geekosystem

Tapirs may lovable in that so-ugly-they're-adorable kind of way, but the fact that they're cute as the dickens hasn't helped them avoid a spot on the endangered species list. Due to unsustainable hunting, habitat loss, and low reproductive rates, environmentalists have been pushing for tapir conservation efforts and awareness for years. Even though the tapirs' situation appears to be a dire one, there may be a glimmer of hope for the bizarre creatures after all. A team of scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society have recently released their report in the journal Integrative Zoology on a thriving lowland tapir population on the Peru-Bolivia Border. Playing host to an estimated 145,000 of these critters, mankind may have just stumbled upon a veritable Garden of Eden -- as envisioned by the tapir, of course.

A team of geologists has identified one of the largest magma bubbles on the face of the planet, and delightfully, it happens to look like a giant sombrero. A bubble of superheated magma 62 miles across is constantly growing and rising in the center of the geologic uplift, while all around it, the rest of the valley sinks incrementally lower each year, turning the sombrero uplift into the new Most Awesome Geologic Phenomenon Named After a Thing You Wear On Your Head. Sorry, Mount Hood, Helmet Peak, and Hat Mountain.