A US patient recovers well after a seven hour surgery. The procedure involves no modification of human DNA.

The common name “gecko” occurs in some versions of the Bible. It refers to a small saurian with a large head and eyes, and skin which is granular.

After other predators have consumed the soft parts of their prey, the bonebreakers arrive to feast on the skeleton. They are capable of swallowing and digesting 20 cm long pieces of bone.

The land by the sea will become pastures having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks. Zeph. 2:6

During the second century, believers identified themselves to each other by drawing the simple figure of a fish on the ground or on the walls of the catacombs in Rome.

The atmospheric conditions characteristic of the Old Testament period were conducive to the existence of enormous flocks of partridges on the mountains of Judea, on the banks of the Dead Sea and in the Negev desert.

King Solomon’s table comprised fabulous and abundant arrays of delicious food, among which there were fattened ducks.

In the Bible, this vegetation appears as a symbol of human inconsistency, as the wicked are described as “straw which the wind drives away”.

‘My Octopus Teacher’ has won the Oscar for best documentary feature film. What can the relationship between a diver and a common octopus show us about God’s grace?

The Bible refers to the sheep as a docile and affectionate animal; which knows the voice of its shepherd; gentle and silent; unable to survive on their own, which is why they have to be guided by the shepherd.

Normally bears avoid contact with humans but, if they are disturbed, or hungry, or robbed of their cubs, they are extremely dangerous (Isaiah 11:7; Amos 5:19; 2 Samuel 17:8; Prov. 17:12; 28:15; Hosea 13:8).

To date some 160,000 different species have been recorded, although it is speculated that millions more remain to be identified.

Its excellent sense of hearing enables it to detect small rodents, large insects, birds and worms, whereas its small size (25 cm from beak to tail) prevents it from hunting for larger prey.

The common hare in Palestine, or Cape hare (Lepus capensis) looks like a giant rabbit but, unlike the latter, they have body-hair when they are born and can see, as their eyes are already open.

Its meaning has been a subject of debate among translators since ancient times, as it is a mythical monster common to many Semitic mythologies.

The Bible mentions the leopard several times with the Hebrew term namer, which means literally “the spotted beast”.

It is estimated that a couple of owls can eliminate up to two thousand mice per year.

Covid-19 exposes the stark inequalities of our world as it wreaks havoc most on those for whom lockdown means no money and no food and who don’t have access to the basics of clean water and soap let alone a garden or park.

There are some forty thousand subspecies scattered throughout the world. All of them are cold-blooded reptiles, whose body temperature depends on their environment.

The hyena was a common animal in the Holy Land in the Biblical era, and even today it can still be seen.

One Biblical term for “the worm that does not die” is the mentioned Greek term, skólex, which appears in the New Testament to refer to Hell, or the permanence of eternal death.

The bird is famous for its dances, and its up to five-metre leaps in air when they gather in small groups, in a sort of social recognition ritual.

Certain food agencies are considering the possibility that in the future insects could become the main source of protein for humanity. The Bible envisaged this scenario thousands of years ago.

A pair of swallows can clock up as many as a thousand flights in search of little mud-balls until their nest is complete.

The Hebrew term shajaph, translated as “seagull” in the Old Testament, literally means “thinness”.