Home/Articles in: Weird & Wonderful
Articles in: Weird & Wonderful
Animals, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, May 22nd, 2012,
I stumbled upon this amazing video while ‘YouTubing’ last night in search of funny and fascinating animal clips. After watching a few old favorites including the stylish interior decorating skills of the bowerbird and the lyrebird, which can imitate all the other birds in the forest as well as camera noises, chainsaws and car alarms with near perfection, I found a story about a bird that dances like Michael Jackson. In my opinion, he dances more like James brown than MJ, shuffling back and forth and sliding sideways down the branch, but far be it from me to quibble over…
Tags: bird, dance, manakin, video
Animals, Weird & Wonderful, May 21st, 2012,
People love to gawk at exotic animals in zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks. Some self-important individuals even like to collect tigers, pythons and monkeys so they can show them off to friends or impress strangers. Remember the private animal collector in Ohio who released his collection of 56 exotic animals – including tigers, bears, lions and a baboon – and then killed himself? The police ended up killing nearly all the animals. That was an extreme example of what can go wrong, but honest mistakes also happen with results ranging from tragic to amusing. An escaped penguin swimming in Tokyo…
Tags: animals, escaped, exotic, penguin, Tokyo
Conservation, Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, May 14th, 2012,
Species: Greater adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) Status: Endangered (EN) Interesting fact: The greater adjutant is named after an adjutant (military officer) because of its stately manner and habit of standing motionless for long periods of time. With its naked pink head, very thick yellow bill and low-hanging neck pouch, the greater adjutant is a rather eye-catching stork. Colonies of greater adjutants can be seen gathering in India and Cambodia at the start of the dry season in October. Large nests are constructed on tall trees, and eggs are laid between November and January. These hatch after about a month of incubation….
Tags: ARKive.org, endangered birds, endangered species, Greater adjutant, Leptoptilos dubius
Animals, Conservation, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, May 7th, 2012,
White-tailed Eagle is one of the largest birds of prey in the world. It weighs up to 6 kilograms, with a 2.5 metre wingspan. “During the period 1800-1970, White-tailed Eagles in most of Europe, underwent dramatic declines, and became extinct in many regions of Western, central, and Southern Europe. While Norway, Germany, Poland, and Iceland harboured the largest surviving populations, pockets of reproducing pairs remained in several other countries” – according to Wikipedia. The White-Tailed Eagle (Polish: Bielik, plural Bieliki) is considered Poland’s national symbol and it is believed that it’s this noble bird that appears on the Coat of…
Tags: babies, chick, eggs, live transmission, nest, nestling, Poland, while-tail eagle
Conservation, Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Species: Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) Status: Critically Endangered (CR) Interesting Fact: The coelacanth is a member of an ancient lineage that has been around for over 360 million years. It may be the closest living relative to the first creature to walk on land! The enigmatic coelacanth was believed to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs until its remarkable rediscovery in 1938. Fossils have been found all over the world except for Antarctica. Living coelacanths have been found in deep submarine caverns, reefs and slopes in a number of locations off the coast of Africa. Unlike any other living animal, coelacanths…
Tags: archive.org, Coelacanth, critically endangered, Latimeria chalumnae, oceans
Nature, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, May 6th, 2012,
Around the globe people have been marveling at the appearance of a perigree moon, also known as a supermoon. The supermoon phenomenon occurs when a full Moon coincides with the closest distance the Moon comes to the Earth during its orbit. During this phenomenon the Moon can appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than normal. Saturday night photographers around the world captured striking images of the supermoon, many with the moon behind iconic backdrops, such as the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Temple of Poseidon in Athens, Greece. From the Guardian: Amateur photographers were…
Tags: moon, perigree moon, supermoon
Animals, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, May 4th, 2012,
Most of us associate wildlife with the countryside rather than with cities, unless you count cockroaches, rats and pigeons as wildlife (and why not, they are alive and not domesticated). However, urban environments can be unlikely havens for certain species that thrive or at least hang on to tiny remnants of their original habitats. Larger animals can pose complications, such as the exploding deer population in Washington, DC. And by exploding, I was referring to their numbers, not the actual deer. That would really be a problem. Then there are the UK’s urban foxes – loved, hated or even feared…
