ALL THE SLOP

SNAKES, APPARENTLY, HAVE FRIENDS.

The baby rattlesnakes are cuddling. Please adjust your worldview.

Livestream cameras in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania captured live rattlesnake births, dozens of newborns and baby snakes cuddling adults for protection. Apparently even rattlesnakes have a snuggle phase.

SOURCECal Poly / Project RattleCam

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NATURE

THE WATER IS COMING BACK.

NATURE

We drained the swamp. Now we’re un-draining it.

A 23-square-mile tract of drained North Carolina peatland is being rewetted, replanted and restored to hold water, reduce fire risk, rebuild habitat and stop releasing so much stored carbon. Sometimes progress is admitting the ditch was a bad idea.

SOURCEAssociated Press

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YOUR TREE PHOTOS HAVE A JOB.

The AI still needs your tree photos.

AI-generated images helped species-identification models when real photos were scarce — but actual photographs from people in the real world still performed better. Your random tree picture remains scientifically employed.

SOURCENC State University

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TINY TRACKERS, BIG MIGRATION.

The warblers have backpacks now.

Researchers are fitting tiny songbirds with Tic Tac-sized geolocator backpacks that record light and atmospheric pressure across entire migrations. Serious science has once again required an extremely small backpack.

SOURCESmithsonian Migratory Bird Center / The Conversation

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A BRIDGE JUST FOR DEER.

The deer have infrastructure now.

Washington’s I-90 Snoqualmie Pass wildlife overcrossing recorded its 10,000th successful animal crossing in July. Add 11 undercrossings and the project is nearing 40,000 recorded crossings since 2014. Apparently the elk were just waiting for civil engineering.

SOURCEWashington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) via Good Good Good

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THE CLINIC RUNS ON SUN.

The sun is running a clinic now.

Twenty-three students built Stella Juva, a solar-powered mobile clinic that drove more than 800 km across Kenya and, while stationary, generated enough energy to power all its onboard medical equipment at once. It hasn’t treated real patients yet — this was field testing — but the sun appears to be doing rounds.

SOURCESolar Team Eindhoven / Amref Health Africa

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THE PARROT SAID NO.

The world’s weirdest parrot refused to go extinct.

New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō population has reached 325, after a record 90 chicks joined the official count this season. The recovery program began in 1995 with just 51 birds. Extremely round bird: still here.

SOURCENew Zealand Department of Conservation / Kākāpō Recovery Programme

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AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT LOG.

The internet gave the baby porcupine an emotional support log.

Point Defiance Zoo welcomed its first prehensile-tailed porcupine baby in 121 years. Then the internet spotted the tiny porcupette clutching a log and named it an “emotional support log.” For once, the comments improved the story.

SOURCEPoint Defiance Zoo & Aquarium / Good Good Good

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RELEASE DAY. TEARS INVOLVED.

Crush went home. Everyone cried.

Crush, a loggerhead found cold-stunned and nearly lifeless on a Jersey beach in January, spent months in rehabilitation before being flown to the Azores, fitted with a satellite tag, and released back into the Atlantic. Good turtle. Good humans. Everybody go home.

SOURCELittlefeet Environmental / SEA LIFE Weymouth / Channel 103

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COWS ON FIRE DUTY.