Articles
Hear a Mystery Bird? Merlin’s AI Can Name It Instantly
You’re walking in a natural area, and you see a little bird flitting around in the underbrush. You wonder what…
Articles
Articles
Why 90% of Humans Are Right-Handed: It’s How We Walk
If you’re a lefty and have ever felt excluded from the right-handed club as you write a letter, throw a…
Articles
Can a Million Eggs Finally Save This Toad?
In this video, you see Texas Parks and Wildlife staff releasing toad eggs and tadpoles from the Houston Zoo into…
Articles
Inside the Navy Program Where Dolphins Still Outperform Machines
Dolphins are notoriously smart – expressing emotions like joy and grief; maintaining cooperative social networks; and solving problems in nature…
Articles
3 Field Signs That Reveal a Marbled Salamander’s Sex
If you come across a marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum), consider yourself lucky—they spend most of their time hidden from view.…
Articles
Meet the 5-Foot Bird That Eats Baby Crocodiles
Just the name “shoebill” is a clue that this is a strange bird. The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) is a type…
Articles
1,000+ Cold-Stunned Turtles and the Network Racing to Save Them
Earlier this year, more than a thousand sea turtles were found cold-stunned along the Texas coast when the air temperature…
Articles
Inside the Unusual, Ladder-Spinning Movement of Bagworms
We’ve all watched caterpillars crawl, creating a ripple-effect with their multiple pairs of legs alternately making contact with the surface.…
Articles
How an African Bullfrog Exhausted a Deadly Boomslang While Barely Moving
In this video, we see a boomslang snake trying to eat an African bullfrog in South Africa. Boomslang snakes (Dispholidus…
Articles
How Losing Their Shells Helped Squid Outlive the Dinosaurs
Most people have encountered squid through their local seafood menu or field trip to an aquarium. Unlike octopuses, which are…
Articles
This Rare Shark Is Small Enough To Hide In Your Pocket
What’s finned, bioluminescent, and hiding out in the Gulf of Mexico? A shark that’s small enough to fit into your…
Articles
Black Bear vs. Grizzly: The Advice That Could Save Your Life
For most North American hikers, the possibility of a bear encounter has crossed their minds. Whether a hiker is prepared…
Articles
How One Hunter Is Battling Florida’s Growing Invasive Reptile Crisis
In this video, a Florida man, the “Python Cowboy,” hunts for invasive species. As he points out, “Here in Florida,…
Articles
A Strange Daytime Sighting Reveals Rare Flying Squirrels Quietly Moving Into Nebraska
In Nebraska, an elusive mammal that looks like your garden-variety tree squirrel but has strikingly large eyes and a rudder-like…
Articles
A 400-Million-Year-Old Fish Smile Is Changing What We Know About Teeth
These days, all fish have teeth. The shapes of their teeth vary according to diet, ranging from the little pegs…
Articles
Nature’s Meat Stripper: Anatomy of a Tiger’s Tongue Explained
A recent Instagram post described a tiger’s tongue as “built to strip meat, fur, and feathers straight off bone.” This…
Articles
Love Under the Ice: The Secret Winter Romance of North America’s Engineers
While other animals are hibernating or hunkering down for the winter, beavers are spending intimate time in mating and reproduction.…
Articles
How Well Can Humans Smell Compared to Other Animals?
