There’s great news coming from Philadelphia Zoo.

A 100-year-old tortoise, aptly named Mommy, has become a first-time mom with the hatching of four critically endangered Western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises at the Philadelphia Zoo.

 Since there were only 44 individual tortoises of their kind in all U.S. zoos combined, the arrival of these baby turtles is essentially a lifeline for the survival of this species.

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A Moment in the Sun, Kathleen Borshanian

A fox in the sun, fireflies and a brush fire, and trees blanketed with butterflies are among the striking images caught by winners of the California Academy of Sciences’ annual contest.

 

Hello There

Michael Probst/AP

 

On the streets of Key West, David Huber

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Geese on Parade, Ida Marie Odgaard

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Animal Sculptures, Kirsty Elson

For Kirsty Elson, a sliver of driftwood or a scrap of metal is more than just a piece of detritus or trash. She sees a sleepy goat in some old nails and hunks of worn timber or a docile and curious donkey from rusty rods and brush bristles.

 Elson has long been attracted to found objects, giving old elements new life.

 

Geese Walking

Costfoto/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

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The storks are returning to their nests.

 Anadolu/Getty Images

 

A silver-washed fritillary butterfly rests on a flower as the sun rises, Patrick Schwarzbach

Bug out with 15 shots of insects and arachnids of all shapes and sizes from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest.

 

Red panda found in luggage of smuggling suspects at Thailand airport

Thai customs officials have arrested six Indian nationals for attempting to smuggle dozens of wild animals, including a red panda and cotton-top tamarin monkey, out of the country.

 Officers found 87 animals, including monitor lizards, birds and snakes, packaged inside the suspects’ checked luggage at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport. They were trying to fly to Mumbai.

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Beam me up, Scotty

 Yes, it's from Australia. A goanna is any of around 70 species of lizard found in Australia. 

The name came from iguana, which is an unrelated South American lizard. A weir is a short dam that doesn't hold back all the water, but keeps the river above it at a deeper level.

 The story involves an almost 5-foot goanna who wandered onto a weir, which is not safe. 

Waterworks employees rescued the goanna by lowering a log by crane down to where the animal sat. The lizard eventually moved into the log, it being the only thing familiar to him. Then they raised the log up with a winch, with the goanna holding on for dear life. Once the goanna was safe on the riverbank, the workers gave him a large snack of carp, which he finished before wandering off. 

All's well that ends well, right?

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Who’s the smallest of them all?

With much of life on Earth still unknown, scientists are discovering new tiny organisms every year, redefining what is considered the smallest of their kind – and some claims about who is the smallest of them all are hotly contested.

Tiny creatures can sometimes struggle to get the same conservation attention as their larger, charismatic counterparts.

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Red handfish got their name for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, there are only 100 or so left in the world.

Found exclusively in rocky reef areas near Hobart, Tasmania, the animals' habitat is threatened by boats, development, pollution, and, of course climate change. 

The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) recently brought 25 of them into their care for protection from forecasted heatwaves.

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Hello Sunshine

Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/LNP 

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A bird's story in photos, Jacques Revon

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Here are the winners of the 2023 Nature Photography Contest.

“Sea Lion in Los Islotes” by Glenn Ostle. Photography of the Year. 

“The Dreamer – Philaeus chrysops” by Adrian Truchta. Winner, Macrophotography. 

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Harriet and People in Fog, Nick Brandt

Harriet, a giant eagle owl, has lived at Kuimba Shiri for 35 years, rescued when she was just a chick as a result of deforestation. 

As with many of the birds rescued by Kuimba Shiri as chicks, she would not survive if reintroduced into the wild. Giant eagle owls are actually widespread across sub-Saharan Africa, although perhaps declining in rural areas due to deforestation. 

Photographed at Kuimba Shiri bird sanctuary, Zimbabwe.

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Troublemaker , Stefan Christmann

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Reindeer can multitask

A recent study in Current Biology discovered the reindeers don't waste any time. Instead of choosing to eat or sleep, they can do both: ruminating over their cud while they rest.

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Hold tight, Prancer

Parents in Utah had to allay their children’s fears for Santa’s sleigh when three deer were seen being airlifted over Heber City last week.

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