Flowers are left on the ground near the Borisovskoye cemetery during the funeral of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Kindergarten children show off handmade floral headdress made of ginkgo leaves on December 17, 2024 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. The floral headdress is also known as Zanhua or Zanhuawei. Zanhuawei is a traditional Chinese hairstyle favored among ladies from Xunpu Village of Quanzhou in China's Fujian Province. (Photo by Tan Yunfeng/VCG via Getty Images)

“Cassowaries are large, flightless birds related to emus and (more distantly) to ostriches, rheas, and kiwis”, writes Olivia Judson in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. How large? People-size: Adult males stand well over five foot five and top 110 pounds. Females are even taller, and can weigh more than 160 pounds. Dangerous when roused, they’re shy and peaceable when left alone. But even birds this big and tough are prey to habitat loss. The dense New Guinea and Australia rain forests where they live have dwindled. Today cassowaries might number 1,500 to 2,000. And because they help shape those same forests – by moving seeds from one place to another – “if they vanish”, Judson writes, “the structure of the forest would gradually change” too. (Photo by Christian Ziegler/National Geographic)

Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.

Snorkelers interact with a Florida Manatee inside of the Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida January 15, 2015. On winter days, Florida manatees flock by the hundreds to the balmy waters of Three Sisters Springs, drawing crowds of snorkelers and kayakers to the U.S. sanctuary, where people may swim with the endangered species. But as tolerant as the gentle, whiskered sea giants can be of the accidental kicks and splashes of delighted tourists, wild life regulators want to ban most canoes and paddle boards and create people-free zones to protect the wintering “sea cow”. Proposed limitations for this winter are awaiting approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Photo by Scott Audette/Reuters)

An illustration showing scarecrows pulling a firewood cart beside a road is on display at Kakashi no Sato, or the Scarecrow's Hometown on September 10, 2014 in Himeji, Japan. In this district of Yasutomi in Himeji city, over 100 of scarecrows stand in farmlands and abandoned houses to illustrate the good old Japanese countryside and attract visitors. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

Two stallions confront each other at a horse fighting contest in Rongshui, China. More than 30 horses from surrounding regions took part in the traditional activity of the Lantern festival. (Photo by China Foto Press)