'Alien mushroom creatures' found

Finding a new species is always cause for excitement in the scientific community. And nowadays researchers find themselves having to go into ever more unreachable and hostile environments to find new life. 

deep sea mushroom animals discovered off Australia, which have defied classification.(Public Library of Science) 

So you can imagine the excitement when they dredged the ocean depths off Australia and discovered not only a new species, but something totally unrelated to anything else alive today.

Meet the Dendrogramma. These mushroom-shaped creatures consist mainly of an outer skin and inner stomach, separated by a dense layer of jelly-like material.

Scientists suspect they are related to ancient extinct life forms that lived 600 million years ago. Excitingly, we may be looking at a failed early attempt at multicellular life.

Two species of Dendrogramma have been identified: Dendrogramma enigmatica and Dendrogramma discoides.

They were discovered among a collection of organisms dredged up way back in 1986. The sample came from depths of 400 and 1,000 metres (1,312 and 3,280 feet) on the south-east Australian continental slope.

A new attempt may now be made to find other specimens of the mushroom-like organisms.

From: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/alien-mushroom-creatures-found-30560109.html

Super cute Rare red panda cubs born in Scotland

The Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland has welcomed TWO new arrivals - rare twin red panda cubs!

The super cute cubs join big brother Kush, who was the first red panda to be born in Scotland for 13 years.

They don't have names yet and keepers are trying not to disturb the family, so they don't know if they are male or female.

There are thought to be less than 10,000 red pandas left in the wild. They're on the IUCN red list for protected species.

Numbers are low because their natural habitat is being destroyed and they're a target for poachers.

Pandas?

Despite what their name suggests, red pandas are not related to giant pandas (which are part of the bear family), but are distantly related to the raccoon family.

From CBBC newsround

Three African lions and two rare jaguars born at zoo

There's a baby boom at a zoo in Mexico!

Two rare jaguar cubs and three African lion cubs have been born there.

One is causing serious excitement because it's completely black!

The zoo's launched a competition for local children to help name them.

See the cute cubs.

From CBBC Newsround

White lion cubs born in South Korea

So cuuuuuute!

These two rare white lion cubs have been born at a zoo in South Korea.

There's only about three hundred white lion cubs left in the world so it's no surprise they're a big hit with visitors.

The cubs are being raised by the zookeepers for now. They'll be introduced to the rest of the lion family when they're seven months old.

From CBBC newsround

Tiny Gardiner's frog can hear with its mouth!

Scientists think they've discovered a tiny species of frog that's able to hear with its mouth!

Gardiner's frogs are able to 'talk' to each other even though they don't have a middle ear or eardrum to hear sound.

Researchers found they have special mouths that resonate with the high-pitched sounds made by other frogs, transmitting them to their brains.

Scientists hope that they can study the way these unique frogs hear, to help in the treatment of deaf people.

Tiny, endangered species

For a long time it was thought that Gardiner's frogs, that live in the forests of an island in the Seychelles off the east coast of Africa, could not hear anything at all.

But it was observed during the study that the frogs would turn their heads when high-pitched sounds were made - so even without ears, somehow they were hearing the noises.

Sound waves make their mouths vibrate, like the body of a guitar. These vibrations are amplified to their brains, so they do not need fully-developed ears.

Gardiner's frogs are listed as an endangered species, because their habitat is being spoiled by fire, invasive species, and human activity including agriculture and tourism.

One of the scientists who has studied the animals, Dr Justin Gerlach, says: "The possible extinction of these frogs would mean the loss of 65 million years of remarkable evolution: not only are their hearing systems unusual, but they are also among the smallest frogs in the world."

Edinburgh zoo prepares for possible panda birth

It's the big question that nobody knows the answer to: is Tian Tian the panda pregnant?

Staff at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland are preparing for what could be the first panda cub to be born in Britain.

They still can't say for certain whether their female panda - on loan from China - is pregnant but say she is showing all the right signs.

If Tian Tian is carrying a cub, the birth is expected to be in the next two weeks - so the wait goes on.

One of the reasons why there is so much excitement around the potential pregnancy is that giant pandas are very rare.

There are only between 1,000 and 2,000 thought to remain in the wild.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang are the first to live in the UK for 17 years.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang they seemed to be very much in love not long ago

Panda cubs are born blind, hairless and unable to move, making them very dependent on their mums for the first few months.

After six to eight weeks, cubs open their eyes for the first time. They feed on their mother's milk for the first year and start eating bamboo at around six months.

From CBBC newsround

Blue jellyfish found in Newquay rock pool

A jellyfish usually found in colder waters has been discovered stranded near Newquay, Cornwall.

The blue jellyfish is usually found in the western Pacific around Japan or off the coast of Scotland

The unusual blue jellyfish was spotted by a group from the Manor House Activity Centre in St Issey.

The jellyfish, found by a teacher at Trevone Bay, has been given to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay.

"We've seen several washing up over recent weeks but this is the first live specimen we've come across," Lee Charnock from the aquarium said.

"Full-grown specimens can reach up to 15 centimetres in diameter and have metre-long stinging tentacles which they use to catch their prey."

There are more than 200 known species of jellyfish.

The blue jellyfish is usually found in the western Pacific around Japan and off the west coast of Scotland.

Rare Sumatran tiger arrives at London Zoo

Jae Jae the Sumatran tiger has travelled nearly 4,000 miles from Ohio in the US to meet his new mate, Melati, at London Zoo.

Sumatran tigers are among the most endangered species in the world with around 300 left in the wild.

Keepers at the zoo hope Jae Jae will breed with Melati, a female from Australia, to help save the critically endangered species.

Both tigers are around four years old and both have been bred in captivity.

From CBBC 

'Mystery' stick insect discovered

                                        Conlephasma enigma: a stick insect unlike any other

A mysterious new species of stick insect has been discovered living in the Philippines by scientists.

The stick insect is wingless, lives on the ground rather than in trees, and is spectacularly coloured, having a green-blue head and orange body.

The insect also vents a foul-smelling spray to deter predators.

The stick insect is so unique that scientists have given it its own genus and do not yet know its relationship to other stick and leaf insects.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It looked so different from any other known stick insect in the world that we immediately realised it was something very special”

Entomologist Marco Gottardo of the University of Siena, Italy

"Recently a colleague, entomologist Oskar Conle, showed us some museum specimens of a strange-looking stick insect found several years ago on Mount Halcon, a remote locality in the Philippine island of Mindoro," explains Marco Gottardo, who is studying for a PhD at the University of Siena, Italy.

The insect was found on the third highest mountain in the archipelago, which is considered one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world.

"We were baffled. It looked so different from any other known stick insect in the world that we immediately realised it was something very special."

Mr Gottardo and colleague Philipp Heller carefully examined the specimen.

"We concluded that it represented an unknown genus and species of stick insect," Mr Gottardo told BBC Nature.

From BBC News

Super rare white tiger cubs born at a zoo in Ukraine

In a list of your top ten cutest baby animals - this lot has to be in there.

They're white tiger cubs, and the four fluffy babies have been born in a zoo in Ukraine.

It's great news, because white tigers are really rare - so much so there's only thought to be about 100 left in the world.

See if you can spot the really special cub: it's albino and doesn't have any black stripes on its fur!