The Washington Post
A new job for the power company:
Feeding giraffes
Some humans consider mulberry trees little more than oversize weeds, but Stella the giraffe loves them. Utility companies routinely trim trees to keep branches
from damaging power lines and a growing number are are donating the collected trimmings to zoos.
The Washington Post
People built a whole island to protect the
rarest of rare creatures—an albino orangutan
Alba is one of the rarest creatures on earth: She’s the only known
albino member of a dwindling population of Borneo orangutans.
She is such a target that humans are taking unprecedented measures to keep her safe.
Nature
JSTOR Daily
Botanists use machine learning
to accelerate research
A team of scientists in Austria has created a new, user-friendly artificial intelligence program to speed up their research by automating the analysis of huge numbers of plant images.
Smithsonian.com
What's on your botanical bucket list?
From rare orchids to grizzled desert plants, experts weigh in on which flora they most want to see before they die. Which species do other botany fans want to stalk like celebrities or witness
like world landmarks?
Quartz
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash the tarantula:
Why new species are named after celebrities
When scientists discovered a new species of black tarantula living near Folsom State Prison in Folsom, Calif., the name they chose made complete sense: Aphonopelma johnnycashi. It's far from the first or last species named after someone famous.
The Washington Post
Pete the parrot is getting a prosthetic foot, then he has to learn to live with it
Pete cocked his head and fixed his sharp eyes on the people
gathered to watch him. The blue-crowned mealy Amazon parrot gave no indication on this late August day that he knew something remarkable was happening.
The New York Times
How to save phallic flowers
from being bred to extinction
To save endangered plant species, horticulturalists are using a tactic they’ve borrowed from horse breeders and zookeepers, building breeding registries or “studbooks” to avoid inbreeding. Naturally, they’re starting with a plant with a Latin name that means “large misshapen penis.”
The Washington Post
Meet Challenger, a bald eagle whose soaring skills are in high demand
The first big cheer at Lincoln Financial Field occurred when the Philadelphia Eagles ran onto the field. The second roar came during “The Star-Spangled Banner” — when an actual eagle swooped around the stadium.
Samantha Drake
Pet360
Cloned puppies push the boundaries
of science and love
Laura Jacques couldn’t imagine life without her beloved dog, Dylan. Although she didn’t set out to clone her dog, the $100,000 price tag was worth what turned out to be
a harrowing ordeal.
Philadelphia Magazine
Giant stinky corpse flowers are incredibly rare. Two are about to bloom near Philly.
Anyone who missed the chance to see—and smell—Longwood Gardens’ corpse flower last summer will get another shot in the next week to experience this rare event in the Philly area.
Writer and Editor