A rat may not sound like an animal worth caring about. But, the San Quentin kangaroo rat (Dipodomys gravipes) is not your ordinary rodent. Kangaroo rats get around by jumping on their two hind legs like miniature, pouch-less kangaroos. One of the 22 species of kangaroo rat, the San Quentin kangaroo rat exists only in […]
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Who’s Protecting Who? The rediscovery of the Black Softshell turtle in the wild
The deity, Vishnu, is a powerful figure within Hinduism. As a formless, abstract being, he is only recognizable in his reincarnations. In one of his appearances, Vishnu appears as half man – half tortoise. This second turtle avatar, referred to as Kurma, helps “restore the cosmic equilibrium” in times of crisis, returning to the earth […]
On the path of the Spreadwing
We were threading on a narrow foot path, running across a rainforest leading to the Adam’s Peak mountain, the most sacred mountain in Sri Lanka and the fourth highest in the country. Our team of five naturalists was ascending the mountain slowly as we were frequently held by interesting animals, beautiful sceneries of forests, mountains […]
Worth losing a finger for: the Anatolian meadow viper
The Anatolian meadow viper was always an enigmatic species. It belongs to the same group as many widespread vipers, such as the common adder. However, unlike the common adder, which is distributed across Europe and Northern Asia, the Anatolian meadow viper lives only at the top of the Ciglikara mountain plateau, in south-west Turkey. Since […]