Tags: foxes, urban wildlife
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, May 3rd, 2012,
By Michael D. Lemonick I’ve never told anyone this before, but when I was a kid, I always wanted a rubber chicken. Many of the comedic heroes of my childhood got to play with them — the Three Stooges, for example, and Soupy Sales (I’m dating myself and revealing my lowbrow side all at once here). It’s not like they were all that hard to find, even before the Internet. I also had a slightly more elevated set of interests, including an endless fascination with the space program. I was too young to be aware of Sputnik, but I watched…
Tags: NASA, NASA rubber chicken, NASA rubber chicken Camilla, space, space exploration
Recycling, Sustainable living, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, ,
A Dutch architectural firm is creating buildings from locally recycled material, significantly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions normally produced during the construction process. Rotterdam-based 2012architecten terms this use of local, reused materials, which cuts down on transport, waste and fuel costs “recyclicity” or “superuse” with the goal of regenerating “districts into dynamic ecosystems”. Besides buildings, 2012architecten designs other structures like playgrounds and campgrounds along the same principles. From Al Jazeera English: There are no limits to the model. The architects have designed everything from single homes to offices, playgrounds and cafes. Waste materials have included parts from decommissioned aeroplanes, washing machines,…
Tags: 2012architecten, architects, recyclicity, superuse, waste
Animals, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Apr 25th, 2012,
Well, we can’t always post serious news. Here are a couple of cute videos demonstrating how pets help their owners in unusual ways. We’ve all heard of the dog that fetches the morning paper and the cat that catches mice or keeps your feet warm (if you can’t bear the thought of a dead mouse). And now for something completely different. How about a Newfoundland Labrador in Norfolk, UK who helps his owner thatch roofs? He’s a thatcher and his name is Axel, not Margaret. OK, so he doesn’t actually do any work, but he sits on the roof and…
Tags: cat, dog, pets, video
Conservation, Nature, Sustainable living, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 24th, 2012,
Species: Goliath frog (Conraua goliath) Status: Endangered (EN) Interesting Fact: The goliath frog is the largest frog in the world, weighing in at over 3 kilograms. The goliath frog can be found in flowing rainforest rivers in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. Goliath frogs lack vocal sacs, and so their courtship displays do not involve the characteristic calls of most other frogs and toads. Females lay several hundred eggs onto vegetation on the river bottom, and once hatched, the tadpoles feed on the plant Dicraea warmingii. Complete metamorphosis takes around 85-95 days, and once mature the adults feed on insects, crustaceans…
Tags: ARKive.org, Conraua goliath, Conservation, endangered frog, endangered species, Goliath frog
Pollution, Weird & Wonderful, Apr 3rd, 2012,
Photographer and urban historian Steve Duncan explores and documents hidden aspects of urbanization and industrialization, from disused missile silos in the United States to the archaeology of Ancient Rome. In a series for National Geographic, Duncan investigates urban underground rivers. These rivers are not natural phenomena, like some subterranean waterways that run through cave systems, but rather the result of human engineering. For purposes of urban development, for hundreds of years mankind has changed the courses of rivers and streams, covering them up and forcing them underground. Most of the rivers examined in the series are in New York and…
Tags: london, National Geographic, New York, river, subterranean, underground, waterway
Sustainable living, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Apr 2nd, 2012,
You might if you saw this one. It doesn’t smell of rotting fish or have a layer of decomposed banana peels lining the floor. Quite the contrary – it’s got hardwood floors, a granite and stainless steel kitchen, a hideaway toilet, shower and a pop-up roof with windows. It’s even got an outdoor barbeque for those sunny days when you just don’t feel like cooking inside your dumpster home. Berkley, California artist Gregory Kloehn, who is apparently descended from Abraham Lincoln, took the challenge to build a livable home out of a dumpster. And he’s done pretty well. Normally Kloehn…
Tags: dumpster, home, Kloehn
green living, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, sustainable living, Weird & Wonderful, Mar 30th, 2012,
