Nature
91 verified facts in this category.
- The immortal jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii, can revert from adulthood back to its polyp stage when threatened by danger or starvation.
- The Greenland shark has the longest known lifespan of any vertebrate, living up to 400 years, with sexual maturity not reached until around 150 years of age.
- The mantis shrimp can punch with the acceleration of a .22 caliber bullet, creating cavitation bubbles that reach 4,700°C—nearly as hot as the sun's surface.
- The wood frog can survive being frozen solid during winter, with up to 70% of its body water turning to ice, then thaw and resume normal activity.
- Tardigrades can survive in the vacuum of space, withstand pressures six times greater than the deepest ocean trenches, and endure radiation doses 1,000 times what would kill a human.
- Certain marine clams can live for more than 500 years.
- Ovis longipes palaeoaegyptiacus had unique, loosely spiraling horns that came out of the sides of the skull.
- Wombat feces are cube-shaped, with researchers confirming this results from the unique elasticity of their intestines, not diet—helping mark territory without rolling away.
- Honey never spoils; archaeologists have found 3,000-year-old honey in Egyptian tombs that was still perfectly edible.
- The Guam Rail (Hypotaenidia owstoni) is the second bird in history to recover after being declared Extinct in the Wild, following the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus).
- Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois are among the states with the highest numbers of people at earthquake risk, according to USGS data.
- Only about 400 North Atlantic right whales remain, including likely fewer than 100 breeding females.
- According to researcher Felisa Smith of the University of New Mexico, 80–90% of large herbivores' methane emissions are released through burps rather than flatulence.
- The Younger Dryas cold period began in less than 100 years and lasted roughly 1,300 years, occurring approximately 12,900 to 11,600 years ago.
- The deep Atlantic contains some of the world's oldest and most spectacular cold-water coral reefs and deep-sea sponge grounds, which depend on ocean currents to deliver food and disperse offspring.
- The sea just south of Greenland has remained relatively cool compared with the rest of the North Atlantic.
- About 94 percent of the plastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are microplastics—pieces smaller than a grain of rice that are often invisible to the naked eye.
- About 94 percent of the plastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are microplastics smaller than a grain of rice.
- The Pacific Ocean spans 60 million square miles, making it larger than all of Earth's landmasses combined.
- Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood; two hearts pump blood to the gills while the third pumps it to the rest of the body.
- Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) are listed as Least Concern.
- The Endangered Freckled Cypripedium (Cypripedium lentiginosum) orchid has fewer than 100 individuals remaining, found in south-eastern Yunnan, China, and Ha Giang province, Vietnam.
- The Japanese Eel (Anguilla japonica), Japan's most expensive food fish, is listed as Endangered due to habitat loss, overfishing, migration barriers, pollution, and changes to oceanic currents.
- The California Channel Island fox population increased from about 1,500 individuals to about 5,500 after the National Park Service removed golden eagles, bred and reintroduced foxes, and inoculated them against disease.
- Leatherback sea turtle populations are declining in the Pacific Ocean but recovering in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Tuna can swim at speeds approaching 40 miles per hour.
- Juvenile representation is decreasing in all five G. agassizii recovery units, indicating inadequate recruitment across the entire recovery-unit system.
- Recurrent movement on California's Imperial Fault caused right-lateral fault offset at Interstate 8.
- The eastern North Pacific population of gray whales was delisted from the Endangered Species Act in 1994 after being declared no longer in danger of extinction.
- In 2016, NOAA Fisheries determined that 9 of the 14 humpback whale distinct population segments did not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act.
- Less than 1 percent of species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act have been lost, according to NOAA Fisheries.
- Only about 400 North Atlantic right whales remain, including likely fewer than 100 breeding females.
- Within 1,000 years of humans migrating into the Americas, more than 114 species of large plant-eaters, including woolly mammoths, giant camels, and ground sloths, went extinct.
- A toxic algal bloom stretched along the entire West Coast of the United States during the Pacific 'Blob' period.
- The Pacific 'Blob' coincided with unexpected die-offs of California sea lions, Guadalupe fur seals, common murres, and Cassin's auklets.
- During the Pacific 'Blob' event, sea-surface temperatures in some locations were more than 10°F above average.
- The toxic algal bloom during the Pacific 'Blob' period delayed and partially closed recreational and commercial fishing seasons for sardines, anchovies, crabs, and razor clams.
- A toxic algal bloom stretched along the entire West Coast of the United States during the Pacific 'Blob' period.
- The Pacific 'Blob' marine heatwave coincided with unexpected die-offs of California sea lions, Guadalupe fur seals, common murres, and Cassin's auklets.
- The toxic algal bloom during the Pacific Blob delayed and partially closed recreational and commercial fishing seasons for sardines, anchovies, crabs, and razor clams.
- During the Pacific 'Blob', sea-surface temperatures in some locations were more than 10°F above average.
