Tag: planet

A butterfly flutters delicately from bloom to bloom, sipping nectar through its curly proboscis. But a closer look reveals this winged beauty uses more than just its mouth to experience the world.

Of Earth’s seven continents, only one remarkable landmass stretches into all four hemispheres – Africa. Thanks to twists of geography and scale, Africa uniquely straddles the dividing lines of latitude and longitude that delineate eastern from western lands and northern countries from southern ones. Consequently, significant portions of its sprawling territory extend into each hemispheric quadrant.

Humans fancy ourselves the smartest creatures on Earth thanks to superior intellect and advanced communication. But science increasingly shows we share the planet with animal masterminds in their own right. Beyond captivating pets, the animal kingdom harbors genius rivaling our own across metrics like analytical skill, social smarts and technical innovation.

Concealed in the stormy North Atlantic lies Earth’s greatest waterfall, an underwater giant hidden from view in the darkness between Iceland and Greenland. Here, where warm subtropical waters collide with a frigid Arctic cataract, the largest waterfall on the planet plunges silently into the abyss.

Scanning arid African or Indian savannas today reveals an improbable invader - the spindly spaghetti cactus dangling stringy arms covered in sharp spines amid acacia trees and drifting sands. This zany, zippy succulent belongs to the exclusively New World Cactaceae family, yet thrives across three distant continents baffling botanists for over a century through improbable oceanic crossings somehow overcome.

In a secluded grove in Northern California stands Hyperion, rising higher than any known living tree on Earth. At 380 feet tall, this giant coast redwood pierces the sky, taller than Big Ben or the Statue of Liberty.