Baking Soda Make a paste of baking soda and water, then put some directly on the pimple. Leave it on for a few hours, preferably overnight and ideally avoid walking abouts in public. The paste will dry over night, reduce inflammation, and naturally remove pus from the pimple. Ice Just like how you might use ice on a sprained or twisted ankle, bruises, and other injuiries, you can also use ice on pimples. Applying ice for about 15 minutes should help reduce inflammation. Tooth Paste Baking soda and tooth paste work the same way, and are applied on pimples the…
Tags: eco-friendly living, eco-friendly pimples remedies, EthicalCommunity.com, pimples
Conservation, Nature, Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 19th, 2012,
Species: Markhor (Capra falconeri) Status: Endangered (EN) Interesting Fact: The horns of the male markhor can reach up to 1.6 metres in length! The stunning markhor is a species of goat that roams the precipitous rock faces of central Asia. It is a highly skilled climber and nimbly traverses mountains in order to avoid predators such as the snow leopard. Mainly feeding on tussock grass, female and young markhor live in small herds whilst the males are solitary until the breeding season or ‘rut’. The males then join the herds and compete aggressively for the right to mate by rearing up…
Tags: ARKive.org, Capra falconeri, Conservation, endangered animals, endangered goat, endangered species of the week, Markhor
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Mar 16th, 2012,
By Andrew Freedman SimCity, the iconic strategy game that gave rise to a generation of “Sims” games, is getting a 21st century makeover. With the real cities of the world increasingly on the front lines of climate change, SimCity will include a climate change component. The new version of the game, developed by Maxis in conjunction with the organization Games for Change, will force players to reckon with the consequences of their energy choices. If you put coal-fired power plants in your city, for example, you may see a rise in pollution and a decline in public health. You also…
Tags: climate change, climate change SimCity, climatecentral.org, SimCity, video games
Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Feb 28th, 2012,
The Japanese construction company, Obayashi Corporation, has stated that they will design and construct a space elevator by the year 2050. Initial plans have already been developed and they are currently working on its appearance and technical operation. The construction of the elevator will be possible thanks to small cylindrical structures called carbon nanotubes. “In Obayashi’s vision, a cable would be stretched from a spaceport on Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 96,000 km (60,000 miles), or about one-quarter of the distance between our planet and the moon. A counterweight at its end would help “anchor” the cable in…
Tags: japan, nanotubes, Obayashi, space elevator
Climate & Change, climate change, Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Feb 23rd, 2012,
By Michael D. Lemonick Legend has it that in the final days of the Third Reich, loyalists smuggled Adolf Hitler’s remains out of Berlin along with those of his paramour, Eva Braun. The deceased were later ferried by U-Boat all the way down to a secret Nazi base in Antarctica, where they were, depending on which version you believe, interred or used for cloning experiments. Maybe a thousand identical copies of the mass murderer walk among us! Or maybe the legends about Nazis in Antarctica are as every bit as ridiculous as they sound (though not as ridiculous as this…
Tags: Antarctica, climate change, climatecentral.org, ice
Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, Feb 20th, 2012,
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express has created a remarkable three-dimensional picture of the region of Mars called Tiu Vallis, which was carved by flowing rivers millions of years ago. Scientists coloured the photographs they had to show the changes in the height of the surface of the planet. Water has carved recesses up to 2000 meters deep, say the geologists who are from the Freie Universität Berlin and who helped to draft these images. On the surface of many of the craters there is no sedimentary rock. These craters arose as a result of asteroid activity…
Tags: 3D, coloured, craters, European Space Agency, Mars, Mars Express, surface, water
Conservation, Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 18th, 2012,
Species: Silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus) Status: Critically Endangered (CR) Interesting Fact: This species is nicknamed ‘angel of the forest’ due to its creamy white fur The silky sifaka is one of a number of unique primate species found only in Madagascar. Living in tropical, moist forests, this species spends most of the day either feeding on seeds, fruits and leaves, or resting in the forest canopy. The silky sifaka is a social species, living in groups of up to nine individuals which are led by the female. The home range of a group can be up to 44 hectares and…
Tags: ARKive.org, Conservation, endangered animals, endangered species of the week, Propithecus candidus, silky sifaka
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