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POPSRare 'Ghost-like' White Stag Spotted They are closely identified with unicorns and their appearance is said to herald some profound change in the lives of those who encounter them. Can this clip be considered an encounter? :)
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POPSMagnificent Maelstroms [photos & videos] The first picture is of the Kauai Maelstrom in Hawaii. It's probably the most beautiful of them all. If you would like a wallpaper of it or any size picture, click on the source above the picture. The two videos at the end are of the Saltstraumen Maelstrom in Norway, the largest and most powerful maelstrom in the world. For more pictures and information, click on the source at the very top of the clip.
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POPSHuntsman spider Clock Spider Long ago (in Internet years), someone came home to see four giant spider legs hanging out from the clock on their wall. Naturally, most people would monkey scream, and bounce into the safety of the night like a baby deer. This brave soul, however, grabbed a camera, removed the clock from the wall, and photographed the horror found beneath. Although the Huntsman spider isn't poisonous, we're fairly certain nobody could get so close to a vicious beast without losing at least a limb or two as a tasty spider snack.
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POPSGIANT CAVE PICTURES: World's Biggest Found in Vietnam Vietnam's Son Doong cave, the largest single cave passage yet found. First explored earlier this year by a joint British-Vietnamese team, the cave measures at least 262-by-262 feet (80-by-80 meters) in most places and is at least 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) long.
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POPSMacaques make democratic decisions Whether or not the individual monkeys were successful in getting the rest of the group to follow them didn't seem to relate to their age, sex or status. "Even the children can get the group moving," says Cédric Sueur, a graduate student who worked on the study with Petit. The style of decision-making most frequently documented in the animal kingdom is dictatorial. In mountain gorillas, for example, the obedient tribe will follow the dominant male silverback. Horses, mongooses and wolves also follow despotic leaders. But theories are emerging which suggest that mammals who make democratic decisions may have an evolutionary edge because they can pool the experience of each group member.
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POPSShame Canada, Shame, Alberta. The Co-operative Bank will announce today that it is to fund a legal challenge by the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, which claims the boom in tar sands extraction is destroying their hunting and fishing lands. The court challenge calls for an injunction to stop more than 16,000 permits issued by the Alberta state government and, if successful, could dramatically reduce or even stop what has been described as a modern day "gold rush" for the oil, spurred by the expectation of high long-term oil prices. Last year the International Energy Agency estimated that the amount of oil in tar sands and other "unconventional" sources, especially in Canada and Venezuela, was 1-2tn barrels, only slightly less than the remaining conventional oil sources. Companies involved include Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Total.