Nature Hub

By Antoinette Radford BBC News Edited by Amal Udawatta IMAGE SOURCE, TANYA LATTY While some start the festive season to the tunes of Mariah Carey, for many Australians, there is another way of knowing Christmas is on the way. The arrival of the clumsy Christmas beetle - a brightly coloured insect that sneaks into bed sheets, crashes into windows and swarms around streetlights in summer months. "We have in Australia this really unique... biological event where Christmas is associated with the arrival of these beautiful, glittery, friendly beetles," Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Dr Tanya Latty, tells the BBC. The beetles - which don't bite or sting and are harmless - used to be a very common sight. In 1932, they were so prolific Queenslanders could be paid one pound to catch 200. But now, scientists dream of seeing as many in one place. Most species of the beetle are unique to Australia - like the platypus and koala - but for many in the country, they hav

  By Jamille Ribeiro Bastos do Carno BBC World Service, Edited by Amal Udawatta, IMAGE SOURCE, OCEANX Image caption, The reef is mostly made of hard red algae, providing an attractive habitat for marine life such as this moray eel Scientists say a unique reef habitat near the mouth of the Amazon river is under threat from plans to drill for oil. The reef was discovered in 2016, and researchers say it could contain many unknown species of medicinal or scientific value. The Amazon reef is unusual because it lies in deep water, and is sometimes hidden by the muddy waters flowing into the sea from the world's largest river. Its depth - up to 220m (725ft) and the strong currents in the area mean that it has been little studied since it was discovered. "It's a very wide area, there are things that we don't know yet," says César Cordeiro, a professor at the Center for Biosciences and Biotechnology at the University of Northern Rio de Janeiro. "There are species that

  By Kayla Epstein    BBC News, Edited by Amal Udawatta IMAGE SOURCE, STEVE WINTER/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Image caption, Steve Winter's photo captures P-22 in his adopted urban home It was late at night in Los Angeles, and artist Corie Mattie had indulged in a glass or two of wine when she heard something outside her home. At first she thought her brother's Labrador retriever had got out, so she went to let him in. It was not a chocolate lab. "It was a [expletive] mountain lion," Ms Mattie said. And not just any mountain lion - but the most famous mountain lion in Hollywood, and arguably the world. His name is P-22 and the March encounter left an indelible mark, Ms Mattie said. His green eyes glowed straight at her. She stared back. She took a quick video before hiding inside, and P-22 lingered until dawn, when he quietly made his exit over a lattice fence. "He touched my soul. He could have destroyed me, and he didn't," she said. "It escalated quickly