Kids News - Environment Articles

Award-winning artist and professor Sam Van Aken has managed to accomplish what very few people are able to do - combine art and science together in a project that is as visually stunning, as it is biologically amazing. He has created trees that grow not one or two, but more than 40 types of stone fruit that include numerous kinds of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines and cherries. What's even more amazing is that many of the fruits are ancient, hard-to-find, varieties....

Land animals are not the only ones being affected by the loss of habitat and climate change. The issues are taking their toll on birds too. Experts estimate that since the 1500's, over 190 bird species have become extinct. Of these, at least 12 were endemic to North America....

Each year around this time, stargazers anxiously await nature's finest fireworks show - the Perseid meteors. The 'fireball' champions of all annual meteor showers have already been streaming through our skies at the rate of about a dozen an hour, for the last few weeks. However, things will really heat up from early August 11th to the 13th, when between ninety to a hundred meteors will come zooming across the skies, making them easy to spot, even with the naked eye....

Mention koalas and the image that comes to mind is that of a cuddly animal snoozing, whilst clinging on to a tree trunk for dear life - and rightfully so, given that the animals sleep for up to 20 hours a day! However, while the fact that their sedentary lifestyle is caused by their unusually small brains and the limited nutritional content of the eucalyptus leaves they consume is well-known, what was never questioned was their penchant for tree trunks. Turns out that the smart koalas have figured out that staying close to trees is the best way to beat the heat, during the hot Australian summers....

On June 19th, a group of animal lovers on a whale watching cruise off the coast of Sydney, were treated to a rare sight - a pod of mammals that included Migaloo, the world's first documented white humpback whale. The gorgeous 55-ton all-white humpback, was sighted with five other whales as they made their annual migration from the Antarctica to the breeding areas off Queensland and Western Australia....

On Sunday, May 25th, 2014, India's Malavath Poorna, became the youngest female to climb to the summit of the world's highest peak - Mount Everest. The 13-year-old girl handily surpassed the previous record holder - Nepal's Nima Chemji Sherpa, who accomplished same feat in 2012, at the age of 16....

The plan had been to create a beautiful nature park complete with a large artificial lake on the outskirts of the city of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province in north-central China. However thanks to a cruel trick played by nature, what the officials have ended up with, is an unsalvageable sandy mess!...

Visitors that dare to venture deep into the Western Amazon rainforest often encounter a strange sight - groups of butterflies hovering above yellow-spotted river turtles that are basking in the sun. What's even stranger is why they are there - To drink the tears from their eyes! And it's not because the beautiful insects are trying to comfort the reptiles, but because the tears contain the one ingredient that is lacking in their diet - sodium....

Scientists have often pondered over how the eight-armed octopus avoids getting tangled around itself. This mystery was particularly perplexing given that each tentacle is lined with hundreds of suckers that are strong enough to stick to almost anything. Also, unlike animals with rigid skeletons, the mollusks have no idea where their arms are at any given moment....