1. Far from home
Credit: Support Our Sharks
A rare shark couple found for the first time off the coast of Australia may force a rethink of the species' range.
Two years ago, a sport fisherman caught a pair of rare sharks off Rottnest Island in Western Australia. The duo, a male shark about 3.3 feet (1 meter) long and a pregnant female about 3.9 feet (1.2 m) long, looked different from the sharks that normally prowl the Australian waters. The female was carrying 22 pups.
2. From out of this world
Meteorite hunters at the bottom of the world bagged a rare find this southern summer: a 40-pound (18 kilogram) chunk of extra-terrestrial rock.
A team from Belgium and Japan discovered the hefty meteorite as the members drove across the East Antarctic plateau on snowmobiles. Initial tests show it is an ordinary chondrite, the most common type of meteorite found on Earth, Vinciane Debaille, a geologist from Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, said in a statement.
3. Gold from the sky
In the Texas Panhandle, black gold comes from oil wells and white gold falls as flakes from the sky.
The drought-strapped region was smothered with up to 18 inches (45 centimetres) of white gold Monday (Feb. 25) as a strong winter snowstorm blasted through from Colorado.
4. Rare sight
As a waterspout sped toward Tampa, Florida [USA], this morning (Feb. 26), a quick-thinking weather watcher snapped the vacation photo of a lifetime.
Robert Siegel, a spotter for the National Weather Service's volunteer program, was on vacation in Florida when the waterspout appeared in northern Hillsborough Bay at 11:12 a.m. Siegel, who lives in Colorado, shot photos and emailed them to the National Weather Service, which shared the waterspout image via Twitter.
5. Low visibility
Driving snow and gusting winds reduce visibility to next to nothing in two wild videos taken in Amarillo, Texas [USA], during today's historic blizzard.
The storm, which has dumped at least 17 inches (43 centimetres) of snow on Amarillo so far today (Feb. 25), has closed most roads in the Texas panhandle, including the major thoroughfares of Interstates 40 and 27. Around 11 a.m. CST, the Amarillo International Airport recorded a hurricane-force 75-mph gust of wind.
6. New life identified
A vast array of new species was recently discovered in the world's most spectacular reef you've never heard of, Madang Lagoon in Papua New Guinea.
"It is the most diverse reef in the world," said marine biologist Jim Thomas, a researcher at Nova Southeastern University's National Coral Reef Institute in Hollywood, Florida [USA].
7. Odd ice
Strong winds make for strange sea ice patterns in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the Weddell Sea along the coast of Antarctica, the sea ice stretched 124 to 186 miles (200 to 300 kilometres) north of its typical extent in January and February, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC).
[Source: Our Amazing Planet. Edited. (Not included are some images as they were already shown in this post.)]
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