As mammals with large brains, humans experience smell as a powerful sensory experience that’s closely linked with memory. The smell…
Articles
How One Invasive Species Is Rewiring an Entire Island’s Ecosystem
The island of Guam has a snake problem. Though innocuous enough in appearance – slender with brownish or greenish coloration…
Articles
Asian Carp, the Massive Fish That Could Reshape the Great Lakes Forever
Asian carp are large, voracious, and invasive. After their introduction to the United States during the early 1970s to control…
Articles
Inbreeding Threatens Michigan’s Only Rattlesnake — What It Means for Conservation
If you come across a rattlesnake in Michigan, it’s an eastern massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus), the only venomous snake in the…
Articles
13,000 Pound Dad Waits For His New Baby At The Zoo
Smithsonian’s National Zoo is all abuzz with excitement because first-time elephant mom Nhi Linh is pregnant. With a window for…
Articles
The Antelope That Could Take Its Entire Genus with It: Hirola’s Unfair Fight
“Hirola” translates from Somali to something like “the peaceful one” or “the lone one,” referring to its solitary habits. Like…
Articles
Conservation Isn’t Just Saving Beaches: This Turtle Study Says Reefs and Routes Matter Too
Three species of sea turtles are regularly observed in the Red Sea, which is an inlet of the Indian Ocean:…
Articles
Blocked or Crossed: Why Caribou Survival Hinges on a Single Road
Migratory land mammals roam annually over large swaths of landscape to obtain seasonally available resources. For example, caribou (Rangifer tarandus)…
Articles
Porcupine or Doppelgänger? DNA Unravels a Forest Impostor
You’d think that porcupines climbing trees would be visible and therefore well-studied. Roughly the size of housecats with thousands of…
Articles
Walking on Ice: How Blue-Spotted Salamanders Defy Freezing Death
While tromping around chilly places in Ontario, Canada during the winter, the last creature you might expect to see is…
Articles
Why Harassing Elephant Seals Is Illegal and Dangerous
In an unfortunate recent event, a couple threw rocks at an elephant seal at Point Reyes National Seashore in California.…
Articles
Does a Pelican Gathering Off California Coast Signal This Seabird’s Comeback?
Last month, a mob of pelicans amassed on the Central California coast, diving in droves for fish prey in the…
Articles
Why You Should Always Seek Medical Attention for a Raccoon Bite
Raccoons are kind of cute, with their black face markings and striped tails, right? These masked bandits thrive in urban…
Articles
Bag Limits Explained: Why Hunters Can Only Take So Many Animals
As we head into the middle of hunting season in many parts of the U.S., it’s a good time to…
Articles
How Recycling Your Old iPhone Could Save a Gorilla’s Life
In an episode of the Amazing Wildlife podcast, we found out that the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is collecting…
Articles
Light Pollution’s Hidden Harm: How Artificial Light Disrupts Bird Migration
The millions of birds—encompassing almost 500 species—that migrate across North America every year undertake challenging journeys. They must cover hundreds…
Articles
Feral Cats Just Landed on New Zealand’s ‘Predator Free 2050’ List
People love to keep cats as pets; domestic cats are playful but relatively low-maintenance. Worldwide, over 350 million pet cats…
Articles
Horsehair Worm and Praying Mantis: A Truly Unique Relationship
You’re not likely to witness a horsehair worm making its exit from a praying mantis, but if you do, it’s…
Articles
How Squirrels Accidentally Plant Oak Forests
You’ve likely seen a squirrel dashing around with an oak tree acorn in its mouth. It may be about to…
Articles
A Closer Look at How Ant Colonies Raise the Next Generation
The unusual life cycles of ants are deeply rooted in their social nature. Ants and other social insects like termites,…
Articles
The Animals of Saguaro National Park: From Cactus Wrens to Coyotes
Saguaro Park in southeastern Arizona, near Tucson, offers a landscape unlike anything you’ll see elsewhere. The park hosts about a million…
Articles
Meet California’s New State Snake: the Giant Garter Snake
We’ve all heard of state birds, like Virginia’s northern cardinal or Michigan’s American robin. But a state reptile? About half…
Articles
Tennessee Works to Bring Back the Long-Lost Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
Tennessee is preparing for a historic event that could eventually be cause for celebration. The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA)…
Articles
Is This Rare Whale Species Making a Comeback?
An annual whale report released by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium on October 22, 2025, made waves in the…
Articles
A Dentist Saved a Falcon with a Broken Beak
When a peregrine falcon turned up injured outside Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, he inspired all hands-on-deck care. The falcon’s…
Articles
These Fuzzy North American Caterpillars Leave Painful Stings
Caterpillars look cute, like little fuzzy toys. But an up-close look at their “fur” will reveal that many species have…
Articles
Your Complete Guide to North American Box Turtles
Box turtles are so named for their distinctive shells. All turtles have a top shell (carapace) and bottom shell (plastron)…
Articles
From Egg to River: The Perilous Life Journey of a River Turtle
From a young age, the river turtle embarks on a tough journey; the chance of a turtle hatchling surviving to…
Articles
A Wildlife Guide to Mammoth Cave National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, which includes the world’s most extensive system of caves, is inhabited by an unusual…