Animals

In the United Kingdom, a large representative of spiders (the adult animal can exceed 7 cm in size) has been observed feeding on small fish. Its name well reflects its appearance and ‘activity’ – the striped hunter (Dolomedes plantarius).

This species was on the verge of extinction a few years ago, but specialists of animal protection organisations made every effort to save the unique creatures, and they managed to stabilise the population. Thus, the discovery confirmed the success of their work.

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It is noted that the European bison disappeared from Romania about 200 years ago, but conservation organisations brought the species back to the Southern Carpathians in 2014, and since then more than a hundred bison have found a new home in the Cărcu Mountains. Today their numbers have grown to 170 animals, and it is one of the largest free-ranging populations in Europe. The population could grow to as many as 450 in the future.

The fresh study uses a model developed by experts from the Yale School of the Environment to calculate the amount of atmospheric CO2 that animals from the wild help capture and store in the soil through their interactions within the ecosystem.

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The Liverpudlians pointed out that when first reading the 2022 Winchester paper, it was clear that the study relied solely on survey data from pet owners and was more observational, suggesting that any associations between diet type and dog health could only have had a possible correlation rather than an established link.

The authors of the new paper emphasise that the statistical analysis of the Winchester paper did not take into account the effect of possible other factors such as, for example, the age and breed of the dogs, as well as data about their owners, which included age, gender, education and their own diet.

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According to the latest observations, beaked whales are the leaders in breath-holding. Over five years of research, scientists have found out that this creature can spend almost 222 minutes underwater without surfacing! For comparison, the human record is only a little more than 24 minutes.

The average duration of delay in the Cuvier’s whale is 59 minutes, and only 5% of the observed individuals went more than 77 minutes without a new breath.

Some other marine animals can also surprise: the sperm whale can dive for an hour and a half, and the elephant seal for two!

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A 2008 study showed: a number of key genes associated with gastric function were either in a deactivated state or absent altogether in platypuses.

Possible reasons for the loss of the stomach and its associated genes could be due to changes in diet or environment, leading to a loss of need for them and consequently their gradual disappearance during evolution.

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