1. Malformed hybrids that wither and die- not faulty genetics, parental genes evolved apart from each other and make poor bedfellows when united. Over time, these separate strains may turn into separate species.- Not Exactly Rocket Science on conflicts between immune system genes and the rise of new species.

2. Fat and flightless, the armoured ground cricket of southern Africa should be history- but they survive, thanks to their ability to vomit and squirt blood in every direction.- Neatorama

3. In a dense forest, who has most chances of survival? Smaller plants should stand no chance, but actually, they do well-

"Think of the plants like professional boxers," says Professor Aarssen. "To win the fight, you need more than a solid punch; you need to be able to tolerate all the punches you're going to take. The winner may be the competitor with the superior 'staying power'."

- Science Daily

4. Horses and donkeys, male deer, solitary mares, bulls, moose, porcupines- they are all guilty:

Dogs, cats, lions, bears, and a number of other mammals self-stimulate with their front paws; randy walruses use their flippers. Horses and donkeys, whose masturbatory habits have been particularly well-studied, engage in "rhythmic bouncing, pressing, or sliding of the erect penis against the abdomen" (PDF); male deer do the same. The 19th-century physiologist Karl Friedrich Burdach has even described something like female ejaculation among solitary mares, which "rub themselves against whatever obstacles they find, often spurting a white, viscous mucus." A bull, meanwhile, stimulates itself by alternately protruding its penis from a genital sheath, while some moose can ejaculate simply by rubbing their antlers on bits of vegetation. According to observations made at the University of Buffalo in the 1940s, both male and female porcupines manipulate their genitals with inanimate objects—they're also known to "seize, straddle, and ride sticks about the cage."
- Slate

5. Beluga Whale rescues diver: ("Mila gripped the diver's leg in her mouth and pushed Yang to the surface. ")- Treehugger



6. Reason people stay married: "Divorce and widowhood have a lingering, detrimental impact on health, even after a person remarries"- Science Daily

7. Animal evolution did not begin in the oceans, but lakes- again, Science daily

8. Another reason why man is on the road to extinction: "...cultured neurons from female rats and mice survived longer than did neurons from their male counterparts when facing starvation. " - Scientific American. Such a selfish gene-machine is not likely to survive, no matter how selfish it gets.

9. A dust cloud from China went round the Earth in 13 days- Reuters, old news, but so what?

10. And this is great:

"Christina Cooper has been wearing a kangaroo lately — a foundling named Skippy, who was rejected by his mother at a wildlife park in eastern Louisiana.
Inside a canvas carryall over Cooper's shoulder is an artificial kangaroo pouch for the 6-month-old red kangaroo."

- Zoo keeper wears abandoned baby kangaroo - msnbc.com