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Trees – global breathe machine!

The Dyerville Giant fell to earth in 1991. The Dyerville Giant was a 113-meter (370-foot) coast redwood tree, taller than the Statue of Liberty, in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California. The crash was so loud that people in the closest towns thought it was the noise of a big train accident. The redwood’s fall moved the earth so much that it registered on a nearby seismograph, a device scientists use to measure earthquakes. Dave Stockton, who runs the Humboldt Redwoods Interpretive Association, remembers visiting the downed redwood the day after it...

COVID-19 impact on the animal kingdom

While the human tally of COVID-19 cases has risen, animal cases have remained novelties. As of this moment, you can count the affected species on one hand: lions, tigers, domestic cats, dogs, mink. The pets contracted the virus from their owners; the big cats, likely from an asymptomatic caregiver; and the mink, likely from fur farm workers or possibly other infected animals.Beyond that conclusion is a sea of unknowns. There’s no evidence that domesticated animals can pass the virus to humans, but there’s...

Animals benefit from lockdown

Roadkill rates fall dramatically as lockdown keeps drivers at home, reports National Geographic As Americans stayed home in March and April, vehicle deaths declined up to 58 percent among large species like mountain lions, a new report says. During the peak of the lockdowns in March and April, traffic on U.S. roads fell by as much as 73 percent. During that same period, fatal collisions with deer, elk, moose, bears, mountain lions, and other large wild animals fell by as...