Reference Terms
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Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, or zoo is an institution where mainly wild and exotic animals are restricted within enclosures, bred and displayed to the public. Most of today’s non-profit and serious zoological gardens display wild animals, not just for the amusement and the entertainment of their visitors, but primarily for conservation of endangered species, for education and biological research. The concern of these institutions is to help save the diversity of life on Earth through applied conservation activities such as breeding endangered species. The breeding of endangered species is coordinated by cooperative breeding programmes containing international studbooks and coordinators, who evaluate the roles of individual animals and institutions from a global or regional perspective.
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Plants & Animals News
April 28, 2026
Apr. 28, 2026 A new study suggests Neanderthals didn’t go extinct simply because of climate change or competition with Homo sapiens. Instead, the key difference may have been social connectivity—Homo sapiens formed stronger, more flexible networks that helped ...
Apr. 27, 2026 A mysterious “golden orb” found more than two miles deep in the Gulf of Alaska left scientists baffled for over two years, sparking wild speculation about its origins. After an intensive ...
Apr. 26, 2026 Dinosaur DNA may still be out of reach, but scientists are uncovering something almost as exciting—ancient blood vessels hidden inside fossilized bones. In a massive Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Scotty, researchers discovered a network of preserved ...
Apr. 25, 2026 As Alaska’s rivers warm, invasive northern pike are becoming noticeably more voracious. Scientists discovered that pike of all ages are eating more fish, with young pike increasing consumption by over 60%. Warmer water speeds up their metabolism, ...
Apr. 25, 2026 For ages, wall lizards coexisted in three distinct color types, each with its own strategy for survival. Now, a powerful green variant is taking over. These dominant “Hulk” lizards are outcompeting the others, causing yellow and orange morphs to ...
Apr. 24, 2026 The golden oyster mushroom may be a culinary hit, but it’s becoming an ecological problem. Scientists warn it’s spreading quickly through U.S. forests, where it outcompetes native fungi and reduces biodiversity. In just a decade, it has appeared ...
Apr. 24, 2026 Beneath the dry farmland of New South Wales lies a hidden window into a lost rainforest teeming with life from 11-16 million years ago. At McGraths Flat, scientists have uncovered fossils preserved in astonishing detail—not in typical rock like ...
Apr. 22, 2026 A vivid green pitviper hiding in Sichuan’s misty mountains has been revealed as a completely new species. Scientists had overlooked it for decades, assuming it was a common snake—until DNA analysis proved otherwise. Named after Laozi, it ...
Apr. 21, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a fascinating new species of pit viper in Myanmar that seems to blur the very definition of what a species is. This snake, now named the Ayeyarwady pit viper, puzzled ...
Apr. 20, 2026 Scientists at UC Riverside have found a clever new way to outsmart termites—by turning their own instincts against them. Using a natural pine scent called pinene, which smells like food to termites, researchers can lure the pests straight toward a ...
Apr. 20, 2026 Scientists have discovered that moringa seeds can help pull microplastics out of water, rivaling standard chemical treatments. The plant-based extract causes plastic particles to clump together, making them easier to filter away. In some conditions, ...
Apr. 16, 2026 Scientists have discovered that methane in the open ocean is produced by microbes under nutrient-poor conditions, solving a long-standing mystery. As warming oceans reduce nutrient mixing, these ...
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Apr. 27, 2026 A newly discovered prehistoric mammal may hold clues to how life survived the dinosaur-killing extinction. The tiny species, Cimolodon desosai, lived 75 million years ago and had traits—like a ...
Apr. 27, 2026 A bizarre, cyclops-like creature from nearly 600 million years ago may hold the key to how your eyes—and even your sleep cycle—evolved. Scientists have discovered that all vertebrates, including ...
Apr. 26, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a surprising new picture of human origins that challenges the long-held idea of a single ancestral population in Africa. By analyzing genetic data from diverse modern ...
Apr. 25, 2026 Giant, fearsome octopuses may have once ruled the ancient seas, according to new research that flips the script on their evolutionary past. By uncovering exquisitely preserved fossil jaws hidden ...
Apr. 25, 2026 Ancient Earth once buzzed with enormous dragonfly-like insects, and scientists long thought high oxygen levels made their size possible. A new study overturns that idea, revealing insect flight ...
Apr. 25, 2026 Before seedlings can photosynthesize, they depend on fatty acids—and on peroxisomes to process them. Researchers discovered that the protein PEX11 not only helps these structures divide but also ...
Apr. 24, 2026 A long-standing mystery in southern Africa’s fossil record is beginning to unravel. After massive lava flows 182 million years ago seemed to erase evidence of dinosaurs in the region, scientists ...
Apr. 23, 2026 A bizarre crocodile relative from the age of dinosaurs is rewriting what scientists thought they knew about ancient reptiles. This poodle-sized creature, called Sonselasuchus cedrus, appears to have ...
Apr. 23, 2026 A remarkably preserved, mummified reptile from 289 million years ago is rewriting what we know about how animals first breathed on land. This tiny creature, Captorhinus aguti, reveals the earliest ...
Apr. 21, 2026 Scientists chasing thunderstorms in a retrofitted minivan finally captured something never seen before in nature: faint electrical glows shimmering from treetops during a storm. These “corona ...