Lone Porcupine Skillfully Defends Himself Against 17 Hungry Lions

Photo credit: Porcupine faces off against by Londozoli Game Reserve. Screen capture from Youtube.

The African savannah can be daunting place for those creatures who don't enjoy a high position on the food chain. But fortunately for some potential prey, they come equipped with features that give them a fighting chance in the face of adversity.

One porcupine was recently spotted putting his survival skills to the test after bumping into a pride of 17 hungry lions on the Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa. According to Lucien Beaumont, who captured the encounter on video, the situation might have seemed dire at first, but the plucky little porcupine proved no easy meal.

(YouTube/Londolozi Game Reserve)

"All was not lost," writes Beaumont. "The porcupine began to shake its tail (known as a rattle) - the sound of the quills makes a distracting noise. The porcupine began to run backwards into any lion that would come too close for comfort, a common defense mechanism for a threatened porcupine."

(YouTube/Londolozi Game Reserve)

The predators weren't quick to abandon their attempts at taking the spiky animal for a snack, as they are sometimes successful. But the lions' plans were no match for this porcupine's strong defense.

"This very lucky porcupine managed to survive," writes Beaumont. "The cubs soon lost their bravery and backed off, leaving the porcupine to disappear into the night and live to see another day."

( YouTube/Londolozi Game Reserve)

But the lions' decision to walk away may very well have saved their lives as well.

A recent study found that porcupines will occasionally use their sharp quills not just as a shield, but as a defense weapon too, delivering a lethal blow that can kill even the most ferocious of adversaries - including lions.

Watch the porcupine's harrowing lion encounter in its entirety:

                                        

[Via: www.iflscience.com]

Watch A Bowling Ball And Feather Falling In A Vacuum

                                                                                                                                     photo credit: BBC.

You probably know that two objects dropped in a vacuum fall at the same rate, no matter the mass of each item.If you've never seen a demonstration of this, then you really should, because it's incredible to watch.

Here is perhaps the perfect example, brought to us by physicist Brian Cox. He checked out NASA's Space Simulation Chamber located at the Space Power Facility in Ohio. With a volume of 22,653 cubic meters, it's the largest vacuum chamber in the world.

In this hypnotizing clip from the BBC, Cox drops a bowling ball and a feather together, first in normal conditions, and then after virtually all the air has been sucked out of the chamber. We know what happens, but that doesn't stop it from being awesome, especially with the team's ecstatic faces.

                                     

[Hat tip:www.io9.com]

                                                                                                                                                            

Thousands Of Relics Recovered From Ancient Mexican City

                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                           Photo credit:AFP
After spending years gradually making their way down a 103 meter (340 foot) long tunnel, a team of Mexican archeologists have gathered some 50,000 relics inside the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The remains, which could offer new insight into the impressive city, have been untouched for almost 2,000 years because the opening was sealed around A.D.250.

The pre-Columbian city of TTeotihuacan is located around 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Mexico City. It was build between the first and seventh centuries A.D., and comprises an awe-inspiring spread of temples that are laid out on geometric and symbolic principles. The city's mos impressive building is undoubtedly the Pyramid of the Sun, which is the third largest pyramid in the world. It was reconstructed by archeologists some time ago, but it's belived they made a mitake and rebuilt this particular structure with the wrong number of levels. Whoops.

The new discoveries were made when project leader Sergio Gomez and his team worked their way down a previously closed off tunnel that was discovered back in 2003. They dug out piles of dirt and rocks using remote - controlled robots, unearthing a trove of goodies on the way.

AFP

The ancient artifacts discovered include shells, animal bones, jewelry, pottery and seeds. They werw located around 18 meters (60 feet) below a building called the Temple of the Plumed Serpent, which is the third largest pyramid at the site.

AFP

They also came across offerings left outside three previously undiscovered chambers, which could suggest that the city's elite may be buried inside. No remains of Teotihuacan's leaders have been discovered so far, and inhabitants never left any written records, so finding them could finally provide archeologists with important information on how the city was ruled. But they'll need to do a lot more digging before they find out, because so far they've only get 60 centimeters inside the chambers.

"We have not lost hope of finding that, and if they are there, they must be from someone very, very important," said Gomez.

[ Via www.huffpost.com and www.bbc.com

Wolf Spotted In Grand Canyon For The First Time In 70 Years

       Photo credit: Courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity. A wolf has been spotted in the  in the Grand Canyon National Park, more than a 1000km from the most likely breeding colony

For the first time in 70 years the Grand Canyon has gray wolves. Or at least a wolf. The announcement may be a harbinger of the return of the species to territory from which they were eleminated decades  ago , bringing with it the same ecological benefits wolves have  provided elsewhere.

Gray wolves were once the apex predators across most of the United States. However, a combination of their attacks on livestock, and exaggerated accounts of threats to humans led to a campaign that saw them wiped out in the lower 48 outside two small patches, one ironically outside their native range.

A rise in environmental awareness led to reintroduction programs in the Great Lakes and northern Rocky Mountains. These have brought benefits far beyond expectations, not only reducing elk populations, but moving herbivore locations back to places where they do less damage to vegetation.

