【推荐1】 Wildlife Crossing Bridges

The Wildlife Bridge

In 2018, Utah built a wildlife bridge over the busy highway 1-80. A 4.8-kilometer fence was created to help guide animals to the bridge. Normally, animals take a long time to discover and begin using wildlife bridges, so experts didn’t expect the bridge to get much traffic for several years. But recently, they’ve discovered many different kinds of animals are beginning to move by using the bridge.

The Rope Bridge

On China’s Hainan Island in 2015, scientists created a bridge for Hainan gibbons that are the world’s most endangered primates and normally cross the forest by swinging high in the trees. But after a 2014 typhoon, landslides caused huge gaps in the forest, which were forcing the gibbons to make dangerous jumps. Scientists created a simple and cheap rope bridge, which settled the problem.

The Eco-Bridge

In Uttarakhand state in India, the forest department has built a special "eco-bridge" , made from all-natural materials. It’s 27.5 meters long and runs over one of the busiest highways in the area. Though the bridge is high in the trees, forest department workers hope the bridge will help smaller animals on the ground, too. Already, the bridge has gotten a lot of attention on the Internet, with many people taking photos in front of it every day.

The Park Bridge

The Phil Hardberger Park lies in San Antonio, Texas, and recently it has opened what they say is the largest wildlife bridge in the US. This bridge, unlike the others mentioned here, was built for use by both animals and humans. The park says they have already seen deer using the bridge.

【推荐2】On December 26, 2004, an earthquake along the Indian Ocean caused a huge tsunami (海啸) that killed thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. However, wildlife officials at Sri Lanka's Yala National Park reported no mass animal deaths. Yala National Park is home to hundreds of wild animals.

Some researchers believe the animals at the park were able to sense the earthquake and moved to higher ground before the earthquake hit. Animals have good senses that help protect themselves from being hunted by their natural enemies. It is thought that their senses might also help them sense the coming disasters. Several countries have done research on the prediction (预测) of earthquakes by animals. There are two theories about how animals may be able to sense earthquakes. One theory is that animals sense the earth's shake. The other is that they can sense changes in the air. However, so far there has been no strong evidence about how animals may be able to sense earthquakes.

Other researchers are skeptical (怀疑) about using animals for earthquake predictions. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) officially states, "Changes in animal behaviors cannot be used to predict earthquakes. Even though there have been many cases of unusual animal behaviors before earthquakes, a connection between a specific behavior and an earthquake has not been made. Because of their fine senses, animals can often feel the earthquake at its earliest stages before the humans. That's why people say that the animal knew the earthquake was coming. But animals can also change their behaviors for many other reasons. If an earthquake can shake millions of people, it is likely that a few of their pets will, by chance, be acting strangely before the earthquake.”

Although scientists disagree on whether animal behaviors can be used to predict earthquakes, they all agree that it is possible for animals to sense changes in the environment before humans. Researchers around the world are continuing to study the connection between animal behaviors and earthquakes. It is hoped that these studies will help to predict earthquakes.

【推荐3】The gentle giant of our oceans are whale, sharks. It's ,the biggest   shark and   can   reach as .long as 41.5 feet. Whale sharks have a lifespan of 70 years , on average-, and they spend their days   gently swimming in the   warm. and tropical oceans.

Their teeth are the size of match heads, and while their jaws could be powerfiil , they have never tended to attack humans. Their teeth play no role in eating, as   plankton (浮游生物)）does   not need to be chewed. They are to be found in numbers in the warmer oceans and they prefer the deep waters of the open oceans. They tend to travel alone.

Several times a year they gather together in. certain spots where   plankton is   plentiful . Those   areas are all   within   a   300 north   or south   latitude from   the- equator. And   sadly whale sharks   are targeted by   commercial-fisheries . at those spots.   How easy   it   must be for those   fishermen   to catch   those   beautiful creatures who can only swim at 3. 5 miles per hour! So great a loss in numbers have they suffered, that whale sharks are now listed   as one of the endangered species.   Some countries and areas   have started to take measures to protect the whale sharks from   extinction.

