Animals

April 16, 2025

Watch How Zoo Elephants Protect Their Herd During a Recent Earthquake in Southern California

Earthquakes are frightening experiences for anyone, but for elephants, who “hear” with their feet, they can be particularly terrifying. A video from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido shows how their elephants came together when a 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook Southern California on Monday, April 14. The video, published by the San Diego Wildlife Alliance, shows the elephants coming together in an “alert circle” as the camera shakes.

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April 8, 2025

100-Year-Old Tortoise Becomes First-Time Mom and Savior of a Species

There’s great news coming from Philadelphia Zoo. The institution has announced the hatching of four critically endangered Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises. Given that prior to their birth, there were only 44 individual tortoises of their kind in all U.S. zoos combined, the arrival of these baby turtles is essentially a lifeline for the survival of this species. The hatching marks a first for both the zoo and the hatchlings’ mother.

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March 27, 2025

18th-Century Portuguese Library Has Bats That Protect the Priceless Books Housed Inside

Stashed inside the Biblioteca Joanina at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, are more than 60,000 books, many of which are first or historical editions dating back hundreds of years. Preserving such precious volumes demands care, attention, and, in this case, bats. Every night, colonies of bats emerge from behind the towering bookshelves, swooping across the 18th-century library in search of the beetles and moths that would otherwise chew up manuscript pages.

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March 20, 2025

Ocean Census Announces the Discovery of Over 800 New Marine Species

Scientists estimate that about 91% of ocean species have yet to be classified, and that more than 80% of our ocean remains unmapped and unexplored. Jointly launched in 2023 by the Nippon Foundation and Nekton, Ocean Census seeks to accelerate the discovery of ocean life, uniting hundreds of scientists from institutions around the world to lead the process.

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My Modern Met

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