A passion for the outdoors drives many of our adventures. And when we’re not outside, we love to immerse ourselves in discoveries about the places we live and travel. Here are some of the best natural history links we found this week.
Caribou in trouble
Declining caribou populations in Labrador: In the 1980s, the George River caribou herd was the largest in the world at three quarters of a million animals. Between the 1990s and 2010s, the population declined by 99%. Although communities in the area were used to fluctuations in caribou numbers, they could not fathom the dramatic loss.
To conserve the remaining caribou, the government introduced a hunting ban that has now been in place for a decade. But the ban is harsh on the Inuit and Innu of Labrador, who have relied on the caribou for millennia. On the same subject : Three people with travel ‘dream jobs’ reveal how they achieved them. Caribou are not just food, they are part of the culture, a connection between people and land.
“We will lose who we are as a culture and as a people,” said one Makkovik person. Another said: “We’re losing speech. We are losing traditional ways and the loss of cultural foods is just as important as language, craft and art.”
Origin of Eels: Every year, American and European eels migrate to the Sargasso Sea. Scientists follow them to learn more about these elusive species.
The ancient Egyptians believed that eels did not have genitals. It was not until the 1890s that an adult male eel was discovered. Their gonads only begin to develop between the ages of seven and 25. Scientists have yet to see eels mating in the wild and are unsure how they navigate the migration.
This lack of knowledge, coupled with a declining population, is causing researchers to panic. They have no idea if the current population, which is estimated to be 60% below historical records, is enough to recover the population. You have proposed a ban on eel fishing.
Most of Cystisoma’s head is occupied by its eyes. Photo: KJ Osborn/Smithsonian
Big eyes in the deep sea
The crustacean with eyes instead of a head: deep in the ocean’s twilight zone, scientists have found shrimp-like crustaceans with head-sized eyes. Read also : The United States and Chile hold the 20th Defense Advisory Committee Meeting at Dis.
Cystisoma live between 200m and 900m below the surface where light is hard to come by. Large eyes allow the animal to see the faintest glimmers of light.
However, big eyes can make animals a target; Pupils have dark, photon-absorbing pigments that are visible to predators. These clever crustaceans have found a way to counteract this. The pigmented part of the eye is broken into tiny dots on a thin sheet. Apart from their eyes, the transparent crustaceans are almost invisible.
Excavation of a Maya civilization: Three years ago, archaeologists found the remains of stone steles, cooking utensils and a middle-aged woman on a cattle ranch in Mexico. Researchers believe they have discovered the capital of Sak T’zi, a Mayan kingdom from 2,500 years ago.
“The discarded carcasses from looted monuments at this site are consistent with those previously attached to Sak Tz’i’,” said Penn Museum curator Simon Martin.
The pandemic halted digging, but this year the team has returned. So far they have found remains on 40 hectares of land. There are hundreds of rocks and the remains of platforms that once formed an acropolis.
Satellite images show a reef in the middle of a desert. Image: Curtin University
A desert reef
Ancient reef in the middle of a desert: Satellite imagery has found an ancient reef in the middle of a desert in South Australia. See the article : The EU is set to suspend the travel visa agreement with Russia.
The Digital Elevation Measurement (TanDEM-X) mission creates 3D maps of the earth’s surface. On the Nullarbor Plains in southern Australia you can see a defined circular formation resembling a bullseye. It is probably the remains of an ancient reef.
The plain emerged from the sea 14 million years ago. Beneath much of the area is a layer of limestone that was once a large seagrass meadow.
“Large areas of the Nullarbor Plain have remained largely unaltered by weathering over millions of years, making it a unique geological canvas that chronicles ancient history,” said planetary scientist Milo Barham.
The team initially thought the unusual shape was the site of a meteorite impact, but they have no chemical indicators to support this.
Oldest heart found: Researchers have found the oldest known heart in Western Australia. The fossilized organ comes from a jawed fish that lived 359 to 419 million years ago.
Scientists found the perfectly preserved heart alongside fossilized entrails, a liver, and a stomach. The new fossil could help us understand how humans and other animals evolved.
“I was amazed to find a beautifully preserved heart in a 380-million-year-old ancestor,” said paleontologist Trina Justic. “We were particularly surprised to learn that they weren’t that different from us.”