Some Mexican wolves have been introduced to Arizona and New Mexico, but a wolf spotted on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park is considered to look more like the large bodied gray wolf populations that have been reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains with such success.

If so, it must have taken a remarkable journey - the nearest breeding population from which it could have come is over a thousand kilometers away near Yellowstone National Park.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) welcomed the report. "In the early 1900s over 30 wolves on the North Kaibab, including Grand Canyon National Park, were killed by government hunters," said Kim Crumbo, conservation director for Grand Canyon Wildlands Council. "The possibility that a determined wolf could make it to the Canyon region is cause for celebration, and we must insist that every effort be taken to protect this brave wanderer."

The Fish and Wildlife Service are seeking to collect fecal samples to confirm that the animal is indeed a wolf, rather than a wolf-dog hybrid.

Two years ago a wolf know as OR-7 left his pack in Oregon to become California's first wolf in 87 years, but is now back in his home state raising pups, adding credibility to the possiility of a journey such as this.

The gray wolf population of the lower 48 states has reached 5000, leading to proposal to remove them from the endangered species list. Nevertheless, the CDB notes they now cover less than 10% of their original range.
Wolves venturing outside their current range have recently been shot or poisoned in three states , leading the CBD to stress the reminder,  "The intrepid wolf is currently fully protected under the Endangered Species Act, Which prohibits killing, wounding or harassing the animal."

H/.T www.LiveScience.com

Watching A Can Of Coca Cola Get Destroyed By Lava Is Totally Amazing!

This is definitely something you don't come across every day.Lavapix uploaded a video on You Tube  to show us how a can of coca cola gets consumed by a volcano. Shot with Nikon D800 and GoPro camera , the video is so mesmerizing that it's hard to look away from the oozy, slow, melt down.

Image source: www.lavapix.com

The first can, as explained by the about section, has a tiny hole punched on the top to prevent a random explosion. It gets heated up and squirts the coke. The second can though sealed, falls over immediately it gets in contact with the lava. It gets punctured due to the heat and leaks.

                                                     

              

                                                 

                                              

The video was a scientific test on how different objects react to lava hitting them at 2000 degrees. They took safety precautions when shooting the video and only the GoPro was in harm's way.

'By the end this outing most of my camera gear was just a bit sticky'

Bryan, the video creator said.

Please avoid trying this at home but if you do, make sure you share it just to bring us some seconds of joy.

[source: youtube(lavapix)]

Six bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, dining room and a pantry: Welcome to the home for astronauts on MARS

•  Teams of scientists have been simulating Martian living conditions on Earth
• The Hi-Seas project, funded by Nasa, sees crews live in a habitat in Hawaii
• It is intended to simulated what life on the red planet might be like
• The second mission has just finished, and the third has just begun
• First mission lasted four months, second eight months and third a year
• The habitat has space for six people and amenities include bedrooms, a bathroom, workspaces and even a dining room
• Exercise is conducted regularly but the crew only leaves for 'spacewalks' 
• The habitat is 36 feet (11 meters) high to prevent claustrophobia
• It's hoped the project will provide data and information that will prove useful for a future manned mission to Mars

Welcome to your new home on Mars

Above your head, solar panels are powering the dome - shaped habitat you're standing in. The high ceilings should make you feel comfortable, and there's a 3D-printer to make new tools.

It might seem far-fetched, but that's a scenario that might not be too far in the future when the first mission to Mars goes ahead - and Nasa has been testing such a habitat recently in Hawaii.

Image Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk

Teams of scientists have been simulating Martian living conditions on Earth. The Hi-Seas project, funded by Nasa, sees crews live in a habitat in Hawaii. The habitat has space for six people and amenities include bedrooms, a bathroom, workspaces and even a dining room(shown in diagram)

The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or Hi-Seas, is a Nasa sponsored project to see how a crew would cope with living on Mars.

WHAT IS THE HI-SEAS MISSION?

The Hi-Seas (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simultation) mission's crews spend months 8,000 feet (2,440 meters) above sea level in a geodesic-dome habitat on the northen slope of the Mauna Loa volcano.

The volcano is a barren landscape, an abandoned quarry with little vegetation   that's as similar to Mars landscape as planet Earth can get.

The crew members live under Mars-like conditions. According to Hi-Seas 'communication latencies and blackouts,in close quarters, under strict water-use rules,etc' are part of the deal.

The food study was designed to test food preparation strategies for long-termspace exploration 

Hi-Seas aims to address problems that many be encountered in future space missions by simulating exploration in areas of the world similar to space environments.

The aim mission, funded by Nasa's Human Research Program, the University of Hawaii and Cornell University, is to learn about living sustainably on Mars.

The third and latest mission started on 17 October 2014,  and will concludeon July 2015.

The Hi-Seas (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) mission's crews live 8,000 feet (2,440 meters) above sea level in a geodesic-dome habitat on the northern slope of the Mauna Loa volcano (shown) for four, eight and 12 months (firts , second and third mission)

There are six pie-slice-shaped bedrooms for the crewmembers to live in, all adjacent to one other (shown in diagram). This floor is above the ground level and also has a bathroom and an open balcony to below, making the habitat seem big so the crew doesn't feel trapped

                                                                               Image Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk

Each room has a bed, mattress and a stool. There is space under each bed for clothes to be stored. A 3D printer is also in the habitat to enable the crew to print new tools if they need to. On a future mission to Mars,items like a 3D printer will likely be iinvaluable as resupply missions will be scarce or non - existent.

