Alerce Tree

  The Alerce Tree was discovered in 1993 in a grove in the Andes Mountains of Chile! It is a majestic evergreen tree and scientists estimate the giant is 3,620 years old. Although Patagonian cypresses can reach 150 feet or around 46 meters in height, they gain only a millimeter in girth each year and […]

Continue reading


386 years old tree

  One of the first fruit trees planted in America is still alive at 386 years! It may be hard to believe but one of America’s earliest settlers is still alive today and bearing fruit after 386 years. Among the first wave of immigrants to the New World was an English Puritan named John Endicott […]

Continue reading


Mudskippers

  Mudskippers are very territorial fishes. Males become very aggressive, especially during the mating season, when another male enters it’s territory. Males perform push-ups and jump high in the air and expose their dorsal fins before they return into the water to impress females. The Mudskippers’ fins have adapted so they can walk, jump, swim […]

Continue reading


Kapok tree

  The Kapok tree can be found at Palm Beach, Florida in USA. She says, “Kapoks of this size usually inhabit the rain forest, but I found this one on a private estate in Florida. I first saw a picture of it in a book from the 1940s, with a caption locating it in Palm […]

Continue reading


The Handkerchief Tree!

Native to China, it is best known for its flowers that resemble dangling handkerchiefs. It can grow up to 25 meters or 82 feet in height. It is popularly grown as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. Its flowers sometimes resemble doves resting on the branches. The seed germination can take up to eighteen months, but seedlings […]

Continue reading


Environmental destruction led to the rise of the Zika virus and is fuelling its spread, say experts.

Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. Felling forests brought people into contact with it and the growth of cities are factors behind its rapid proliferation. Dr Allison Gottwalt of The George Washington University’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics describes felling forests as creating “ideal conditions for vectors to breed and spread infectious […]

Continue reading