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FACTOID!!
Lynx have adapted to life in the snow. They have huge feet that function as snow-shoes, allowing this tufted-eared cat to hunt in deep snow country without wasting energy by breaking trails.


Ant fever


Ant fever
Crazy ants, named for their frantic movements, are destroying a unique rainforest habitat. On Australia's Christmas Island, there are few seedlings and shrubs due to the delicate equilibrium maintained by red land crabs. However, in the past 18 months, the crazy ants have gone berserk, attacking and eating the land crabs. They are also creating havoc in the forest canopy. Feeding on a sugary secretion produced by sap-sucking scale insects, they protect this source of food from its natural predators. As a result, scale insects are booming in numbers and causing many patches of the forest canopy to die back. The ants have been living peacefully on Christmas Island since the 1930s and scientists are puzzled as to why they have suddenly become a menace.
27 MARCH 1999, P. 12
New Scientist
27 MARCH 1999, P. 12

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