Government College Lahore Zoology Department.

🪸 Coral in Niue.

Located in the South Pacific, 1,300 miles northeast of New Zealand between Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, Niue is one of the largest elevated coral atolls in the world.

Photo by Manu San Félix/National Geographic Pristine Seas

Why do sharks freeze when flipped upside down? Scientists still don’t know.🦈

A new study has confirmed that when some sharks, rays, and their relatives are gently turned upside down, they enter a trance-like state called tonic immobility. Their muscles go limp, and they stop moving entirely. But why they do it remains a mystery.

Out of the 13 species tested, seven entered this frozen state, long thought to be a defense against predators. Yet, researchers found no evidence to support that idea. Other theories — like a role in mating or a sensory overload response — also didn’t hold up.

The behavior may be evolutionary baggage, a leftover trait from ancient ancestors that persists simply because it doesn't do enough harm to disappear.

Published in Biology Letters, the research challenges long-held assumptions about sharks and highlights just how much we still don’t know about life in the ocean’s depths.

https://www.rewild.org/news/expedition-to-marika-natural-park-rediscovers-lost-species

Expedition to Marika Natural Park rediscovers lost species Article: The tropical forest is home to a huge diversity of invertebrates.

https://www.facebook.com/100076415869689/posts/504739605416564/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Rock oyster, Spondylus sp., on a crevice of a giant coral. The blue dots along the edge of the shell are tiny eyes with which the animal detects light changes and, hence, potential predators.

Photo by Enric Sala/National Geographic Pristine Seas

Western tourists smoke hashish on the roof of a hotel in Peshawar in 1972. Pakistan was an important destination along the "hippie trail," a popular route for Western backpackers that ran across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, usually ending in Nepal.