Sun's activity controls Greenland Temperature

According to a new study the Sun's activity could be affecting a key ocean circulation mechanism that plays an important role in regulating Greenland's climate according to a new study. The phenomenon could be responsible for cool temperatures the island experienced in the late 20th century and potentially lead to increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet in the coming decades;

According to the climate scientist Takuro Kobashi, around starting 2025, temperature of the Greenland will be much higher than it was previously anticipated and the ice sheet could melt faster than projected. 

New Dinosaur found from Triassic-Jurassic Period

A new herbivorous dinosaur species, Sefapanosaurus zastronensis, has been found in the the Elliot formation of South Africa.

This report published on 23rd June 2015, in the zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

This Dinosaur is a herbivore form the southern regions of Gondwanaland some 200 million years ago in the late Triassic or Early Jurassic.  

Jurassic Saw the Fastest Evolution of Mammals

A report of a research published in Current Biology says that the fastest mammal evolution occurs in the Jurassic period.

Early mammals lived alongside dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era (252 - 66 Million years ago). They were thought to be exclusively small, nocturnal and insect-eaters but fossils discoveries of the past decades, especially from China and South America, shows that they developed diverse adaptation for feeding and locomotion, including gliding, digging and swimming. 

To find the how rapidly the evolution happens they did a large-scaled analysis of the skeleton and dental changes of the Mesozoic mammals. By calculating, the researchers found the evolution reaches its peak at the Jurassic period (200-145 million years ago).

The team comprised researchers from Oxford University and Macquarie University. Dr. Roger Close of Oxford University is the lead author of this report.  

2014 is the warmest year on record

A report compiled by the NOAA's center for weather and climate at the National centers for environmental information is based on contributions from 413 scientists form 58 countries of the world. It provided the detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice and in space.

The Key highlight on the report include:

• Greenhouse Gases continued to climb: Carbon Di Oxide, Methane and Nitrous Oxide continued to rise during 2014 period. Atmospheric CO2 concentration increases by 1.9 ppm in 2014, reaching a global average of 397.2 ppm for the year.
• Record temperatures observed near the earth's surface: Four independent global datasets showed that 2014 was the warmest year on record. The warmth was widespread across land areas. Europe was the warmest continent on record in this year 2014. 20 countries Europe crossed their previous records. Africa's almost every country crossed above average temperate throughout 2014. Australia saw third warmest year on record. Mexico saw their first warmest year on record. Argentina and Uruguay saw their second warmest. Eastern North America was the only major region to experience below-average annual temperature.
• Tropical Pacific Ocean moves towards El-Nino Southern Oscillation conditions: The El Nino Southern Oscillation was in a nutral state in 2014 , although it was on the cool side in thee beginning of the year and approached warm El Nino conditions by the end of the year. The pattern played a major role in several regional climate outcomes.
• Sea surface temperatures were record high: The global averaged sea surface temperature was the highest on record. The warmth was particularly notable in the North Pacific Ocean.
• Global Upper ocean heat content was record high: Globally, the upper ocean heat content reached a record high for the year, reflecting the continuing accumulation of thermal energy in the upper layer of the oceans. Oceans absorb over 90% of earth's excess heat from greenhouse gas forcing.
• Global sea level was record high: Global average sea level rose to a record high in 2014. This keeps pace with the 3.2+/- 0.4 mm per year trend in sea level growth observed over past two decades.
• The Arctic continued to warm: The arctic experience its warmest year in record. Arctic snow melt occurred 20-30 days earlier than the 1998-2010 average.
• The antarctic shows highly variable temperature pattern: Some regions are cooler than normal and some are warmer than normal. Resulting a near-average condition as a whole. This 2014 is the third consecutive year of record maximum sea ice extent.
• Tropical cyclone above average overall: There are 91 cyclones in 2014 which is well above the average of 82 storms 

10 Extinct Animal That Returned

We often heard that Some species is extincted from the earth but  it is very seldom that we hear that some extinct species returned from extinction. Yes, it may sounds like the Jurassic Park movie but this type of things sometimes happened naturally. It will be more precise if we say sometimes we make mistakes and miss to count or find them. 

