicken

Kruzah the horse is entertaining himself with a rubber chicken.



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(via Miss Cellania)

Donkey Oreste outsmarted his fellow donkey friends.



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(thanks Cora)