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The reintroduction of takhi horses to the Mongolian steppes, where they had roamed for millennia before going extinct in the wild in the 1960s, is often thought of as a great accomplishment of the animal conservation movement. However, as this brief animated history of the takhi from TED-Ed explains, a closer look at the story raises some complex questions about the meaning of conservation, the role of zoos and the best way to keep wild animal populations thriving. For instance: can a population of animals descended from captive breeding programmes, and closely watched and controlled to ensure their perpetuation, truly be considered wild? And, in the instance of the takhi, can these newly released horses even be considered the same animal?
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Environmental history
In Kazakhstan, ‘atomic lakes’ still scar the landscape decades after Soviet nuclear tests
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Language and linguistics
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?
9 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
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Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
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Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
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Biology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
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Animals and humans
Join seabirds as they migrate, encountering human communities along the way
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Biology
‘Save the parasites’ may not be a popular rallying cry – but it could be a vital one
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Evolution
The many ways a lizard tongue sticks, grasps, pinches and plops – in slo-mo
6 minutes