BORNEO Top Stories

New Species of ‘Exploding Ant’ Discovered in Borneo2018-04-22
Gizmodo: When confronted by an enemy, Southeast Asian “exploding ants” do exactly what their name implies: they explode. Ignored for decades, researchers have completed a detailed survey of these enigmatic ants, discovering over a dozen species that fit into this...
Tropical Gardening: Legal mood enhancers like chocolate nothing new in Hawaii2018-04-22
Hawaii Tribune-Herald: Mark your calendar for the Big IslandChocolateFestival April 27-28 at the Hapuna Resort to learn everything from growing to eating cacao or chocolate. For details, check it out online at bigislandchocolatefestival.com. We sometimes think of mood enhancing...
Chocolate — your legal mood enhancer2018-04-22
West Hawaii Today: Mark your calendar for the Big IslandChocolateFestival, April 27-28 at the Hapuna Resort, to learn everything from growing to eating cacao or chocolate. We sometimes think of mood enhancing drugs with trepidation but they have been part of the human...
New ‘exploding ant’ species discovered by scientists2018-04-22
Inquirer: A new kind of "exploding ants" has been discovered in Northern Borneo. The new species was named Colobopsis explodens or "yellow goo" due to its bright yellow secretion, according to a study published on the open-access journal ZooKeys on April 19. Exploding...
Ants that 'explode' to fight foes discovered on Borneo2018-04-21
The Jakarta Post: A species of ant that "explodes" and gives off a toxic, sticky liquid to fight off foes and keep its colony safe has been discovered in the jungles of Borneo island, scientists said Friday. The creatures, which have the scientific name Colobopsis...
Ants that ‘explode’ to fight foes discovered on Borneo2018-04-21
The News International: KUALA LUMPUR: A species of ant that “explodes” and gives off a toxic, sticky liquid to fight off foes and keep its colony safe has been...
New 'exploding ant' species puts on a gory, goo-filled show - CNET2018-04-20
CNET: A new kind of exploding ant found in Borneo will simultaneously fascinate you and gross you out with its toxic self-sacrifice. ......
Save intact forests for humanity’s sake, urge experts2018-04-20
Mongabay: The world’s largest forests can help solve some of the biggest problems facing humanity, but only if we move to safeguard them, argue two experts in a New York Times op-ed published ahead of Earth Day. Tom Lovejoy, a distinguished Amazon rainforest...
In other news: Environmental stories from around the web, April 20, 20182018-04-20
Mongabay: Tropical forestsZimbabwe’s Matobo National Park is a haven for birdwatchers (The New York Times).Drinking water threatened by logging in the Solomon Islands (Wildlife Conservation Society/EurekAlert). A campaigner who took on the palm oil industry has...
New ant species goes on a full suicide mission, 'explodes' guts all over attackers2018-04-20
The State: High atop Borneo's canopied jungles, the ants await any enemy daring enough to invade their colonies. These are no ordinary ants. They employ a special defense mechanism that isn't so much self-defense as it is species defense. When attacked, individual ants...
Meet the 'exploding ant,' which sacrifices itself for its colony2018-04-20
Star Telegram: Researchers from Austria, Thailand and Brunei have identified roughly 15 separate species of exploding ants, with one of them described as new to science. The ants live in trees in Borneo ......
Bornean bantengs feeling the heat in logged forests, study finds2018-04-20
Mongabay: The endangered wild cattle of Malaysian Borneo have eased back on their daytime activities because of higher temperatures brought on by loss of forest cover — a finding that has important implications for the species’ well-being. The...
A life and a violin, forever etched by the horrors of war2018-04-20
Sydney Morning Herald: Ninety-seven-year-old Bob Semple knows all too well about war. His uncle was killed on the 25th of April 1915 as the Anzacs landed on Gallipoli. Ten of his mates are buried side by side in the desert of North Africa. And the names of his gun crew are carved...
Species Of Ant That "Explodes" To Fight Foes Discovered On Borneo Island2018-04-20
NDTV: The creatures, which have the scientific name Colobopsis explodens, were found by a team of researchers in the tiny state of Brunei, which inhabits a sliver of land in the north of the biodiverse... ......