                                                                                          Image Credits:www.dailymail.co.uk

Pictured here is the kitchen of the Mars habitat. The crew were given access to the same sorts of supplies as would be expected on a future mission to Mars. Throughout the mission, researchers evaluted how the crewmembers cope with the conditions

[Source: www.dailymail.co.uk]

23 Funny Lookalikes You Won't Belive

How often has it happened to any of us? We're walking down the street and something catches our eye. And the reason? Because it reminds us of something, or someone else.Apparently we all have a doppelganger somewhere on the plant - our 'twin' - and sometimes we even see them in real life, which can be a bit of a shock. However our 'twin'  'doesn't' always have to be another person, as this selection of brilliant images will clearly show you. There may be one individual characteristic that makes us stand out from the crowd, or it may just be a spooky coincidence. There are many instances where we see something and imagine how it could be something else, as typified in our article about Martin Feijoo, the cloud shaper who saw clouds as any number of things, and who would subsequently draw what his imagination allowed him to. Here you don't have to draw anything, just let your imagination run riot!   [www.boredpanda.com]

Image Credits : Unknown

How about Timberlake's hair and Ramen noodles for a start? Okay, we know that his image has changed a great deal from his N'Sync days, but we couldn't resist   this one.

Image Credits: www.readit.com

If you have seen Pixar's film up you should be able to instantly recognise this gentelman as Carl. If you haven'tseen the film, we recommend you do - it is brilliant!

Image Credits: www.americaniconstemple.wordpress.com

Now this one is seriously spooky as there is a very uncanny nresemblance between the late Michael Jackson and the face on this Egyptian statue. Maybe reincarnation isn't just a fantasy after all......

Image Credits: www.Stylishevecom

We recently published a post with some fantastic dog lookalikes and we couldn't resist including a few of our favorities here, especially this brilliant one of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.

Image Credits: www.imgur.com

Someone clearly has a wicked sense of humour as this is very funny indeed. That looks like a chocolate -coated marshmallow cookie to us-oh hang on,no,that's a man's head!

Image Credits: www.themetapicture.com

One doesn't want to get too personal in the comparisons, but this troll really does bear more than a striking resemblance to the pop diva Nikki Minaj!

Image Credits: www.stylisheve.com

A favourite image of ours from the dog lookalike post-it really is hard to tell the two apart but we are assured the dog on the left is definitely real not a plush toy!

Image Credits: www.reddit.com

Another frightening similarity between two characters, one of which starred in the Loony Tunes cartoons. This is more than just a lookalike!

Image Credits: www.picheaven.com

Okay, the burning question here is whether the homeless man looks like a male catwalk model, or does the male catwalk model look like a homeless man?

Image Credits: Unknown

Maybe some people are just not meant to wear tight dresses. However with both these images resembling caterpillars one should assume they both evolved into beautiful butterflies.

Image Credit : www.reddit.com

South Park will always remain a ground-breaking show on TV and we have always wondered what the characters, like Cartman, get up to in their spare time. Now we know-they ride the bus!

Image Credit: www.stylisheve.com

We couldn't resist including this dog lookalike of Sir Richard Branson - funny doesn't even begin to describe the similarity between the two.

Image Credits: Unknown

Maybe Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus really were separated at birth after all! This is a very clever comparison of the two.

Image Credits:www.plus.google.com

This is just too cute for words. The similarity between this girl and her doll is as though they were destined to meet.....

Image Credits: www.reddit.com

Is this photo a coincidente or planned? Either way it doesn't take a lot of imagination to work out that maybe this is not the perfect style for clothes, or a smartphone cover!

Image Credits :www.stylisheve.com

Imagine stepping out of the shower, grabbing the first towel to hand, only to then discover you are wiping your face with a dog- a Shar Pei to be precise!

Image Credits: Unknown

There was a time when an old shirt or tee would be torn up and used for duster. Today it seems they are designing clothes just like the old-fashioned feather ones....

Image Credit:www.reddit.com

It took us two goes before we realised there was a dog in the middle of this photograph!

  

Image Credits: www.tmz.com

Could you ever imagine a sentence which ask the question "what have Kim Kardeshian, Mrs Doubtfire and a sofa got in common?"

Image Credits: www.cheezburger.com

Ooh that's so cute and cuddly! The fluffy animal looks quite nice too!! Taylor Launter doing his best to match the smouldering good looks of an Alpaca.  

   

Image Credits: Unknown

Yep, us too! We didn't notice there someone in the back of this car either!

Image Credits: Unknown

Usually when someone is described as being like the Michelin Man, it is not a compliment. Here however, it is the perfect description of this adorable baby.

Image Credits: www.tickld.com

And finally....the way not to chat up a woman by using the line"Ooh, you look just like a London Transport Oyster card."!