The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know. Millions of people worldwide are now under required or voluntary lockdown. Nearly all public attractions, including museums and aquariums, are closed, and the usually crowded streets of popular tourist destinations are empty. An unexpected silver lining during these challenging times for humans is that many zoo animals are finally getting a chance to leave their normal habitats and move about freely.

The first animals to take advantage of human absence were Annie and Edward, two penguins that live at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. A video released on March 15, 2020 showed the couple eagerly duckwalked around, exploring the aquarium’s various exhibits. The video, which instantly became popular, inspired other institutions to share short videos of their four-legged creatures playing as well.

The Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio joined the fun trend on March 16, 2020, with a “Home Safari” live-stream series—the first starring its adorable baby hippo Fiona. “Let us help make your children’s hiatus from school fun and educational,” zoo officials announced. “Join us for a Home Safari Online Live each weekday at 3 pm, where we will highlight one of our amazing animals and include an activity you can do from home.”

Meanwhile, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has kept its webcams(网络摄像头) rolling, allowing fans to enjoy lovable animals without leaving home. Animals in the wild are also lively as humans stay indoors. The absence of cruise ships is bringing large numbers of dolphins to a port in Cagliari, while groups of wild turkeys are happily walking on the streets of Oakland.

The animals indeed appear to be having a good time, and the heartwarming videos and images shared on social media are also bringing much-needed cheer to millions of humans worldwide. Stay strong and healthy! We are all in this together!

Check out our tsunami (海啸) facts and lean some interesting information related to these great walls of water that can cause so much destruction. Find out what causes tsunamis and read about some notable recent examples of tsunamis that have occurred around the globe.

Tsunamis are huge waves of water that are usually caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

As a tsunami approaches the shore, water may move back from the coast. If it is shallow enough, the water may be pulled back hundreds of meters. If you are in the area, observing this is a good indication that a tsunami is on the way.

Regions in tsunami danger zones often have warning systems in place to give people as much time to evacuate (撤离) as possible.

When tsunamis hit shallow water (often near the coast), they slow down but increase in height.

An earthquake in the Indian Ocean off Indonesia in December 2004 caused a tsunami that killed over 200, 000 people in 14 countries.

In March 2011, the Tohoku earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan caused a tsunami that was a major factor in the death of over 15, 000 people.

The tsunami waves created by the Tohoku earthquake reached heights of over 40 metres (131feet) in mine areas, wiping out coastal towns and causing a number of nuclear accidents.

The Japanese word “tsunami” literally means “harbour wave”.

Tsunamis are sometimes referred to as tidal waves but this term has fallen out of favour because tsunamis are not related to tides.

Seamounts are mountains, usually volcanoes, which rise up from the sea floor. Some of the volcanoes are extinct; some are still active. But they are hard to find because they do not reach the surface of the water. Scientists say seamounts cover nearly 29 million square kilometers of this planet under the sea. Marine (海洋的) life gathers at seamounts because they carry nutrient-rich water upward from the sea floor.

In September, 2016, a group of scientists set out to explore Cook Seamount which rises almost 4,000 meters from the Pacific Ocean floor about 160 kilometers off the island of Hawaii. Humans have never seen it up close before.

Three people went in a submarine (潜水艇) down to over 900 meters below the ocean surface to the top of the seamount. As the blue waters became darker, underwater creatures that chemically create their own light began to swim past the submarine. The scientists found several kinds of deep sea corals (珊瑚虫) on the seamount’s sides. These included a possible new species of coral they named “Purple Haze”.

Conservation International and the University of Hawaii worked together for the trip to Cook Seamount. Greg Stone, the lead scientist, said, “This three-day research is the start of an effort to survey seamounts throughout the Pacific Ocean over the next five years. And we hope to study a total of 50 seamounts.” He said humans have little knowledge about seamounts, but they are a “key part” of what drives the ocean. Stone said he wanted to find out what is living on the seamounts and how they support ocean life. From that, he says, we will understand ocean health, which relates directly to human health.”

M. Sanjayan is Executive Vice President of Conversation International. He said there were 10,000, maybe 100,000 seamounts across the world’s oceans and because most had not been explored, he expected they would see things new to science.

One of the other two seamounts studied on their trip was Lo’ihi, an active volcano, which has been studied over the past 30 years. The scientists saw an “old friend” on it—a shark they had seen there before. Scientists say volcanic activity of Lo’ ihi pushes the seamount upward. But do not look for it to break the surface of the water any time soon.