1 . These animal dads have some seriously strange ideas about fatherhood.

Barbary macaque

Unlike human dads boasting of their kids' winning contests or college acceptances, barbary macaques, monkeys that are native to North Africa, show off babies as a way to impress each other and build social networks. These monkeys live in troops of about 30 members, and life centers around the babies born each spring.

During baby season, males carry the infants, even picking up little ones that aren’t their own offspring (后代). However, there are status symbols, used to build male social networks and connections within the group. The infants can serve as a social passport, to approach other males and hang out with them. After all, it’s much simpler to break the ice if you have a cute baby in hand.

Sand grouse

Lots of dads bring home the bacon. But for young sand grouses living in Namibia’s dry deserts, water is the essential resource. Sand grouse fathers are the frequent flyers that travel almost 125 miles each day to fill up for the family at a watering hole.

With no other way to transport water, male sand grouses settle in the pool, rocking back and forth to bathe their belly feathers. Filling up can take 15 minutes, leaving them exposed to killers like falcons (猎鹰). But it all pays off. The dads return home after a long day and are able to provide their babies with few precious tablespoons of liquid.

Pipefish

Pregnant pipefish males-yes, males-give birth to live young from eggs that females deposit in their brood pouches (育儿袋). This mothering act has earned them praise as devoted animal dads.

But it turns out that the pregnant pipefish also has a wandering eye. If he sees a bigger female he often aborts (流产) existing eggs. If he stops exporting nutrients to the developing embryos (胚胎) while reabsorbing nutrients from abortions, he assures enough resources to invest in the more rewarding offspring.

Blue poison dart frog

Females of this species lay only about half a dozen precious eggs. That is maybe why dads are so devoted to them. Frog eggs must stay watery or moist, and these devoted dads accomplish that by regularly urinating on them over the course of 10 days, until they hatch (孵化) as tadpoles.

3 . The lives of sea turtles begin on a beach when hatchlings crawl up out of their sandy nests and try to get to the sea as fast as they can. Those that aren’t eaten by killers on their way to the water swim out into the ocean until they find somewhere they can hide, eat and grow.

Ten to fifty years later, depending on the species, the sea turtles mate in shallow waters. Then the females return to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs, and the cycle begins again.

Turtles that successfully avoid the numerous threats to their existence can live up to 100 years. But predators, fishing nets and garbage are major problems, and only one out of every 1,000 hatchlings will reach adulthood. There are seven sea turtle species, and six of them are either threatened, endangered or critically endangered. Many organizations around the world are working hard to ensure that sea turtles will not disappear from our oceans.

Freedom and Jeff

Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 2011 with two     1     (break) wings, thin and dirty. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vet's office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks. This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point     2     the decision was made to euthanize (安乐死) her if she couldn't stand in a week.

She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday,     3     I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized, but I went anyway and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day. We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her.

In the spring of 2013, I was diagnosed     4     non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (淋巴瘤). I had stage 3, which is not good, so I wound up doing eight months of chemo (化疗). Lost the hair- the whole bit. I missed a lot of work.     5     I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2013, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after eight rounds of chemo, then my last option was     6     stem cell transplant. I went in Monday, and 1 was told that all the cancer was gone. Amazing!

So the first thing I did was     7     (get) up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn’t said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them     8     (press) in on my back, and she touched my nose with her mouth and     9     (stare) into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I didn't know how long. That was a magic moment. We     10     (be) soulmates since she came in. This is a very special bird.

Undercover Wings

The nocturnal（夜间活动）dot-underwing moth（蛾）may use shape -shifting patterns on its wings as a way to attract mates in the dark. In a study published last September in Current Biology, scientists report the    1    on males' forewings of three patches（色斑）that change darkness and size when viewed from particular angles. In females, the entire forewing darkens.

Although butterfly and moth species that are active during the day are known to employ visual effects to communicate, researchers had thought their nocturnal cousins relied almost    2    on chemical signals because of the lack of light. But these    3    wing patterns, now found for the first time in a nocturnal moth, suggest the insects may also use visual signals. Because only the males have this pattern, researchers say it is likely a（n）    4    selected mechanism.

Jennifer Kelley, an ecologist based at the University of Western Australia, and her colleagues first noticed the visual phenomenon while looking at museum moth specimens（标本）for another project. "As soon as we figured the effect was angle-    5    , we knew that to understand how it works, we had to understand the    6    physics," Kelley says. The group contacted Gerd Schröder-Turk and Bodo Wilts, who are physicists at Murdoch University in Perth and the Adolphe Merkle Institute in Switzerland respectively.

Together the researchers found that when the wings are viewed from above, they    7    available light directly, like a dull mirror. When viewed from an angle, however, they let some of the light through to reveal a deeper layer of darkness, which    8    as patches on the male's wings. If the insects were to beat their wings    9    —a common behavior among males approaching potential mates—the patches would flash on and off, creating a striking signal even in very    10    light.

Barcelona Embraces Its Wild Side

At the end of April last year, Barcelona’s inhabitants emerged from a six-week lockdown. To their amazement, they found that while the city    1    （lie）dormant（休眠的）, nature had been busy transforming the streets and parks into a lively and pastoral wilderness

“The parks were shut, so there was no pressure    2     them from humans or dogs and no gardening was carried out,” says Margarita Pares. who heads the city’s biodiversity programme.

“It was spring and it rained a lot more than usual. The result was an explosion in plant growth,     3     there were more insects and more food for birds. And there were many more butterflies, as they are a species that reacts very quickly to changes in the environment.”

The city is now in the process of creating 783,300 square meters of green open space, including as area around the landmark Sagrada Familia basilica, and 49,000 square meters of “greened” streets. It is also encouraging bird and insect life with around 200 nesting towers for birds and bats, 40 beehives and around 80 plantings    4    （design）specifically as insect “hotels”. The council has also published a biodiversity atlas listing all the city’s flora and fauna.

When it comes to    5    （embrace）nature in its cities, Spain lags behind many countries. But it is hoped that Barcelona’s new policy will go some way to rectifying that.

“In a city like Barcelona, its a case of replacing    6     exists with green infrastructure.” says Lorena Escuer, who runs Hydro-biology, a natural pest control company, and has worked in Barcelona on a pilot scheme    7     aim is to plant wildflowers at the base of trees in the streets rather than surround them with pavement or grating.

“It’s not just having a park surrounded by asphalt（沥青）but introducing nature into the city,” says she. “People need re-educating. Their idea of a clean space is somewhere    8     the ecosystem is dead. There has been the conventional wisdom that nature is something outside and that what’s natural for the city is for there to be    9    . Covid has forced us to look at nature in a different way. It’s made us look at how we live and how we want to live. The lockdown gave us a glimpse of nature in the city and we like it.”