Relephant Evolution

Elephants are sensitive creatures. But when bullied, these giants have THICK skin!  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Tusks help elephants dig, gather food and defend themselves. But, since tusks are made of precious ivory, they’ve long been used as currency! Increased poaching in Mozambique

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Singing Seals

Arf! Arf! Is that seal trying to tell me something?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. That barking noise seals make is just the BEGINNING of their communication skills! Harbor seals can also imitate sounds, like parrots!  And Laura Borda and her team from Max

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Squirrel Tricks

Remember Rocky J. Squirrel? His parkour skills were NUTS!  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Running, climbing, swinging, vaulting – parkour athletes trick through challenging courses as quickly as possible. This skillset takes hundreds of hours of practice. But squirrels? They do these stunts instinctively!

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Heart of a Whale

Be still, my beating heart! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with The Loh Down on Science. Healthy human heart rates range from about sixty to one hundred beats per minute. Too slow or too fast – we feel lightheaded and weak. How about blue whales? They are the largest animals,

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Rat Race

Could your next driving instructor be … Stuart Little? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Wild rats are smarter than scientists thought. One wild rat escaped and eluded seasoned field researchers for over four months! So are lab rats naturally dumber than their liberated friends?

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Otterly Cozy

Which marine mammal is not like the OTTERS? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Swimming in the Pacific can be…CHILLY! Larger ocean mammals like walruses and whales have a secret weapon–blubber! But how does a small otter stay cozy while frolicking adorably in the sea? 

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Tortoise Attack

Return to an age when GIANT TORTOISES walked the earth!? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Giant tortoises can grow to be four feet long and weigh as much as a tiger! They can be found in the Seychelles and the Galápagos Islands. These monster

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Wolf to Woof

Puppies are fast learners! But imagine training a WOLF PUP to sit!  This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.  Dogs started out with a wild streak, as wolves. But for fourteen thousand years, they’ve been our faithful companions.  Hannah Salomons and colleagues at Duke University wondered

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Talkin’ Batty

HELP! Turn on the bat-signal! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Like birds, bats have wings. But they’re actually mammals like humans! Like us, they’re social creatures and have to learn to talk to one another. How? Ahana Fernandez, from Leibniz Institute for Evolution and

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Pika Perseverance

Pikachu? More like pika-EWWW! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. In the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau of Southeast Asia lives the plateau pika – a little rodent the length of a butter knife. BUT plateau life is no small feat! Temperatures can reach negative twenty degrees fahrenheit,

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