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Southern Ground Hornbills (Bucorvus leadbeater), family Bucorvidae, order Bucerotiformes, Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Clouded Monitor Lizard (Varanus nebuolosus), family Varanidae, Cat Tien National Park, Dong Nai, Vietnam

A record die-off of sea stars was followed by something that stunned biologists

The creatures almost went extinct along the West Coast a decade ago. Recently, they have been making a comeback.

Six months ago, Menge’s team published exciting research — five-legged sea stars were undergoing a significant “baby boom.” The tide pools were denser than they had been before the disease, and the juveniles were eating mussels and clearing space for other species. In short, something rare and wonderful was happening on the Oregon Coast: One of the intertidal zone’s most important predators had returned from the brink...

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