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Long-tongued, termite-munching numbats are no longer endangered due to decades of successful conservation efforts, the global authority on the status of the natural world says.

Also known as banded anteaters, the status of the pint-sized marsupial has improved to near-threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. ''Today's assessments show that long-term, strategic and collaborative conservation effort works,'' conservation biologistJohn Woinarski said on Friday. ''Without it, invasive cats and foxes will continue to drive Australia's small marsupials and native rodents to extinction.''

Read more: Numbats no longer endangered but threat far from over - The Australian Museum Blog

Cotton Pygmy Goose (Nettapus coromandelianus), family Anatidae, Purbasthali, WB, India

It can almost certainly tell different species apart based on the shape of those air bladders. And it can tell if a fish has something weird inside it, like a metal hook. In Hawaii, false killer whales often pluck tuna off fishing lines, and “they’ll know where the hook is inside that fish,” Aude Pacini, who studies these animals, tells me. “They can ‘see’ things that you and I would never consider unless we had an X-ray machine or an MRI scanner.”

This penetrating perception is so unusual that scientists have barely begun to consider its implications. The beaked whales, for example, are odontocetes that look dolphin-esque on the outside—but on the inside, their skulls bear a strange assortment of crests, ridges, and bumps, many of which are only found in males.

Pavel Gol’din has suggested that these structures might be the equivalent of deer antlers—showy ornaments that are used to attract mates. Such ornaments would normally protrude from the body in a visible and conspicuous way, but that’s unnecessary for animals that are living medical scanners.’

I'm not sure if I ever shared this story before here, but in Curacao, when I was allowed to assist in a guest interaction programme, there was suddenly consternation in the pool behind us. A guest had entered the water and the dolphins were going crazy, paying no heed to the trainers anymore. The lead trainer that was with me gave the dolphins to me to watch over while she went to help. When she came back she told me what had happened. The guest that had caused so much uproar had left the water again and was asked if he had done anything to upset the dolphins. He hadn't, and he couldn't imagine what was wrong... until he mentioned he had a pacemaker. The younger dolphins in the pool had never seen someone with a pacemaker before and apparently it rocked their world.

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