Earth Day yesterday was designed to raise awareness of climate change, the effect on the environment and why people need to do something about it. While there are many negative stories told be told about the enviromnment, many positive discoveries are being made.
- A new species of glass frog was discovered in Costa Rica during the week. The small lime green frog has a transparent underbelly that allows its insides to be seen. The frog, with large white and black eyes, draws an uncanny resemblance to possibly the most well known frog in the world, Kermit.
- The Zospeum Tholussum, a translucent land snail, that was discovered in caves in Croatia in 2010. The snail is blind and is no more than 2mm high. The cave lukina jama-trojama cave system it was discovered in is up to 900m below the surface and is in complete darkness. As they are very slow moving they often depend on transportation through running water or larger animals.
- The Olinguito is a carnivorous tree-dwelling mammal that was discovered in the Andean cloud forest during 2013. It belongs to the raccoon family and was the first carnivorous mammal to be discovered in the Western hemisphere for 35 years. The olinguito is believed to be nocturnal and rather reclusive. The species may be at risk due to deforestation.
- And a new species of sea anemone, Edwardsiella Andrillae, that lives on the under side of ice in the seas of Antarctica, was discovered in 2010. When contracted the anemone is less than an inch long, however can expand to up to three to four times longer when relaxed. It also features between 20 and 24 tentacles. Scientists are baffled by how the anemone survives in the freezing conditions and how they manage to hold onto the ice.