Tigers Butchered for Trade at "Zoos" in China?

December 29, 2009--Tourists feed tigers at the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Park, a private zoo in Guillin, China, in an undated photograph. Many such tourist attractions secretly operate as fronts for illegal tiger farming, butchering captive tigers for their parts, National Geographic magazine reports in the January 2010 story "Asia's Wildlife Trade."On...

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Rare Monkeys Spotted in Vietnam

The survival of a subspecies may be riding on these monkeys' backs. The largest known troop of gray-shanked douc langurs (above left)—among the world's most endangered primates, has been discovered in central Vietnam. (See Vietnam map.)About a thousand of these tree-dwelling, tangerine-tinted animals, first identified in 1997, are thought to exist....

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Hundreds of Rare Gibbons Found in Vietnam

A male northern white-cheeked gibbon (left) and a mother carrying her baby hang out in a treetop in Vietnam's Pu Mat National Park in a recent picture. The animals are part of a newfound population of more than 400 of the gibbons, which are deemed critically endangered in Vietnam and Laos by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The gibbons,...

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Video about Javan Rhino Extinct in Mainland Asia

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Javan Rhino Extinct in Mainland Asia

The Javan rhinoceros is extinct in mainland Asia, conservationists announced this week.An adult female Javan rhino was shot and killed in a Vietnamese forest last year—leaving just one wild population left of the species in the world, a group of fewer than 50 individuals in a small park in Indonesia."The last Javan rhino in Vietnam has gone," Tran...

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Video about Ornithoptera

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World of Insect Giants: Giant Butterfly

The largest winged insect in the world is the Queen Alexandra Birdwing butterfly, with females being the larger of the species having a wingspan of up to 12 inches (30cm). Female Ornithoptera alexandra (the scientific name for these giant butterflies) are not as brightly colored as the exotic males, which have iridescent scales of green, lavender,...

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Video about Giant Tarantula

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Biggest Spider: Goliath Tarantula

Goliath Tarantulas are Fearsome PredatorsThere's something about spiders that gives most people the creeps, instilling a sense of fear and loathing upon seeing one. It's as though there's a part of the human brain that perceives the form of a spider as dangerous or threatening. Perhaps those deep dark feelings we get when we see a spider are echoes...

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Oldest Living Organism: Ancient Bacteria

Of all the world records profiled on Extreme Science this one has proved to be the most elusive and tricky to keep updated. It seems there are a number of different organisms that hold the record for the "longest lived" and their exact ages are still under investigation. In fact, the only thing we can report for certain is that the records listed here...

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Oldest Living Creature: Madagascar Radiated Tortoise

A Madagascar radiated tortoise presented to the Tongan royal family by the British explorer Captain Cook in either 1773 or 1777 lived to the age of at least 188 years old! The animal was called Tui Malila. The venerated tortoise appears in the photo at right taken in 1953 when Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Tongan royal family. Madagascar...

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Most Ferocious: Piranha

From the moment tiny baby piranhas hatch from their microscopic eggs, they come into the world armed and dangerous. Baby piranha will feast on tiny crustaceans, fruits, seeds, and aquatic plants. Once they reach about 1.5 inches in length they begin feeding on the fins and flesh of other fish that wander too closely. As they grow larger they begin...

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Largest North American Cat: Mountain Lion (Cougar)

Mountain lions are generally secretive, solitary and elusive. Most people never see this animal in the wild. In fact, both field biologists and outdoor recreationists rarely see mountain lions, even in habitats that support relatively dense populations. That is why it has come to be known as the "Ghost Cat". The fact that this animal is rarely seen...

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Largest Carnivore on Land - Polar Bear

Polar Bears are Cool These guys seriously know how to pose for the camera! Not only are they cool in front of the camera, but they live in the coolest places on the planet - literally. Arctic sea ice, water, islands, and continental coastlines around the arctic circle are home to these massive carnivores. The temperatures where these bears live ranges...

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Largest Land Animal: African Elephant

The largest African elephant weighed 13.5 tons (27,000 pounds) The world record holder weighed this much and stood 13ft/4m tall at the shoulder. There are other species of elephants, namely the Asian and the Indian, but they are much smaller than the African. The African elephant is the king among the giants on land. No other land animal comes close...

