Elephants

Cut marks on the heel bone of a male straight-tusked elephant, which was about 50 years old when it died.Photo: Wil Roebroeks, Leiden UniversityHistorical finds of elephant remains alongside stone tools have long prompted speculation among researchers that early humans or other hominin species may have relied on the massive mammals for food.Now, a team of researchers has determined that Neanderthals in Europe were taking down elephants and methodically butchering them, yielding food stores that would have lasted…

On the muddy shores of a lake in east-central Germany, Neanderthals gathered some 125,000 years ago to butcher massive elephants. With sharp stone tools, they harvested up to 4 tons of flesh from each animal, according to a new study that is casting these ancient human relatives in a new light. The degree of organization required to carry out the butchery—and the sheer quantity of food it provided—suggests Neanderthals could form much larger social groups than…

Neanderthals hunted and butchered huge elephants, according to a new study. This photo shows deep cut marks on the heel bone of a male elephant. Neanderthals may have lived in larger groups than previously believed, hunting massive elephants that were up to three times bigger than those of today, according to a new study. The…

According to recent research, elephants play a crucial role in the development of forests that store large amounts of carbon and preserving the biodiversity of forests in Africa. If elephants, which are already facing critical endangerment, were to become extinct, the African rainforest, the second largest on earth, would lose between 6-9% of its ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere, exacerbating global warming.Researchers discover elephant extinction could have major impact on atmospheric carbon levels.In…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeBabylon is Damien Chazelle’s rocket-powered dive into the early days of Hollywood, decorated with orgies, elephant faeces and cocaine. There is spanking. Bacchanalian dancing. Chairs tossed through windows. And that’s all in the first 15 minutes. La La Land, Chazelle’s Oscar-winning, Bambi-eyed paen to artists, poets and the “fools that dream”, would drop dead from fright if it ever…

NASA’s astronomy picture of the day is a mesmerizing snapshot of Elephant’s Trunk Nebula. The makeup of a Nebula consists of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium. Although these gases are spread out, they can be pulled together by gravity. As they clump together, their gravity increases by such an amount that the gas cloud collapses, causing the material at the center of the core to heat up, and this is the birth of a star, according to NASA. This is why a Nebula is also called a Star Nursery.NASA releases its Astronomy…

TORONTO—In 2015, Andy Huynh was accompanying wildlife guards in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve to help ward off poachers. Fresh off a decade of service in the Middle East with U.S. Special Operations Forces, he thought there was little that could faze him. But when he saw his first poached rhinoceros, with half of its face sawed away for the horn, he turned and threw up. “I knew then and there I wanted to dedicate my life to stopping wildlife crime,” Huynh…

A herd of Grevy’s Zebra in Buffalo Springs National Reserve.Photo: Fredrik Lerneryd/AFP (Getty Images)More than one thousand of some of Kenya’s most endangered animals have died this year because of a devastating drought gripping the region.A report released Friday from Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage takes stock of how the drought in East Africa is affecting some of Africa’s most iconic wildlife. In all, the report finds, the drought has led to the deaths of more than 500 wildebeest, more than 400…

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Scientists call it Peto's paradox: cancer is caused by gene mutations that accumulate in cells over time, yet long-lived animals that have lots of cells, such as elephants and whales, hardly ever get it. Why? For elephants, at least, part of the answer may be the gene commonly known as p53, which also helps humans and many other animals repair DNA damaged during replication. Elephants have an astounding 20 copies of this gene. Those copies, each with two variations called alleles, produce a total of 40 proteins, compared…