Environment

Environment

Drone image of Tajapuruzinho river near Melgaço, Para State, Brazil, in the Amazon Rainforest

Jungle vs rainforest: what exactly is the difference?

Think they’re interchangeable? Think again. While they might share some of the same tropical features, the difference between a jungle and a rainforest comes down to one crucial thing – light.
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Colourful lakelets (Polish "Kolorowe Jeziorka") is the name of three (sometimes four) artificial ponds formed in place of former mines at the slope of Wielka Kopa mountain (871 m) in Rudawy Janowickie, range in Sudetes Mountains, Poland. The biggest one and the oldest (1785) was named Hoffnung Grube and now hosts the Purple lakelet. Names of the other mines were: Neues Glück (1793, presently Azure Lakelet), and Gustav Grube (1796; the Green Lakelet). These places were mined from 1785 to 1925 for pyrite. The colour of Azure Lakelet (635 m; also called: Blue or Emerald) water is connected with the presence of copper ions. Its water, besides its colour, is clean, thus during hot summer days there can be seen people bathing in it; water is usually quite cold here, though.

"One day it’s there. The next it’s gone. Then it’s back again." 11 weirdest, bizarrest lakes on the planet – including one that contains a fluid that's not water...

From the deepest to the oldest, the deadliest to the smallest here are the weirdest lakes in the world
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The Coastline of Guam on a windy day pushing the waves against the shoreline

A snake hitched a ride to a remote Pacific island. This is what happened next.

It looks like your average snake, but it has been wreaking havoc on this remote island for decades.
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lake in mountain crater

The strange, very peculiar lake that forms a mythical dragon's giant eye every spring

A seasonal natural phenomenon known as the 'Dragon Eye' transformers a crater lake near the summit of Mount Hachimantai in northern Japan into a giant eye.
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Danxia Landform

‘Millions of trees and shrubs have been planted.’ Epic projects are underway to ‘regreen’ Earth’s deserts

Is there a way to regreen the world's deserts?
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Abernethy Forest

“After four short hours hiking its ancient forest, we’d decided to move to the Scottish Highlands”

Kate Bradbury on rewildling efforts in the Caledonian forest
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Dinosaur in prehistoric jungle

Imagine if dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct. Here's what scientists think may have happened next

66 million years ago, a city-sized asteroid hurtled toward Earth – then sailed straight past…
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Lena Pillars

These colossal spires rise from the Siberian wilderness like skyscrapers. They're filled with dead animals

Reaching heights of up to 200m, these great pinnacles are the remains of an enormous ancient reef belt.
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Aerial view of the terraced lakes in Plitvice Lakes National Par

It’s the same size as the city of Amsterdam, has breathtaking waterfalls and contains venomous snakes

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the largest and oldest national park in Croatia
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Why are pink lakes pink

Why on Earth are pink lakes pink? The science behind nature's most vibrant waters

Yes some lakes are pink. Here's why
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Many diverse minerals as salt, copper and cobalt create the always changing Dallol (in Afar language: multicolour stone), the hottest and driest place on earth, Danakil depression. August 15, 2018.

"Known as the Gateway to Hell, where lurid-coloured acid lakes create an eerie, alien world." 10 barren dead zones where nothing survives...

Dead zones are fascinating, often alien places, where nothing or very little lives
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Seagull perching on fence with Statue of Liberty in distance, Battery Park, Manhattan Island, New York City, New York, USA

This iconic New York landmark is becoming a magnet – not just for tourists, but birds

Does anything live on the Statue of Liberty – and Ellis Island?
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A drought-struck dam has nearly run out of life-giving water altogether.

Hundreds of dying rivers, 4 million km² of wetlands lost and 420 water-related violent conflicts: Just how dangerous is the global water emergency?

From shrinking rivers and dying wildlife to growing fears of global conflict, here’s why experts say the world is running dangerously dry.
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60 metres below an arid desert lies a secret, gigantic underground lake that's hundreds of metres deep and home to animals found nowhere else on earth

It might sound like a location from The Game of Thrones, but the Dragon’s Breath Cave, hidden deep below the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, is actually the home of a vast 264-metre-deep lake, with a surface area the size of two football pitches
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Mammoth tusk at the excavation site in Taimering

This gigantic tusk and more than 70 bones were dug up at a construction site in Germany. Here's why the discovery is so exceptional

After several years of detailed study, scientists from Germany have cracked a cold case that has been on ice since the Last Glacial Maximum.
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Sagarmatha National Park

It’s the size of Hong Kong and contains the highest mountain on Earth – and it’s home to a mighty carnivore

Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is home to some of the planet's hardiest animals – from woolly hares and red pandas to high-flying geese and stalking snow leopards.
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West Siberian Plain

It’s the size of Texas, stores 70 billion tonnes of carbon and deadly predators roam its harsh, remote landscape

The West Siberian Lowland is the world’s largest high-latitude wetland and contains the biggest peatland
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Undescribed crowned crab spider (Smodicinus sp. nov.)

Expedition to remote Angolan plateau reveals dozens of dazzling new species

Numerous species previously unknown to science have been discovered in a ‘biodiversity blank spot’ in Angola on the west coast of Southern Africa.
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"Stop, prevent your death! Go no further." 9 deadliest, most terrifying caves on the planet

For those who chose to explore them, caves are a source of fascination, but these can be dark, inhospitable places, full of twist and turns and tunnels and chambers says Helen Pilcher.
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Bryce Canyon

These 50-million-year-old giants are taller than the Statue of Liberty – and there are thousands of them

Utah's Bryce Canyon isn’t a canyon at all, but a vast high plateau carved into numerous amphitheatres – and within these incredible rock formations there is life.
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Credit: BBC Universal/Getty Images

Siberia’s ‘Gateway to Hell’ is getting bigger. And it’s spewing out prehistoric animals

Known by some as the ‘Gateway to Hell’, the Batagay crater in Siberia is the world’s largest megaslump
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Florida Everglades

A carnivore has moved into Florida's Everglades – and it's threatening native crocodiles and alligators

The invasive spectacled caiman could be hampering efforts to restore the Everglades ecosystem, according to a recent review.
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Goat on the sciara of Stromboli

This Italian island is home to an active volcano – and a horde of wild goats

Living in the shadow of an active volcano is nerve-wracking – but the residents of Stromboli face another challenge
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Utah - Ariziona border, panorama of the Monument Valley from a remote point of view, known as The Hunt's Mesa

The same size as Casablanca, this arid landscape holds over 15 staggering 300m rock towers older than the dinosaurs – and America’s deadliest snake

Discover the land of red rock towers, legendary monsters and coyotes
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