“Like a tiny galaxy descended into the forest” new species of firefly found
Image courtesy Radim Schreiber/ fireflyexperience.org and National Park Service
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Atlas Obscura.
It appears here as part of the
Clyde Sorenson had a hunch.
Archival data from the North Carolina Entomological Museum’s collection had led him to suspect that some of the fireflies atop Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina might be more than the average lightning bug. An entomologist at North Carolina State University, Sorenson is the sort of college professor who challenges his students to write a Shakespearean sonnet praising their favorite insect. He headed up to the mountains in the summer of 2019, and while staying in one of Grandfather’s cabins, he decided to do a little investigating.
To get British Columbians active in preventing and stopping the spread of harmful invasive species, the BC government has officially declared the entire month of May as Invasive Species Action Month. Invasive species threaten BC’s environment. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers invasive species as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity
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5 Ways Usaid Empowers Women as Leaders Against Climate Crisis
Climate change also can exacerbate gender-based violence, including early and forced marriage.
Although climate change is a threat to us all, research shows women are more vulnerable than men to its consequences.
Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die from climate disasters such as droughts and floods. And because they make up the majority of the world’s poor, women are the first to feel the impacts of depleting natural resources. Climate change also can exacerbate gender-based violence, including early and forced marriage.
In his National Rifle Association (NRA) biography, Wayne LaPierre boasts of his prowess as âa skilled hunterâ, but a newly surfaced video of the gruesome 2013 killing of an endangered savanna elephant in Botswana has revealed a different truth: the gun groupâs long-time leader and self-styled role model for big-game hunters is a lousy shot.
Footage of the incident from the Okavango Delta shows the NRA executive vice-president in safari clothing and accompanied by guides, firing three shots at the wounded animal from barely five yards away, with none of them finding the right place to finish it off.
The dying elephant is heard gurgling and struggling for breath, after LaPierreâs initial shot had felled it but failed to kill it.
Footage of the incident from the Okavango Delta shows the NRA executive vice-president in safari clothing and accompanied by guides, firing three shots at the wounded animal from barely five yards away, with none of them finding the right place to finish it off.
The dying elephant is heard gurgling and struggling for breath, after LaPierreâs initial shot had felled it but failed to kill it.
âIâm not sure where youâre shooting,â a guide tells him, before another man is ordered in to finish off the animal with a single shot.
Later in the clip, published on Tuesday by the Trace, a non-profit journalism outlet that focuses on gun-control news and is affiliated to the New Yorker, LaPierreâs wife Susan is seen killing another elephant.