- A toxic algal bloom stretched along the entire West Coast of the United States during the Pacific Blob period.
- The Pacific Blob coincided with unexpected die-offs of California sea lions, Guadalupe fur seals, common murres, and Cassin's auklets.
- The Mariana Trench's deepest point, Challenger Deep, is about 36,000 feet down, deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
- Another hypothesis for fairy circle formation proposes that competition between grasses naturally yields certain vegetation patterns.
- One hypothesis for fairy circle formation proposes that the activities of various types of termites affect vegetation growth.
- No study has conclusively proven how fairy circles are formed.
- Fairy circles are often encircled by a ring of stimulated grass growth.
- Ball lightning is reported to last considerably longer than the split-second flash of a lightning bolt.
- A related ancient Egyptian sheep form called Ovis platyura aegyptiaca had horns that developed downward and curled forward.
- The Bwindi-Sarambwe ecosystem, covering 83,840 acres (33,928 hectares), is home to 459 mountain gorillas, up from an estimated 400 individuals in 2011.
- Leatherback sea turtles can weigh 550 to 1,500 pounds (250 to 700 kilograms), making them the largest living turtles.
- The expansion of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease affecting bats, into the Pacific Northwest is centered in western Washington.
- Fishers were reintroduced to Washington's Olympic Peninsula in 2008 after being extirpated from the peninsula for decades.
- A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck the Saudi Arabian desert on May 19, 2009, causing a surface fault rupture.
- In 2016, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service divided green sea turtles into 11 distinct population segments and reclassified two endangered breeding populations, in Florida and along the Pacific Coast of Mexico.
- In 2016, NOAA Fisheries divided humpback whales into 14 distinct population segments under the Endangered Species Act.
- After approximately two decades of slow recovery, the North Atlantic right whale population began declining in 2010.
- The North Atlantic right whale population began declining in 2010 after approximately two decades of slow recovery.
- The toxic algal bloom during the Pacific 'Blob' period delayed and partially closed recreational and commercial fishing seasons for sardines, anchovies, crabs, and razor clams.
- The Pacific 'Blob' marine heatwave persisted from late 2013 through most of 2015 and into 2016.
- By fall 2014, the warm water of the Pacific 'Blob' extended all the way to the U.S. West Coast.
- The Pacific 'Blob' marine heatwave persisted from late 2013 through most of 2015 and into 2016.
- The warm water of the Pacific Blob extended all the way to the U.S. West Coast by fall 2014.
- The Pacific 'Blob' marine heatwave persisted from late 2013 through most of 2015 and into 2016.
- The Mariana Trench's deepest point, Challenger Deep, is about 36,000 feet down, deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
- Fairy circles occur in the arid grasslands of the Namib desert in western parts of Southern Africa.
- The warm water of the Pacific 'Blob' extended all the way to the U.S. West Coast by fall 2014.
- Warmer water associated with the Pacific Blob first appeared about 125 miles off the West Coast of the United States in early 2014.
- The Pacific Ring of Fire contains a chain of volcanoes roughly 25,000 miles long, formed where the Pacific tectonic plate slides against or collides with surrounding plates.
- Super Typhoon Mangkhut was the strongest storm of 2018, producing winds exceeding 165 miles per hour.
- Arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos) are listed as Least Concern.
- Kilauea volcano rises to 1,250 metres above the Pacific Ocean.
- Mauna Loa volcano rises to 4,170 metres above the Pacific Ocean.
- Hawaii Volcanoes National Park contains two of the most active volcanoes in the world: Mauna Loa and Kilauea.
- A magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck Chile on April 1, 2014, centered 59 miles (95 kilometers) northwest and offshore of Iquique, about 12.5 miles (20.1 kilometers) beneath the Pacific Ocean.
- The Gunnison Sage-Grouse Recovery Module was released in 2020 and is designed to record conservation efforts benefiting Gunnison sage-grouse, a federally listed threatened species.
- Within the United States, North Atlantic right whales are classified as Strategic and Depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
- When glaciers retreat during warmer periods, they leave behind ridges of sediment.
- Falling temperatures near advancing ice cliffs drive cold-weather plant life toward southern latitudes.
- Advancing glaciers reshape landscapes by picking up rocks and soil and eroding hills.
- During La Niña, the U.S. Southwest, central and southern Rockies, Great Plains, and Florida usually experience drier weather.
- Super Typhoon Mangkhut, the strongest storm of 2018, produced winds exceeding 165 miles per hour before striking the Philippines in late September 2018.
- Bell Island is the largest island in Conception Bay.
- Bell Island is the largest island in Conception Bay.
- Ball lightning is usually associated with thunderstorms.
- Campbell Island is a subantarctic island.
- Meltwater from retreating glaciers fills basins and creates new lakes.
- Bell Island is the largest island in Conception Bay.
- The IUCN Red List is used to help inform conservation decisions and policy.
- The IUCN Otter Specialist Group bulletin is published in English.