Natural History Wanderings

Popular Mechanics reported

This newly-discovered species is being called the “death-ball sponge” for its appendages. These appendages end in orbs. They are covered in micro-hooks meant to capture prey.

Read more A Carnivorous ‘Death Ball’ Has Emerged from the Deep

Euro News reported

A groundbreaking project has been launched to help protect one of the UK’s most spectacular insects.

The British Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon britannicus) is found exclusively in the county of East Anglia, predominantly in the Norfolk Broads, a national park veined with waterways.

However, the insect’s survival is threatened by habitat loss, climate change and genetic erosion due to its limited geographical range.

Now researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) have joined forces with Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park and Nature’s SAFE, a UK biobank specialising in conservation, to investigate if cryopreservation can come to the aid of Britain’s largest native butterfly.

Read more  Scientists plan to freeze butterfly eggs with cryopreservation to save British species | Euronews