Known as the tomb-bird, the shrike makes a larder of insects, impaling them on thorns.

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John Gunn, head of AIMS, said it was difficult to stop the storms and bleaching but researchers could focus their short-term efforts on the crown-of-thorns starfish, which feasts on coral polyps and can devastate reef cover.

BBC: Half of Great Barrier Reef coral lost in last 27 years

There are also props from the show, like a crown of thorns used on location in Morocco in the spring of 2012and a chalice from the same set.

WSJ: Promoting 'The Bible' With Crown of Thorn

At Phillips, an untitled Basquiat charcoal and crayon work on paper shows a black man, Christ-like beneath a crown of thorns.

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The World Wildlife Fund offers a commercial tour in Palau, Micronesia on which snorkelers can help their guide remove the invasive crown-of-thorns starfish, which every day eat their weight in coral polyps from fragile reefs.

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