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Borneo's Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park: Nature's Secret
Kota Kinabalu Home to over 3,600 marine species including 300+ fish species and rare sea turtles Features 40+ dive sites ranging from beginner-friendly to advanced technical dives Coral recovery projects have restored 150+ hectares of severely damaged reef ecosystems since 2010 Nestled off Sabah's c
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Borneo's Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park: Nature's Secret
Kota Kinabalu Home to over 3,600 marine species including 300+ fish species and rare sea turtles Features 40+ dive sites ranging from beginner-friendly to advanced technical dives Coral recovery projects have restored 150+ hectares of severely damaged reef ecosystems since 2010 Nestled off Sabah's c
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Neil the seal: Tasmania's blubbery bulldozer.
Neil is a southern elephant seal, one of the largest marine mammals that regularly haul out on land. Adult males can reach 8,800 lb (4,000 kg). Neil is a curious, rambunctious elephant seal who has gone viral for his mischievous, destructive behavior of smashing into cars, completely ruining them & damaging infrastructure. But his behavior is not motivated by a malevolent agenda; rather, it is just curiosity. They explore objects by nudging, pushing, rolling over, or lying on them. His behavior is prompted by molting, a process where they shed their outer skin layer. Tasmania's beaches provide ideal haul-out spots.
Neil has crushed fences, bollards (a short, thick post), traffic cones, parked cars, garden walls & road barriers. The things he does to these objects are simply mimicking the sparring he'll have to do with other males when he gets older. During this period seals experience hormonal changes, including increased testosterone & elevated cortisol. These make them bolder & restless. A 1-ton animal moving even 1-2 mph (1.6-3.2 km/h) exerts massive force. Cars are made of thin steel & aluminum; a seal's body is basically a 2,200 lb hydraulic press. Neil moves in straight lines towards shade, soft ground & familiar scents. Anything in his path gets pushed aside. Tasmania regularly hosts elephant seals during molting season. Neil is unusual because he prefers towns, not remote beaches. His annual return has made him a celebrity.
A Forest Giant America Lost Is Returning
The American chestnut was a dominant feature in the lives of many people living in the eastern region of the United States for centuries. Today, the story of American chestnut restoration is reshaping how we think about these trees and their important role in our forests. Some historical accounts described the forests as an almost continuous corridor of chestnut trees. The American chestnut was…
The possums that are texting from inside a Burmese python.
Some of Florida's opossums are dying for a noble cause: to hone in on signals coming from inside the Burmese pythons' stomachs in the Everglades. Burmese pythons remain one of the toughest ecological challenges facing wildlife conservationists in the United States. The invasive pythons have been hunted by robotic rabbits, but the snakes continue to decimate native animal populations since they were introduced in the 1970s by the tens of thousands after arriving for the exotic pet trade & were released or escaped from private owners. They were flashy, cheap ($20-$40) & sold in pet stores, flea markets & mail-order catalogs. The 20 inch hatchlings are only 20 inches (50 cm), but in just 3 years, they reach 10-12 feet (3-3.6 m). Most owners were not prepared for that, especially considering they can live 20-30 years. They need a room-sized enclosure because the pythons can break glass tanks. Overwhelmed owners released them into canals, reptile dealers dumped unsellable stock, breeders discarded surplus animals, & many snakes escaped from backyard enclosures. The invasion began with between 20-50 snakes released, & the current estimates of Burmese pythons are between 100,000 & 300,000.
Pythons are nocturnal, camouflaged, silent, submerged, or hidden most of the time since they live in seagrasses, mangroves & tree islands. They're nearly impossible to detect visually—enter the opossum tracking device. The possums are fitted with lightweight GPS-collars & pythons eat possums. But although the possum is eaten, the GPS signal keeps pinging from inside the snake. Researchers track the signal to the python's location even if it slithers away because it gives biologists a live breadcrumb trail of python movement & instead of searching 1.5 million acres of swamp, they follow a single GPS ping. A python that just ate a GPOS collar is guaranteed to be located.
The method is important because it disproportionately leads to large breeding females. After all, female pythons eat large prey like opossums more than males, & one female lays 30-60 eggs per year. She will have hundreds of offspring in her lifetime with thousands of descendants over generations, so getting just one female can really help control their ever-growing population. And they often will find the females at their nest site. Pythons have reduced the raccoon population by 99%, opossums by 98%, and bobcats by 88%. Marsh rabbits are now functionally extinct, deer have been severely reduced & birds have seen major declines. The Burmese pythons themselves have no known predator in the Everglades. The researchers are not putting possums in harm's way; harm's way is already there.
Notre-Dame Reborn: How a Medieval Cathedral Shaped 21st-Century Heritage History
On the 15th of April, 2019, the world witnessed the burning of Notre-Dame Cathedral, the symbol of the history of Western architecture. The spire was destroyed, the roof’s wooden “forest” burned to ashes, and the vaults collapsed. This is a tragedy that feels like a blow to our past. The rebuild, however, took on a new dimension over the next five years, not only as a rebuild, but also as a…
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just had my meeting w my advisor and got my classes scheduled! i'm taking 2 orientation courses, scientific writing, ornithology, and community & ecosystem ecology. i'm so excited but also a little nervous about taking 5 courses at once ●﹏●
baby graph :’) that’s all that’s the post
