Environment

Environment

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East Antarctica recently gained almost 700 billion tonnes of ice – and scientists know why

What happens in Antarctica can influence the whole planet, so scientists keep a close eye on environmental changes.
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Crescent Island, Kenya

Wild animals stranded on island in Kenya. Scientists visited 5 years later – and found something worrying

In 2020, zebras, giraffes, impalas and waterbucks were all marooned on Crescent Island in Lake Naivasha – and they've remained there ever since.
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Aerial view of a jungle river flowing out of a Bai (saline, mineral lick) in the rainforest of the Congo Basin. This rich mineral clearing is located in the middle of the rainforest where forest elephants, buffalos and gorillas gather in large numbers to reap the benefits of the mineral salts. Odzala National Park, Republic of Congo.

It’s larger than New York State and contains more than 30 billion tonnes of carbon – equivalent to 3 years of global fossil fuel emissions

The Cuvette Centrale, in the centre of the Congo Basin, is the largest tropical peatland in the world
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Wide view of the entrance to Deer Cave in Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia.

It’s so vast you could plonk London’s St Paul’s Cathedral in the middle, it contains a 100-metre tower of poop and it's home to 3 million mammals

Would you venture into Deer Cave?
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Boiling lake

This strange, steamy lake bubbles with boiling volcanic water – but sometimes almost vanishes

Steam rises from a vast, grey-blue lake deep in the mountains of Dominica, known as 'Boiling Lake'
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Sunset behind the hoodoos at Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness, New Mexico

It's over 75 million years old and like something out of a fantasy video game with outlandish giant mushrooms, fairy chimneys and an alien throne.

Here's why the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness has bizarre sandstone formations
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Mexico, Yucatan, Tulum, cave diver in the system Tux Kubaxa

 Drowned at the end of the Ice Age: The flooded abyss longer than the Grand Canyon and teeming with hundreds of creatures, from mammals to reptiles

The world’s longest underwater cave system can be found in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula – but which one is it?
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Scenic landscape of the Waipoua forest in New Zealand

It’s taller than the Statue of Liberty, older than the Roman Empire –and faces a deadly threat

3 trees in New Zealand’s Waipoua Forest were already ancient centuries before Europeans arrived on these shores.
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Researchers explore underground cave

Scientists locate gigantic caves hidden deep beneath the Australian Outback

Mysterious trenches stretching across the surface of Australia’s Nullarbor Plain are allowing researchers to find ancient cave systems far below the ground.
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Rubber boot in Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon

Scientists just photographed a place that's never been seen by humans before. What the images reveal is shocking

During a survey of the Mar del Plata Canyon off the coast of Argentina, deep-sea researchers found dozens of pieces of human rubbish, including food wrappers, a plastic cup and a rubber boot.
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"It’s responsible for sinking 800 ships and killing 20,000 people…" What are the most dangerous parts of the ocean?

From hazardous seas to venomous creatures, the ocean can be full of threats. But these regions could be the most dangerous on the planet.
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Vjetrenica is the largest cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the most biodiverse cave in the world. Credit: Diogo Pereira and Sanja Vrzic

This deep, dark cave may secretly stretch 20km to the sea – and the 'human fish' hides in its shadows

Vjetrenica Cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina is home to many weird and remarkable animals.
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The rift that formed in the Milne Ice Shelf following the 2020 calving event

This lake in Canada just vanished. And it's not coming back.

The breakup of the Milne Ice Shelf in the far north of Canada has led to the collapse of a unique Arctic ecosystem.
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Kaʻaʻawa

It was born from volcanoes, is millions of years old – and it’s still growing today

It might be a stunning travel destination, but the Hawaiian Islands hide a molten secret beneath their stunning sands
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The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s 50 million years old, the size of Wembley Stadium and could fit 12 Boeing 747s inside – but the only way in is via a 100-metre plunge

This spectacular cave in Oman is one of the largest cave chambers in the world.
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Sac Actun

An elephant-like animal was discovered in this gigantic underwater cave. And that’s not all

Sac Actun is one of the most impressive submerged cave systems on the planet. Here's how several decades of underwater exploration has unveiled Mexico’s ancient subterranean world and the unique wildlife thriving in the dark.
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Petr Lyubimov, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

"We have to leave right now. If we just hang around, we’re all going to die.” The cave that's so deep it could swallow six Eiffel Towers

This cave in western Georgia is one of the most extraordinary in the world.
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The ghostly remains of the stern of the Shotan Maru ship wreck, Chuuk Lagoon, Micronesia. The Shotan Maru was a Passenger/Cargo ship used by the Japanese Navy in World War II. It was sunk by the US Navy in 1944 during Operation Hailstorm.

Sunken warships fill this eerie lagoon – and they're scattered with gas masks, skulls and bullet casings

Frozen in time beneath the turquoise waters of Chuuk Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean, a sunken fleet of 60 World War II ships forms an incredible underwater museum.
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View of a huge crater caused by tropical storm Agatha, in Guatemala City, on June 3, 2010

These are the deadliest sinkholes on Earth

While one massive collapse famously swallowed an entire building, another continues to claim lives due to a lethally tempting underwater arch
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Aerial view of the Qdzala-Kokoua National Park tropical rainforests. Cuvette-Ouest Region. Republic of the Congo or Congo Brazzaville. Roger de la Harpe/Getty Images

It's bigger than France, Germany and Spain combined, is home to rainforests, savannahs, swamps and some of the world’s deadliest, strangest wildlife

It can seem eerily still in the forests of the Congo River in West Africa – and yet a diverse array of species inhabits this vast and mysterious land.
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Black cormorant feeding on bait fish in the Sea of Cortez

It's home to 900 fish species and one of the rarest animals on Earth – and was dubbed the 'aquarium of the world' by Jacques Cousteau

The Sea of Cortez in the Pacific Ocean is thought to be one of the most ecologically diverse seas on the planet
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Daniel Osterkamp/ Getty Images

At 130km across, it's the world’s largest natural mirror – but this otherworldly landscape is stranger than it looks, and has starred in Star Wars

Salar de Uyuni is an enormous desert of white salt in Bolivia. Here's everything you need to know...
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VogelSP/ Getty Images

It can swallow 5 Empire State Buildings, is as long as Portugal – and is home to a deadly but rare big cat

The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon and its river are a sight to see. Here's why...
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