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Largest Invertebrate: The Colossal Squid

Scientists have known about the existence of a species of squid that is reported to be significantly larger than the giant squid, but had not seen or collected a complete specimen of the Colossal squid, named Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. This species of squid was first identified in 1925 after two arms were recovered from a sperm whale's stomach. In...

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Biggest Mammal: Blue Whale

Big in Every WayBlue whales are so big they are the biggest creature ever to have lived on earth - even bigger than the biggest dinosaurs! The largest whale ever measured was a female weighing 171,000 kgs and measuring over 90ft./27m long. The longest whale measured in at over 110ft./33m. If you laid him out on the ground he would take up the length...

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Fastest Animal on Land: Cheetah

 Cheetahs are, without a doubt, the fastest creatures in the world on land. (There's probably some wickedly fast creatures in the ocean that we still don't even know about). Why would a cheetah need to be able to run so fast? The only animal that comes in a close second to the Cheetah's amazing speed is its favorite prey, the gazelle. In order...

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Fastest on Earth: Peregrine Falcon

The relationship between Peregrine Falcons and humans goes back thousands of years. Once highly prolific and widespread throughout the world, Peregrine Falcons were commonly used throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East in the practice of Falconry. Peregrines are naturally docile and easily lent themselves to taming by humans who saw the Falcon's...

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Fastest in the Sea: Sailfish

The sailfish is related to other "billed" fish, such as Marlin and Swordfish, which are all very fast. But the sailfish has them all beat by clocking in at speeds up to 68mph. Sailfish live in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in warm waters. Sailfish are a very well-known species of fish (you've probably heard of them, and maybe even seen one mounted)...

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Deepest Fish - Snailfish

In 2008, a team of researchers exploring the Japan trench with a remotely operated vehicle filmed footage of the deepest-known species of fish. The fish, known as snailfish, had never been seen alive before. Scientists had only five pickled specimens that had been dredged up from the deep and preserved for study. The biologists who discovered these...

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Biggest Ocean Carnivore: Sperm Whale

The winner of the title of the Largest Ocean Carnivore goes to the Sperm whale - the largest of the toothed whale species in the world. Adult males can grow up to 60 feet long and weigh 40 tons (80,000 pounds!). Males are usually about twice as large as the females. They have a pretty long life span, about as long as people, living up to 70 years....

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A Fungus Among UsPeople have known about the "honey mushroom" for some time, but were not aware of how large and invasive this species of fungus could be. The fungus was investigated more closely by researchers when they realized that it was responsible for killing large groves of evergreen trees. When foresters cut into an infected tree they would...

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Arctic Lion's Mane

As a species jellies have been around for a very long time. They appeared in the oceans about 650 million years ago, before the dinosaurs. They still populate our oceans today in a profusion of sizes and shapes. Jellyfish are incredible creatures - it's amazing that they are living things. Check it out...their bodies are made up of 95% water, they...

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Giant Mekong Catfish

It's official! The new world record holder for the biggest freshwater fish is the Giant Mekong catfish (Pangasius gigas). The biggest one ever captured and measured was caught in Thailand in May of 2005. It was 9 feet long and weighed 646 pounds. The fish in the photo was captured by some fisherman where the species is considered endangered, but can...

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Deadliest Creature: Sea Wasp (Marine Stinger)

What Makes the Sea Wasp so Deadly?There are many creatures on this earth that are quite deadly to humans. The deadliest of all, of course, being other humans. Perhaps, what poses the greatest threat to our lives are creatures we can't even see - microbes. These are the microorganisms we usually call germs or cooties, the ones that make us sick. By...

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Biggest Carnivorous Fish: Great White Shark

Solitary LeviathansGreat white sharks are still a mystery, as scientists are still trying to unravel the lifestyle of these denizens of the deep. They are solitary creatures roaming the ocean in constant search of food. Scientists are still unsure how to tell the age of a great white shark or how long they live, how often and where they breed, and...

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