https://altavianature.com/en/ Natural phenomena, records, animals and surprising places. en © Altavia Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:50:00 GMT https://altavianature.com/brand/logo-512.pnghttps://altavianature.com/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-petrichor-smell-of-rain/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-petrichor-smell-of-rain/ That pleasant smell of the first drops after dry days has had a scientific name since 1964. Behind it are plant oils, soil bacteria and a surprisingly sensitive human nose. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:50:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-marmots-hibernate/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-marmots-hibernate/ When the cold arrives, the Alpine marmot shuts itself in a burrow with its family and spends almost half the year in deep torpor. Its heart almost stops and it lives off the fat it built up in summer. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:40:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-snow-is-not-white/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-snow-is-not-white/ A snowflake is made of ice, and ice is transparent. So why is snow white and glaciers blue? The answer lies in how light bounces and is absorbed. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-water-boils-lower-at-altitude/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-water-boils-lower-at-altitude/ At sea level water boils at 100 °C, but not in the mountains. With less pressure, molecules escape sooner and water boils at a lower temperature. That is why pasta takes longer in a mountain hut. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:20:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-himalaya-still-growing/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-himalaya-still-growing/ Mountains seem eternal, but they move. India keeps pushing against Asia and the Himalaya gains a few millimetres every year, while ice, water and earthquakes shape it in the opposite direction. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:10:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-trees-connected-by-fungi/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/did-you-know-trees-connected-by-fungi/ Under your feet, in any forest, there are kilometres of fungal threads joined to tree roots. Thanks to them trees get water and nutrients, and some studies have detected exchanges between neighbouring trees. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:00:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/wildlife/animals-extreme-conditions/ https://altavianature.com/en/wildlife/animals-extreme-conditions/ Freezing and coming back to life, living without haemoglobin in sub-zero water or surviving the vacuum of space. Eight animals that push the limits of what we think is possible, explained with what science really knows. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Wildlife https://altavianature.com/en/wildlife/highest-living-animals/ https://altavianature.com/en/wildlife/highest-living-animals/ Where a human struggles to breathe, some animals live, hunt and breed. A mouse on the summit of an Andean volcano, a spider above 6,000 metres and a goose that can fly over the Himalaya. Sun, 04 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Wildlife https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/what-happens-to-your-body-above-3000-metres/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/what-happens-to-your-body-above-3000-metres/ At 3,000 metres every breath carries around 30% less oxygen than at sea level. Your body reacts within minutes, adapts within days… and sometimes fails. This is what happens and what to do. Sat, 03 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/chimborazo-farthest-point-from-earth-center/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/chimborazo-farthest-point-from-earth-center/ Everest is the highest mountain above sea level, but if you measure from the centre of the Earth, an Ecuadorian volcano wins. The reason: our planet is not a perfect sphere. Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/most-impressive-natural-phenomena/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/most-impressive-natural-phenomena/ Some of nature's shows look like special effects, but they really happen and you can see them without scientific equipment. Ten phenomena, explained, with the best times and places to watch them. Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/best-dark-sky-places-stargazing/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/best-dark-sky-places-stargazing/ More than a third of humanity cannot see the Milky Way from home. These are the places where the sky is still as it was centuries ago, and how to make the most of them even without a telescope. Thu, 17 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/red-snow-watermelon-snow/ https://altavianature.com/en/curiosities/red-snow-watermelon-snow/ In summer, some snowfields in the Alps, the Pyrenees or the Arctic turn pink. It is not dust or pollution: it is microscopic algae with their own 'sunscreen'. And their colour has consequences. Thu, 27 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Curiosities https://altavianature.com/en/wildlife/axolotl/ https://altavianature.com/en/wildlife/axolotl/ It lives only in the canals of Xochimilco, in Mexico City, never loses its juvenile look and can regrow legs, tail and even parts of organs. While it thrives in labs and aquariums, in the wild it is on the brink of extinction. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 06:00:00 GMT Wildlife