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Tropical tree in Panama has evolved to kill its 'enemies' with lightningTonka bean trees survive lightning strikes — and use the powerful electric shocks to kill their competitors.
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'A set of large teeth sticking out of the ground': Scientists reveal ancient hypercarnivore discovered in Egyptian desertScientists reveal a never-before-seen species of leopard-size apex predator that lived in lush forest 30 million years ago.
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New supergiant 'Darth Vader' sea bug discovered in South China Sea — and it's absolutely massiveThe giant isopod has been named Bathynomus vaderi due to its resemblance to Darth Vader's iconic helmet from "Star Wars."
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Yellowstone's 'queen of the wolves' killed by rival pack after living to 11 years old and having 10 litters of pupsRecord-breaking Wolf 907F, the alpha of the Junction Butte pack, died after a confrontation with a rival pack at Yellowstone River on Christmas Day.
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Henry the giant crocodile, who has sired 10,000 babies, celebrates 124th birthdayHenry the Nile crocodile will celebrate his 124th birthday at the Crocworld Conservation Centre in South Africa on Dec. 16.
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Large, ghostly white crab-like predator discovered at the bottom of the Atacama TrenchA never-before-seen predatory crustacean that feeds on other smaller creatures in the hadal zone was discovered in the Atacama Trench at a depth of 25,900 feet.
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World's biggest coral — so big it can be seen from space — discovered by chance off Solomon IslandsThe world's biggest coral — an organism made up of about a billion polyps — is about three times bigger than the previous record-holder and was discovered by chance during an expedition off the Solomon Islands.
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Plastic-eating mealworms native to Africa discoveredLarvae of the Kenyan lesser mealworm found to feast on polystyrene then break it down in their guts.
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Cretaceous 'Pompeii' of China isn't what we thoughtIncredibly well preserved dinosaurs at China fossil site were thought to have been buried in huge volcanic eruptions, similar to the Mount Vesuvius that covered the city of Pompeii 2,000 years ago. But new research says this isn't how things happened.
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Kamikaze termites blow themselves up with 'explosive' backpacks — and scientists just figured out howKamikaze termites in French Guiana carry highly volatile toxic "rucksacks" that are ready to be deployed in an instant, when the termite needs to defend its colony.
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'It's risky for male frogs out there': Female frog drags and attempts to eat screaming maleFemale green and golden bell frogs in Australia will eat their male counterparts when the males' mating call displeases them.
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280 million-year-old swamp monster with 'big, flat toilet seat-shaped head' discovered in NamibiaGiant salamander-like predator that lived 40 million years before the first dinosaurs had huge fangs and sucked up prey with its weird head.
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Ants perform life saving operations — the only animal other than humans known to do soFlorida ants perform amputations and clean wounds to prevent the spread of infection, scientists discover.
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Florida shark attacks caused by heat, not scary orcas, experts sayPeople had linked recent shark attacks in the Florida panhandle to orca activity in the Gulf. But a combination of dry weather and heat was the real driving force.
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50-foot 'king of the serpents' may have been the biggest snake to ever liveGiant, 47 million-year-old snake fossils pulled from mine in India may be the largest snake ever, potentially surpassing Titanoboa by around 15 feet.
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Jurassic 'mist wing' fossil discovered on Scottish island could be missing link in pterosaur evolutionSurprise discovery of 168-million-year-old pterosaur in rocks on Isle of Skye will help scientists narrow down major events in the evolution of these flying reptiles.
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Dinosaur-era frog found fossilized with belly full of eggs and was likely killed during matingGravid frog found in 100 million-year-old deposits in China is oldest fossil of its kind ever discovered.
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Bird flu wipes out over 95% of southern elephant seal pups in 'catastrophic' mass deathOver 17,000 southern elephant seal pups were found dead on Argentina's Valdés Peninsula in a horrific mass die off attributed to the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.
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Adorable but deadly little wildcat may be inbreeding at 'alarming' rates, study findsBlack footed cats are already a threatened species, and habitat fragmentation is now causing increased rates of interbreeding, placing them at higher risk of disease.
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Fossils locked away for 1.75 billion years hold clues about key moment in Earth's historyFossils from Australia provide the first direct evidence that photosynthesis was happening at least 1.75 billion years ago.
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Sargasso Sea around Bermuda is now at its hottest, most acidic and oxygen-starved than at any point in recorded historyThe Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean is now at least 30% more acidic and 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it was 40 years ago — and climate change is to blame.
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California redwoods 'killed' by wildfire come back to life with 2,000-year-old budsNew buds are sprouting through the charred remains of California redwoods that burned in 2020, suggesting the trees are more resilient to wildfires than thought.
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Humans could use black holes as batteries, physics paper claims. Here's how.Black holes are some of the most powerful objects in the universe — and humans could devise ways to harness that power as an energy source, a new theoretical study claims.
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Scientists may have finally figured out how elephants got their incredible trunksElephants appear to have evolved their long, grasping trunks as a result of climate change pressures on their ancestors millions of years ago.
