World’s largest plant found in Australia

Scientists have discovered the world’s largest plant off the Australia coast — a seagrass meadow that has grown by repeatedly cloning itself.

Genetic analysis has revealed that the underwater fields of waving green seagrass are a single organism covering 70 square miles (180 square kilometres) through making copies of itself over 4,500 years.

The research was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Scientists confirmed it by sampling and comparing the DNA of seagrass shoots across the bed, wrote Jane Edgeloe, a study co-author and marine biologist at the University of Western Australia. A variety of plants and some animals can reproduce this way, but “the process can create ‘hopeful monsters’” by enabling rapid growth, the researchers wrote.

2,910 laptops toppled like dominoes create a record

A computer and electronics recycling company in Indiana broke a Guinness World Record by setting up 2,910 laptops like dominoes and toppling them in a chain reaction.

Workers at Technology Recyclers’ headquarters in Indianapolis attempted the world record to highlight the importance of recycling electronic and electrical waste.

“We had a wonderful time planning and executing this event. The day brought our employees deeper into our story, and understanding the importance of what we do,” Dale Needleman, partner at Technology Recyclers, told Guinness World Records.

The team aimed to beat the record of 752, which was set in November 2021.

Custom wheelchair for baby emu

A baby emu at Bella View Farm Animal Sanctuary in Franklin, a North Carolina sanctuary, is enjoying restored mobility after being outfitted with a custom wheelchair.

According to a release from pet mobility company Walkin’ Pets, the two-month-old emu was rescued from a farm in Wisconsin, living in a tote bag with a slipped tendon. A slipped tendon is an orthopaedic condition that can affect mobility and is often the result of ‘nutritional deficiencies’.

The sanctuary’s founder, Rhonda Farrell knew what the emu, named Lemu, needed, and reached out to Walkin’ Pets. In response, Walkin’ Pets crafted their first custom emu wheelchair for Lemu.

The animal took to its wheelchair much quicker than Farrell expected and he took off running the first time.

The wheelchair has helped him gain mobility, confidence and independence.

San Diego Zoo welcomes first aardvark birth in years

A female aardvark cub, born at the San Diego Zoo is its first aardvark birth in nearly four decades.

“She is very active, and was using her sharp claws to dig like an adult aardvark, just hours after her birth,” lead wildlife care specialist Cari Inserra said in the statement.

“She will remain out of view of zoo visitors for about two months as she bonds with her mother.”

Aardvarks are native to sub-Saharan Africa. They have strong front legs and long claws adapted to digging burrows where they spend daylight hours until emerging in evenings to use their long, sticky tongues to slurp up ants and termites.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 25th, 2022