Animal

For The First Time Since Its Discovery In 1854, Scientists Found A Juvenile Arthropleura Fossil With A Complete Head In France. CT Scans Revealed, E.G., Millipede-Like Antennas, Centipede-Like Mandibles, & Crab-Like Eyes. Arthropleura, A 300-Myr-Old Ancestor Of Centipedes & Millipedes, Was The Largest Bug On Earth And Likely A Plant Eater.

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The South American Lungfish, Lepidosiren Paradoxa, Has The Largest Animal Genome At 30x A Human’s. A Living Fossil & Closest Relative To Early Land Vertebrates, It Breaths Air Through Lung-Like Organs.Its Genome Offers Insights Into Tetrapod Evolution. A Plant, Tmesipteris Oblanceolata, Holds The Largest Genome Overall At 50x A Human’s.

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Researchers Have Completed An Autopsy On The First Complete Adult Wolf From The Late Pleistocene (44,000-Year-Old), Discovered In The Siberian Permafrost In 2021 By A River In Yakutia. The Autopsy Aims To Reveal The Wolf’s Diet, Ancient Viruses, And Microbiota, Aiding The Understanding Of Life And Microbial Communities During The Ice Age.

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Scientists In South Africa Have Discovered The World’s Oldest Active Termite Mounds, Over 34 Kyrs Old, Along The Buffels River In Namaqualand. These Mounds, Called “Heuweltjies,” House Southern Harvester Termites (Microhodotermes Viator). Their Foraging Promotes Carbon Sequestration By Forming Calcium Carbonate, Locking Carbon Deep In The Soil.

Fossilized Bones Found In Somerset, England, In 2020, Identified As Part Of A Giant Ichthyosaur From 202 Myrs Ago, And Linked To An 8-Year Prior Find Of A 3 Ft Long Bone, Led To The Identification Of A New Species Of Ichthyosaur, Ichthyotitan Severnensis, Said To Be The Largest Marine Reptile Ever Found. The New Species Was ~82 Ft Long.

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A Wild Animal, An Orangutan In Indonesia, Was Observed For The First Time Applying A Potent Medicinal Plant Directly To A Wound And Then Covering It With The Chewed Plant, Like A Bandage In A Likely Form Of Self-Medication. Other Primates Have Also Been Known To Use Plants For Healing, Which Raises Questions About The Evolution Of Medicine.

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In 2024, Brood XIX (13-Year–Largest Periodical Cicada Brood) And Brood XIII (17-Year) Cicadas Will Co-Emerge Across 17 US States, In A Rare Event Seen Every 221 Years. The Adult Cicada Will Mate, Lay Eggs, Then Die, While The Nymphs Will Burrow Into The Ground For The Next Cycle. There Are 3,000 To 5,000 Species Of Cicadas Around The World.

A Researcher, In Queensland, Australia, Has Discovered A Potentially World’s Hairiest Beetle, Excastra Albopilosa, In Dec., 2021. With Long Fluffy White Hairs, It’s Believed To Mimic Fungus-Infected Insects, A Possible Deterrent To Predators. This cm-Long Longhorn Beetle Is Said To Be Of A New Genus, And Only One Specimen Has Been Found.

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A New Tiny 38 cm Tall Species Of The World’s Smallest Deer, Pudella Carlae, Found In Peru‘s Central Andes, Marks The First Cervid Species Discovery In South America In 60+ Years. P. Carlae, A Jack Russell Terrier-Size Deer, Is A Separate Species From The Northern Pudu, & Inhabits Diverse Habitats: The Andean Grasslands To The Cloud Forest.

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In Peru‘s Amazon, A 16-Myr-Old Fossil Of Pebanista Yacuruna (PY), The Largest Freshwater Dolphin (FWD), Was Found. ~3.5m Long, It’s ~25% Larger Than Modern FWD. PY Is Said To Be Related To The Modern South Asia FWD. PY Extinction May Be Linked To Ancient Amazon Lake Drainage. This Find Highlights FWD Evolution And Ecosystem Vulnerability.

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