Young Wildlife Photographer - AND JOURNALIST - of the year

Are you 17 or under?

Yes? Then keep reading.

Do you own or have access to a mobile phone that takes pictures and video?

Yes? Then keep reading.

Do you want a free trip to London, England?

Yes? Then keep reading.

Do you want the chance to GO ON A FIELD ASSIGNMENT WITH THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM (London)?

Of course you do - keep reading.

New species of tapir discovered in New York City!

Scientists have just described a new species of tapir from South America with the help of a one-hundred-year-old specimen from the American Natural History Museum in New York City.

In 1913, former US President Theodore Roosevelt was on an expedition to the Amazonian rainforest. He shot and killed a Tapir - for scientific purposes of course - and members of his party killed a few more - also for scientific purposes. One of those killed was a bit different to the others, and Roosevelt wrote at the time:

One was a bull, full grown but very much smaller than the animal I had killed. The hunters said that this was a distinct kind. The skull and skin were sent back with the other specimens to the American Museum, where after due examination and comparison its specific identity will be established.

RETRACTED: When science rights a wrong

A widely criticised 2012 paper claiming that genetically modified (GM) corn causes cancer has been retracted.

A scientist's worst nightmare

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have had their DNA changed in the laboratory, usually by adding some DNA from a different organism. The idea is to give the organism a special ability such as protection from insects, faster growth or healthier food, or to create some kind of half human, half animal monstrosity.

The retracted paper was published in the September 2012 edition of the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and was written by a French professor named Gilles-Éric Séralini and his colleagues.

Dr Séralini studied NK103 corn (also called maize), which has been modified to protect it from a common herbicide (or weed killer) called glyphosate. Farmers growing this corn can spray their fields with glyphosate and all of the weeds will be killed, but the corn will survive.

Eagles did not walk to Tasmania after all

The wedge-tailed eagle probably arrived in Tasmania much more recently than was previously thought.

The magnificent wedge-tailed eagle or 'wedgie'.

19,000 years ago much of the world was covered in ice. Most of the rain that fell on the land froze and because of this the sea level was about 120 metres lower than it is today. Back then, many places that are now islands were connected to continents by what we call 'land bridges'.

Until about 12,000 years ago you could walk from mainland Australia to Tasmania.

When the ice melted and the sea level rose, many animals and plants became trapped on these islands.

Giant platypus discovered in Queensland

The fossilised tooth of a giant platypus has been found in Queensland.

The scientists who found the tooth think it belonged to a platypus that was one-metre long and ate crayfish, fish, frogs and small turtles. Modern platypuses grow to about fifty centimetres long, don't have any teeth and mostly eat crayfish and other small crustaceans.

The new species is named Obdurodon tharalkooschild after a character in an Aboriginal dreamtime story called Tharalkoo. She was a duck that mated with a water rat and gave birth to the first platypus.

But here at Death Ray Science News we're calling it...

Predatorpus!

Now you know why turtles and platypuses don't get along
Drawing by Peter Schouten, tooth photo by Rebecca Pian

And the winners are.... elephants and crocodiles

Greg du Toit of South Africa is the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 with Essence of Elephants, while 14-year-old Udayan Rao Pawar of India is the young Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his photo Mother's little headful.

© Greg du Toit. Click here to see a bigger version at the Natural History Museum website.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 - sneak preview

In a few hours we will all be astonished when the winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 awards ceremony are revealed.

Photo © Jasper Doest

This competition is in its 49th year and it has the best wildlife photographs. If you don't believe me, just ask Google.

It is for serious wildlife photographers. Many of the winners spend weeks or months staking out a particularly rare species or animal behaviour in order to get the perfect shot.

But it's not just for the pros.

Termite love is in the air

Good people of Gippsland, avert your eyes! Termites are coming out of the woodwork and they are looking for love.

Termite alates. Source: USDA

Little winged kings and queens - known as alates - throughout eastern Victoria have taken to the skies in search of a mate.