Tag archives for Discoveries
Posted by In July 1911, Hiram Bingham rediscovered the forgotten Machu Picchu site in Peru. Tomorrow, Peru will celebrate the 100th anniversary of this event. Bingham discovered the site on July 24, 1911, and wrote an article about the site for National Geographic magazine. Machu Picchu is the ruin of an ancient Inca city built more than 500 years ago. Today, it is the most popular tourist destination in Peru.
Learn more about Machu Picchu on National Geographic Traveler.
Watch a video about Machu Picchu on National Geographic Kids.
Get the facts on Peru on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Miguel Vilaxa, My Shot
Sucker-Footed Bat Secretes Sticky Sweat
Most bats hang upside down when they’re resting. A bat called Myzopoda aurita that lives in Madagascar hangs right-side up. Scientists recently discovered that these bats don’t use suction to hang, even though part of the scientific name, Myzopoda, means “sucker foot.” As it turns out, the sucker-footed bat doesn’t have suction cups, but is able to “glue” itself upright by secreting a sticky sweat from its wrists and ankles.
Watch scientists test a sucker-footed bat’s grip on glass.
Learn more about the sucker-footed bat on National Geographic News.
Read about the bats of Bracken Cave on National Geographic Kids.
Is that sound a violin? Nope! You are hearing the vibrating feathers of the male club-winged manakin. This tiny songbird lives in the cloud forests of the Andes in South America. It vibrates one type of wing feather against another at twice the speed of a hummingbird’s wings to “sing” to potential mates. The sound this vibration makes sounds like a violin.
Learn more about the club-winged manakin on National Geographic News.
Make a bird feeder to feed hungry birds in your area this winter.
What a weird-looking fish! It’s six feet (2 meters) long, has tiny teeth, a long tail, and it doesn’t have scales. Guy Marcovaldi captured video footage of the fish while working on the TAMAR project, which is involved in sea turtle conservation. The fish was found off of the shore of Brazil’s Bahia coast. It was dead and floating near the water’s surface.
At first the fish was reported as being a newly discovered species, but David Johnson, an ichthyologist with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, says that the fish probably belongs to a group of fish known as Jellynoses. Jellynoses are mysterious fish that live at the bottom of the ocean. Catch a glimpse of this large, gelatinous fish in this video!
Read more about this discovery on National Geographic News.
Check out pictures of more strange ocean dwellers on National Geographic Kids.
