|
|
ILLUSTRATION BY YU CHEN
|
|
The enormous rhino: Researchers today announced they have found a massive predecessor to today’s rhinoceros—a 24-ton, 4-foot-high creature with a head that was a yard long. The creature lived 26.5 million years ago in woodlands that morphed into today’s Himalaya, Nat Geo’s Michael Greshko reports. (Above, an ecological reconstruction of the Paraceratherium linxiaense.)
From frogs to the world: Conservation biologist Jodi Rowley says accidental encounters in nature help build understanding for Earth at large. Rowley, a Nat Geo Explorer from Australia, has been able to find a new species of frog—and name it after her mother—and also find a frog with the most complex call of any species, she said Tuesday at the Nat Geo Explorers Festival.
* 4 wildlife champions win National Geographic Society awards
The handshake: Maybe we took a break on handshakes during COVID-19, but the impetus to grip another is as much biological as cultural, paleoanthropologist and Nat Geo Explorer Ella Al-Shamahi told the Explorers Festival. Oh, and we’re not alone. Chimps and bonobos shake hands, and it has persevered among humans, even after attempts in some cultures to ban it, says Al-Shamahi, who has written a history of the handshake. Here are a few handshake alternatives our readers suggested last year, including Mr. Spock’s Live Long and Prosper hand sign.
The bold ones: A new study indicates that antidepressants from dumped into a water supply makes crayfish bolder. The crayfish, in a setting made to resemble an urban ecosystem, spent significantly more time foraging for food and less time in hiding. The behavior could make the crayfish more vulnerable to predators, Nat Geo’s Douglas Main reports.
Make way for ducklings: When four ducklings fell through a grate while crossing a Seattle street recently, traffic ground to a halt—and drivers tried to help. Then a firetruck passed by, and an unusual rescue took place, the Seattle Times reports. See the photos. In Brooklyn, onlookers helped ducklings cross the street, too—these little ducks were headed to a bagel shop (no, really) before marching toward a nearby park.
|
|
|
|
