A hummingbird can beat its wings at 50 beats per second, which is so fast that it looks like a buzzing blur in the air. Hummingbirds are also able to zoom up to a flower at 40 kilometres per hour (24 miles per hour) and stop in an instant.
Warmer sea sparks new life on remote island
Warmer sea sparks new life on remote island A tiny rise in the sea temperature has produced an
explosion of life on Australia's Heard Island. The sub-Antarctic
island is Australia's most southerly, and is about 80 per cent
covered in glaciers. As a result of warmer sea temperatures, these
glaciers have begun to retreat from the coastline and the shape of
the island is changing. Areas that were formerly covered in ice are
now lush with vegetation and the populations of seals, penguins and
cormorants have exploded. In 1957, there were only three breeding
pairs of king penguins but now there are more than 25,000 pairs.
The fur seal population has more than doubled in the same time, and
cormorants have increased ten times. The warmer sea temperature is
a result of continued recovery from the last ice age and global
warming. Scientists can't predict what will happen in the next
fifty years, but speculate that the island may actually become too
warm for some species of plants and animals. APRIL 9, 2001
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