Free Republic

Trees are believed to have originated hundreds of millions of years ago. Ever since, evidence of these ancient plant sentinels has been in short supply. Now, a new discovery of uniquely 3D tree fossils has opened a window into what the world was like when the planet’s early forests were beginning to evolve, expanding our understanding of the architecture of trees throughout Earth’s history.

The Yellow-crested Helmetshrike was ready for what might be its first-ever closeup - Matt Brady, University of Texas at El Paso ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No-one has seen the Yellow-crested Helmetshrike for about 20 years. That changed when researchers embarked on a six-week expedition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and captured the dramatic-looking yellow-topped bird in its first-known photo. With nearly 70% of the planet's wildlife populations having declined since the 1970s, there are not often stories worth cheering for when it comes to global animal welfare. But a new find in the remote Itombwe Massif in the Congo is certainly...

Part of a massive animal skull washed up on a New Jersey beach on Memorial Day after a storm passed through the area, and authorities have finally solved the mystery as to what it is.On Tuesday, the Island Beach State Park, in Berkeley Township, New Jersey, posted photos on Facebook of a massive skull with a beak shape some found to be reminiscent of a long-extinct dinosaur.The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Island Beach State Park confirmed that it was the ventral, or lower, jaw and skull of a minke whale.

Lost to the outside world for a generation—and feared extinct—a small deer-like species with tiny fangs has been photographed tiptoeing through a dry lowland forest in southern Vietnam... The silver-backed chevrotain, also known as the Vietnamese mouse-deer, is about the size of a large rabbit, with a silver sheen on its rump. The creatures have tusk-like incisors, visible in the new photographs of the animals. Because chevrotains lack horns or antlers, and the fangs are especially long in males, scientists think the males use them to compete for territory and mates.

A bird that had previously gone extinct came back to life thanks to a rare evolutionary process known as "iterative evolution." The white-throated rail bird can presently be found on the island of Aldabra. Early fossils of the bird suggest it lived there thousands of years ago and died out because it could not fly to higher ground when rising sea levels threatened its safety. But thanks to "iterative evolution," which evolves similar body parts due to genetics from a similar ancestor, the bird came back from the dead. **SNIP** In order to make the determination that the extinct bird...

JURASSIC Park got a little bit closer to reality today with news that scientists are ‘confident' of cloning a 42,000 year old extinct species. =============================================================== The ginger-coloured foal died when it was just one or two weeks old, some time during the late Stone Age, around 42,170 years ago. But its body has been perfectly preserved in near perfect condition in Siberian permafrost, and scientists are optimistic that they will obtain enough genetic material to clone the animal and bring its extinct species back to life. The joint Russian-South Korean research team is led by South Korean cloning expert Professor...

Computers made in America are virtually non-existent, but a little company in Denver had a dream to do just that. System76 has long been looking to make a Linux-powered computer in the USA using open source ideology. A lofty goal, which many folks didn't think would ever be achieved. Well, against all odds, today, System76 proves the haters wrong as it finally unveils its much-anticipated Thelio desktop computer. And boy, oh boy, it is beautiful.

An entirely new species of ape has been discovered buried in an ancient tomb in central China. The remains of the now-extinct gibbon, which researchers have named Junzi imperialis, were found in a burial chamber in Shaanxi Province that dates back around 2,300 years. Researchers believe it may be the first ape species to have perished as a direct result of human activities such as hunting. “All of the world’s apes - chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons - are threatened with extinction today due to human activities, but no ape species were thought to have become extinct as a result...

The last time anyone saw the San Quintin kangaroo rat was more than 30 years ago, in the arid scrublands of Baja California in Mexico. Mexican authorities declared the small mammal critically endangered, and possibly extinct, in 1994. So biologists couldn't believe their eyes when not one, but four San Quintin kangaroo rats (Dipodomys gravipes) hopped into their survey traps in 2017. Named for their ability to leap like kangaroos, the rats are key species in arid areas across western North America, dispersing seeds and feeding predators such as coyotes and foxes. The San Quintin kangaroo rat is about 12...

