December 2008 Archives

Scientists have uncovered a new dinosaur in Argentina, and it's a big one! The Austroraptor cabazai is the largest raptor ever found in South America and it is among the largest members of the carnivorous raptor family. These raptors grew to be 16.5 to 21 feet long (5 to 6.5 meters).

A raptor this big would certainly have been a fierce predator. Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago, says that "this was a monster raptor that makes the Velociraptor look like kid's play."

Read more on National Geographic News.

Check out the Velociraptor Creature Feature.



Image courtesy Fernando Novas

Some creepy-looking and yet amazing new species have been found in the Greater Mekong River area in Southeast Asia! Among the most eerie creatures among the 1,068 finds are a pink millipede that can shoot cyanide, and what is probably the world's largest spider--it boasts a legspan of up to 12 inches (30 centimeters). Check out pictures of these spectacular creatures on National Geographic News.

Want more wild Mekong river creatures? Visit the Megafishes gallery.

If you own a dog, you probably know how smart they can be, but a new study suggests that dogs can feel envy. In the study, dogs were asked to perform tricks in front of another dog that they knew, such as a playmate or a pet from the same house. The other dog would then be asked to perform the same trick. One dog would then receive a reward while the other did not.

"If both of them didn't get a reward, they continued working more or less," said lead author Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, Austria. "But if one of them didn't get food, the one that didn't get food just said, No."

For more on this study visit National Geographic News.

The largest freshwater fish in North America, the white sturgeon, seemed to be headed for extinction in the mid-1990s. Dozens of dead fish washed up on the riverbanks in British Columbia, Canada. Many people banded together to save the white sturgeon and it seems to have worked. Today their population is estimated to be about 50,000.

Read more about the white sturgeon rebound on National Geographic News.

Want more info on Zeb Hogan's Megafishes Project? Visit the gallery.

The Russian Federal Space Agency invites kids from around the world to design a patch for the crew of the Soyuz mission scheduled to launch in March. The first place drawing will become the official Soyuz TMA-14 logo, and will be worn as a patch on the crew members' space suits!

U.S astronaut Michael R. Barratt, a Russian cosmonaut, and space flight participant will be on board the Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-14 crew members will help judge the drawings submitted in the contest.

The first, second and third place winners will have an opportunity to visit the Baikonur space port in Kazakhstan and participate in a pre-launch ceremony.

The contest ends December 25. For information on how to enter the contest visit NASA.

An article published in The Washington Post on Sunday says that squirrels are eating things that they usually don't seem as interested in, such as leftover Halloween pumpkins and trash. What's going on?

It seems that there are fewer acorns available for squirrels to eat this year. Last year oak trees in the Washington, D.C. region dropped many acorns. This year there are fewer acorns than usual, possibly because of weather. People from other areas have also reported fewer acorns. Without the usual acorn supply, many squirrels may starve this winter.