Nature Hub

From  Earth Unreal, Edited by - Vinuri Randhula Silva, The largest horn circumference on a steer ever was achieved by Lurch, an African Watusi steer owned by Janice Wolf from Gassville, Arkansas, USA measuring 95.25 cm (37.5 in) ) on 6 May 2003. Two vets measured three times to confirm the incredible circumference. Although they are not the longest horns on record, Lurch's horn span is an impressive 2.1 m (7 ft). Sadly, Lurch died at 3 p.m. on 22 May 2010 of a cancer at the base of one of the horns.    

 From -BBC News, By Victoria Gill, Science correspondent, IMAGE SOURCE, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, BELFAST Image caption, Dogs were rewarded with treats when they picked out the "stressed" scent Our canine companions have proven once again how finely tuned they are to our feelings - this time in scientific sniffing test. Scientists discovered that dogs can smell stress in our breath and sweat. Four dogs - pets volunteered by their owners - were trained to "choose" one of three scent canisters. And in more than 650 out of 700 trials, they successfully identified a sample of sweat or breath that had been taken from a stressed person. The researchers, at Queen's University Belfast, hope their study,  published in the journal Plos One , will help in the training of therapy dogs. How long will your dog live? Dogs 'prevent stressed students dropping out' Dogs experience their world through smell. And their highly sensitive scent-detection abilities are already us...

From -Earth Unreal & Wikipediya By Jaclyn Anglis, Eddited by Amal Uda watta, Fungi that bleed, hiss, and "throw their hats" — we've foraged nine of the strangest mushrooms in the world. Some might only think about mushrooms as a pizza topping, but the wide world of fungi is a much more stunningly bizarre — and sometimes visually upsetting — place than that. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of certain fungi. Once mature, they produce microscopic spores, like pollen, that may number in the billions in order to spawn. Thousands of different varieties of mushrooms exist: edible, medicinal, poisonous, hallucinogenic, and more. And they come in almost every color and shape imaginable. From the mushroom that looks like a bleeding tooth to the species known as devil’s fingers that smells like rotten meat, these weird mushrooms are sure to amaze — and disgust. 1. The Bearded Tooth Mushroom ( Hericium erinaceus ) Known as the bearded tooth mushroom or the lion’s mane, th...

 From - The Guardian magazine,  By  Nadeem Badshah Edited by Vinuri Randhula Silva, David Bowie on his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane tour in London in 1973. Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty Images Price five times more than estimate as A4 sheet bought by Tasmanian museum David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics to his 1972 song Starman have sold for more than £200,000 (A$334,958) at auction, five times their estimated sale price. The song featured on his  fifth album , The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which propelled the musician to international rock and pop stardom. The handwritten lyrics, which were  originally estimated to fetch up to £40,000  (A$66,991) sold for £203,500 (A$340,819), including buyer’s premium.                   The lyrics to David Bowie’s Starman.  Photograph: Omega Auctions Olivier Varenne, director of acquisitions and alliances and collections at the Mu...

 From Mongabay for Kids Edited by -Vinuri Randhula Silva, A Malayan flying fox, which despite it’s name is actually a bat. Image by Andrea Janda via  Flickr  ( CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 ). Ecosystem services  are things nature provides for humans that help us survive and stay healthy. For example, plants produce oxygen that helps us breathe. Plants also provide food and shelter for us. Bats provide ecosystem services to people too. Bats help pollinate plants that provide us with food. In the province of North Sumatra in Indonesia, bats help pollinate important crops like durian (a kind of fruit) and sugar palm. Bats play an important role in the pollination of durian, a crop that is vital for many local farmers’ livelihoods. Image by Cameron Yee via  Flickr  ( CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ). Researcher Hamid Arrum Harahap studied what farmers in North Sumatra thought of the bats that live on their farms. Some of the species of bats living there include the large fl...

  From  - Mongabay Magazine, By - Malaka Rodrigo, Sri Lanka is home to 10 known species of blindsnakes, a family of soil-burrowing snakes so small that they’re often mistaken for earthworms. The most widespread of these is the flowerpot blindsnake (Indotyphlops braminus), which is also the most widely distributed invasive snake in the world, having accidentally hitched rides as far as North America, Africa and Australia in flowerpots for the exotic plant trade. A 2020 study, and its 2021 follow-up, proposed moving the species from the genus Indotyphlops to the new genus Virgotyphlops because of its reproductive characteristics that are different from those of other Indotyphlops species. But a new study by Sri Lankan researchers, building on field surveys carried out since 2007, says such a move isn’t warranted, and that the flowerpot blindsnake i s simply an “exceptional” member of its genus. COLOMBO — Look past the venomous vipers and cobras and the powerful constrictors. Dig...