A prehistoric lion cub has been found in permafrost on the bank of Tirekhtykh River of the Abyisky district of Yakutia by local resident Boris Berezhnov. The young beast's head was resting on a paw in frozen ground for up to 50,000 years, as shown in these amazing first pictures. The preservation is so good that it raises hopes of cloning the species back to life, he said. The discovery is seen as better preserved than two tiny cave lion cubs found in the same Siberian region in 2015.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Scientists in Ecuador's Galapagos islands are hoping to restore a tortoise species believed extinct since the 1800s. The Chelonoidis elephantopus lived on Floreana Island and was captured by seamen in large numbers for food during long journeys across the Pacific. The species is thought to have disappeared shortly after Charles Darwin's celebrated visit to the treasured archipelago. But a group of international scientists who collected 1,700 blood samples from tortoises on Isabel Island farther north during a research expedition in 2012 made a surprising discovery: 80 had genetic traces of the lost species. "This is a...

YELLOWSTONE REGION (INTELLIHUB) — U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) seismology reports conclude that a massive swarm of earthquakes swept through the park triggering more than 60 separate events in which seismographs spiked to magnitudes of up to 5.0. Friday. Experts fear that the supervolcano is long overdue for an eruption capable of wiping out a vast amount of human, animal, and plant life in the Continental United States. Scientists currently believe that there’s a 10% chance that a “supervolcanic Category 7 eruption” could take place this century, as pointed out by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku who appeared on a segment for...

The Bramble Cay melomys has become more famous in extinction than it ever was in life. A mouse-like rodent, the melomys amazingly survived on a 3.6 hectare grass-covered cay (a low-lying island in a coral reef) in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef like a ratty Robinson Crusoe for thousands of years. There, it thrived off just a few plant species until human-caused climate change—in the form of rising sea levels and increasing inundations of sea water on the low-lying island—wiped it off the planet. But, while the extinction has been reported widely, articles have missed an important point: the scientists who...

This is some news that actually cropped up last month which caught my eye, but we haven’t gotten a chance to circle back to it until now. If you’re in the market for one of the more exotic pet options out there you may have the chance to look into getting yourself a Panthera Leo Spelaea, better known as the Eurasian cave lion. Under most circumstances this would seem like a bit of a tall order because the big cat has been extinct for more than 12,000 years. (Some time during the end of the last ice age.) Up until...

A breed of sea snake thought to be extinct for years was recently discovered off the west coast of Australia, another in a string of similar findings among species scientists believed were lost forever. It was the first time the species of snakes was seen in more than 15 years since disappearing from the Timor Sea, according to researchers at Australia's James Cook University who identified the snakes. The discovery of the Short Nose sea snake was confirmed after an Australia Parks and Wildlife officer sent a photo to researchers for identification, the university said. The study's lead author, Blanche...

Due to a plethora of reasons, there are at least ten countries which may not survive the next 20 years. Although the list concocted by Top Lists remains highly speculative, it is worth knowing which nations may become extinct.

Raphium pectinatum fly was last seen 150 years ago in Surrey(Rob Wolton / Devon Wildlife Trust) ====================================================================================================================== A fly that was thought to have been extinct for more than 150 years has been spotted in Devon. The Raphium pectinatum fly was last officially noted 150 years back in Surrey on 19 July 1868. The green metallic-looking species was thought to have died out shortly after this but naturalist Rob Wolton, a member of the Devon Fly Group and the Dipterists Forum, said he spotted one alive and well in the Devon Wildlife Old Sludge Beds, a wetland reserve on the...

Can we believe anything we hear or read or even see anymore? Is anything real? Has the truth become as outdated as video cassettes and beepers? We have been on a slippery slope for decades, and the new normal seems to be that anyone can make things up or fake something and there are virtually no consequences. When Bill Clinton wagged his finger at the American people, saying, “I want you to listen to me; I gonna say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky, I never told anybody to lie, not a single...

Probably over 95% of all species that have ever lived on earth are now extinct. It should not be surprising that many species now on earth are headed for the exit door.

I don't know where this is from, but it has Common Core written all over it...