The Philippines, India - and   Taiwan have all   banned the   fishing, selling, importing   and exporting of whale sharks for commercial purpose. However, the   law   does not   seem   to   be effective   because the   hunting and killing still   goes on   today,. especially in Taiwan and the   . Philippines. Each whale shark can fetch around $ 21,000. In parts of Asia they are known as the "money shark”.

The mighty dollar , wins again, at great cost to our habitat,   and   we   will not   know what   we have lost until we have lost it forever. Therefore, it is high time for us to do something   for the whale   sharks.

【推荐1】What animal pulls at your heartstrings—a panda or a toad (蟾蜍)? Zoologist Lucy Cooke draws attention to some of the world’s least attractive animals. She hopes to show the world why some of the most unlovable animals are actually the most interesting and deserving of our attention and protection.

Cooke’s blogs and online videos bring her unusual storytelling style to a serious message: If we only care for the best loved animals, other important parts of the web of life could be ignored. There are so many television shows about lovely animals like koala bears and kittens, she observes. All the attention seems focused on “celebrity” animals. “Those unusual creatures attract me because they tell an amazing evolutionary (进化) story,” Cooke said. “I’m interested in all of nature, not just the shiny bits.”

Amphibians—animals like frogs that live both on land and in water—top Cooke’s list. Over a third of amphibians are going extinct; it’s the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped off the planet. “Amphibians occupy a crucial spot in the middle of the food chain. If you remove them, everything else will be lost as well,” she noted. “That motivated me to start my blog, The Amphibian Avenger. When amphibians go extinct, birds and snakes that eat them also disappear. And since they breathe through their skin, they are easily attacked by pollution and climate change. That makes them fantastic instruments for measuring the health of ecosystems.”

One of Cooke’s most popular online videos is about sloths—extremely slow-moving animals that live in trees. They’ve always had a reputation for being lazy and stupid. In fact, “slothfulness” is the key to the animal’s success, allowing the sloth’s liver (肝脏) to process poisonous substances found in the leaves it eats. Moving slowly also keeps it hidden from enemies. “My video showed the world how interesting they are,” Cooke said.

The bats, dung beetles and more get their moment in the sun thanks to Cooke. “I just want people to share my sense of amazement and love for these creatures.” Cooke stated. “Once you understand why they’re ugly or odd, you’ll appreciate them and want to save them as much as I do.”

【推荐2】Scientists have solved the mystery of why the overwhelming majority of mammoth fossils(化石) are male.

Much like wild elephants today, young male Ice Age mammoths probably travelled around alone and more often got themselves into risky situations where they were swept into rivers, or fell through ice or into mud, lakes or sinkholes that preserved their bones for thousands of years, scientists say.

Females, on the other hand, travelled in groups led by an older matriarch who knew the landscape and directed her group away from danger.

“Without the benefit of living in a herd led by an experienced female, male mammoths had a much higher risk of dying in natural traps such as mud holes, rock cracks and lakes,” said co-author Love Dalen of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in a report published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

The study used genetic data to determine the sex of 98 woolly mammoth fossils in Siberia. Researchers found that 69% of the samples were male, a heavily unbalanced sex ratio, assuming that the sexes were fairly even at birth.

“We were very surprised because there was no reason to expect a sex bias in the fossil record,” said first author Patricia Pecnerova, also of the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

Therefore, researchers believe that something about the way they lived influenced the way they died.

Most bones, tusks, and teeth from mammoths and other Ice Age animals haven’t survived,” explained Dalen.

“It is highly likely that the remains that are found in Siberia these days have been preserved because they have been buried, and thus protected from weathering.”

These giant, tusked plant eaters disappeared about 4,000 years ago. While there is no scientific agreement about the causes of their disappearance from the planet, most believe that climate change, excessive hunting by humans and the spread of other animals into mammoth feeding grounds were influential factors.