Here is the list of 13 species that once thought to be extinct but still alive in earth

COELACANTH

Coelacanth is a ancient world fish which was believed to be extinct in the Cretaceous Period about 65 plus million years ago. In 1938, one person miraculously discovered this fish in the East coast of South Africa near the mouth of Chalumna River. This species is lies among the oldest living jawed fish known to exists. The live about 100 years and swim about 90 to 100 meters below the surface of the water.

BERMUDA PETREL

It is believed to be extinct since 1620's. It remained extinct for 330 years. then in 1951, 18 nesting pairs were found in a very remote rocky islets in Castles Harbor. The are still battling extinction with only about 250 individuals.

CHACOAN PECCARY

In 1930 we only describe them by fossil records. But in 1975 researchers discovered one living species. To they there are 3000 known animals of this species. They resembles the pigs but they cannot be domesticated. It is found in the Chaco regions of Paraguay. 

LORD HOWE ISLAND STICK INSECT

Sometimes it referred to a land lobster or a walking sausages. It believed to be extinct in 1930. But in 2001 with only 30 individuals this Lord Howe Island  Stick Insect was found on the small Islet of Ball's Pyramid, the world's tallest and most isolated sea stack

MONITO DEL MONTE

It remains extinct for 11 million years until it had been discovered in the thicket of Chilean bamboo in the southern Andes. This creature more closely related with their Australian Marsupials than the South American Marsupials which lived 55 million years ago.

LA PALMA GIANT LIZARD

This creature extinct for 500 years until it is rediscovered in 2007 in the La Palma region of the Canary Island. In the IUCN red list still lists it as the Extinct species.

TAHAHE

This flightless birds believed to be extinct but in 1948 this species rediscovered near Lake Anua. This bird is still endangered with only 250 individuals.

CUBAN SOLENODON

This strange looking creature is very rare and only 34 individuals ever found. It is discovered in 1861 but from 1890 to 1974 no individuals were found. So, it is believed to be extinct. In 2003 one individual found and given a name Alejendrito.

CALEDONIAN CRESTED  GECKO

It is described first in 1866 and then after no individuals found. So it was put in the Extinct species lists but in 1994 it is again came into existence.

HOLLAND MOUSE

It was first discovered in 1843. then it was vanished from the earth at least for a century. In 1967 it was rediscovered at Ku-ring-gai National Park in Sydney. After a lot of conservation effort it is still fighting for existence. One of its remote population was wiped out in a wildfire in 1983. Though the healthier population still roaming the earth in Tasmania and New South Wales.

Megalonychidae

Temporal Range:  35 Mya - 0 Mya

OVERVIEW

                      Megalonychidae is a group of sloth that includes the extinct ground sloth and the living two toed sloth. Megalonychidae first appeared in the early Oligocene, about 35 million years ago, in Southern Argentina (Patagonia), and as far as the Antilles by the early Miocene. Megalonychids first reached North America by island hopping, about 9 million years ago. prior to the formation of the Isthmus of Panama.
                        Megalonychid ground sloths went extinct in North and South America around the end of the Pleistocene and in the Antilles apparently by about 5000 BP, living two-toed sloths of genus Choloepus as the only surviving member of the family.

EVOLUTION

                        Megalonyx means giant claws. Megalonyx is widespread North American genus that lived past in the close of the last Ice Glaciation. Remains of Megalonyx have been found as far north as Alaska to the Yukon. Ongoing excavations at Tarkio Valley in southwest Iowa may reveal something of the familial life of Megalonyx. An adult was found in direct association with two juveniles of different ages, suggesting that adults cared for young of different generations.
                          The earliest known North American megalonychid, Pliometanastes protistus, lived in Florida and the southern U.S. about 9 million years ago, and is believed to have been the predecessor of Megalonyx. Several species of Megalonyx have been named; actually most of the good specimen described as different species. A broader perspective on the group, accounting for age, sex, individual and geographic differences, indicates that only three species are valid (M. leptostomus, M. wheatleyi, and M. jeffersonii) in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene of North America. Although work by McDonald lists five species.