An exceptionally rare giant pink diamond has been sold for GBP 25 million it is believed because its unique weight is a double lucky number in China. The 18-carat pear-shaped gem - named Fortune Pink - was sold at the Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction as part of Christie's Luxury Week…
A new pond has been set up at Vienna Zoo's Indian rhino enclosure - to the great delight of its horned inhabitants. The Viennese zoo is home to Sundari and Jange, two Indian rhinos who were raised by carers at Nepal's Chitwan National Park after being discovered living without parents.…
Humans and elephants are the only mammals to combine their mouths and their noses to create sounds, a new study has revealed. Cognitive biologists Veronika Beeck and Angela Stoger-Horwath and a team from Austria's University of Vienna studied the sounds of Asian elephants using an acoustic camera with 48 microphones.…
The secret tomb of an ancient Egyptian general who ran an army of foreign mercenaries has been unearthed by archaeologists. Egyptian military official Wahibre-mery-Neith was in charge of recruiting soldiers of fortune from Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands. The burial shaft dates back to the early 5th century BC…
A superwasp able to produce 1,000 offspring is threatening vast forests in North America's, a new study has revealed. The Sirex woodwasp lays its eggs on pine trees in a mucus and a fungus that are both deadly to the host. The species - native to Asia, Europe an North…
Customs officers found nearly 1,000 endangered seahorses being smuggled through an airport to be used as 'natural viagra' by bogus healers. The dried seahorses had been stashed in a freight package going through Germany's Dresden and Leipzig Airport when they were found by a sniffer dog. The 5-kilogramme (11-lb) package…
The Black Death was only possible because human civilisation had become advanced enough to allow rats to survive and flourish, according to the first study of the ancient genes of the black rat. Rattus rattus, otherwise known as the black, house, ship, or roof rat is one of the most…
Boffins in China have unearthed an extremely rare giant panda fossil dating back over 100,000 years. Researchers from the Guizhou Institute of Mountain Resources of the Guizhou Academy of Sciences in the south-western Chinese province of Guizhou found two giant panda fossils in Shuanghe Cave, also in Guizhou Province. Shuanghe…
This adorable and endangered Malayan Tapir cub has died just a week after a German zoo celebrated its birth. The adorable male Malayan tapir (Acrocodia indica) cub was born at Leipzig Zoo in Germany last Friday morning, 5th November, and it died on Saturday, 13th November. https://youtu.be/x7U2g5YZzoc Zoo Leipzig/Newsflash Leipzig…
This is the moment a newborn endangered Malayan tapir cub nervously observes its enclosure while sticking close to its mum. Zookeepers at Leipzig Zoo in Germany said mum Laila gave birth to the cub last Friday morning, 5th November. The zoo said in a statement: "Laila is a very experienced…