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The Death’s-Head Moth Has 4 Ways to Infiltrate a Beehive
The death's-head moth has earned its sinister reputation, but not for the reasons folklore suggests. This creature has evolved a…
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Blog
This Caterpillar Releases Nicotine Gas from Its Whole Body
The tobacco hornworm has evolved a weapon unlike anything else in the insect world, turning its own body into a…
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22 Days Late: City Pollinators May Miss the Flowers Entirely
Urban pollinators are quietly restructuring their entire seasonal calendars, and the culprit behind this shift may be closer to home…
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Thousands of Tarantulas Are Roaming Colorado for One Reason
Every September, thousands of tarantulas flood the plains of southeastern Colorado, braving highways, predators, and parasitic wasps on a journey…
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Healthy Elk Are Dropping Dead in Nevada and No One Knows Why
Healthy female elk in Nevada's remote mountain ranges are dying at a startling rate every spring, and the cause has…
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The Short-Eared Elephant Shrew Looks like an Elephant-Mouse Hybrid
A four-inch creature with a trunk, lightning speed, and a genetic family tree that defies everything its name suggests. The…
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This Buck’s Antlers May Hit 700 Inches and $10,000 Rides on It
A Pennsylvania buck nicknamed Juggernaut stunned hunters and wildlife fans alike when photos showed his antlers appearing longer than his…
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Why Austin’s Tropical Parrots Nest on Utility Poles, Not Trees
Monk parakeets are native to South American rainforests, yet a thriving colony has claimed utility poles across Austin, Texas as…
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Why Most of the World’s Insects Are Missing From Conservation Plans
Endangered species lists are missing millions of animals, and the oversight goes far beyond limited funding or a simple preference…
Articles
The Most Bizarre Fish You’ll Find in the Mississippi River
Lurking beneath the murky surface of the Mississippi River are creatures so strange that experts who study them still marvel…
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How Did an Asian Monitor Lizard End up in Suburban Missouri?
When animal control pulled a giant Asian monitor lizard from a suburban St. Louis storm drain, they had more questions…
Articles
Why Some Nevada Lakes Have More Leeches Than You’d Expect
Nevada's lakes teem with wildlife, but one creature lurking in the shallows surprises even seasoned swimmers. Its presence signals something…
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Banff Is Home to 65 Grizzlies. Here’s How Often They Attack.
Banff draws millions of visitors each year into a landscape shared by dozens of grizzlies, yet the story behind its…
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Endangered Wood Turtles Are Climbing the Catskills for Survival
Researchers tracking wood turtles in the Catskill Mountains made a discovery that defies everything scientists thought they knew about where…
Articles
One Leap, One Stolen Tuna: The Shark Move Anglers Dread
A massive great white launched itself out of the water and came within inches of a fishing boat, leaving anglers…
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September Is a Big Month for Sea Turtle Hatchlings
Thousands of sea turtle hatchlings scramble toward the ocean each September, but the threats they face go far beyond crashing…
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What That Eerie Bugle Really Means During the September Elk Rut
Every September, bull elk transform into strange, urine-soaked creatures driven by surging hormones and a haunting bugle that signals both…
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A Biologist Counted 6,000 Reindeer on This Remote Island. Later Surveys Found 42.
In 1944, the U.S. Coast Guard released 29 reindeer onto a remote Bering Sea island and walked away. What researchers…
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That Shell You Pocketed in Costa Rica? It’s Illegal to Take Home
That gorgeous shell you slipped into your bag on a Costa Rica beach could land you in serious legal trouble,…
Articles
This Insect Has 30,000 Lenses and Five Eyes. We Have Two.
Dragonflies carry five eyes, 30,000 lenses, and a red-light detection system that puts human vision to shame, yet scientists just…
Articles
Why Does Your Dog Blink Back? Scientists Tested Dozens of Them
Researchers wired up 38 dogs to track every blink during a strange experiment involving projector screens and their owners' faces.…
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A 21-Country Study Found 130 Pathogens on Houseflies
That housefly buzzing around your barbecue has been places you really do not want to think about, and a sweeping…
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Nearly 500 Critically Endangered Frogs Released in a Couple’s Backyard
A Mississippi couple spent two decades burning land and replanting trees on their private property, not knowing whether their effort…
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Deer Disease Rules Hit Delaware Sept. 1: Bans, Checks, Free Tests
Delaware just confirmed its first-ever case of Chronic Wasting Disease, and with deer season opening September 1st, the state is…
Articles
Rabid Beaver Attacks Child at Maryland Park and Is Still Missing
A rabid beaver bit a 10-year-old girl at a Maryland state park, then vanished into the creek before anyone could…
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The Australian Bird That Kidnaps Babies to Survive
White-winged choughs run elaborate cons on rival bird families, performing courtship dances and offering food to fledglings that aren't theirs.…
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Rodenticide Nearly Wiped out Kiawah Island’s Bobcats. Until the Community Fought Back.
Kiawah Island's bobcat population collapsed almost overnight, and no one could explain why. The culprit turned out to be something…
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The Surprising Way a Honeybee Can Survive Her Sting
Most people instinctively swat a bee that stings them, but that split-second reaction may be the very thing that seals…
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Deer Guts Don’t Just Slow Down in Winter — They Transform
As temperatures drop, white-tailed deer don't just eat less, they eat differently, and the changes happening inside their bodies are…
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Bolas Spiders Turn a Moth’s Mating Instinct into a Death Trap
The bolas spider never spins a web, yet moths fly straight to it every time, drawn by an irresistible urge…
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How Firefighters Saved Colorado’s Rarest Trout
When the Gold Mountain Fire swept through Colorado, a team of firefighters and biologists had less than 24 hours to…
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The Ant That Bites Holes in Its Children to Survive
The Dracula ant survives by feeding on its own young, but the reason behind this gruesome habit reveals something even…
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A Shrimp-Like Creature Had the World’s Oldest Fang — and Spawned Spiders
A tiny, shrimp-like creature that prowled ancient seas half a billion years ago carried a secret hidden in its soft…
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Meet the Fish That Walks, Croaks, and Tastes with Its Legs
Somewhere on the ocean floor, a fish is crawling on six legs, tasting the sand beneath its feet, and croaking…
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This Sea Slug Steals Man O’ War Stingers and Concentrates Them
The blue dragon sea slug floats through the open ocean picking fights with one of the most venomous creatures alive,…
Articles
This Squid Flirts and Threatens Rivals at the Same Time
The Caribbean reef squid pulls off something no other creature quite manages: running a seduction and a threat simultaneously, on…
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Orcas Launch onto Beaches to Catch Prey, and It Can Kill Them
Some orcas hurl their massive bodies onto the shore to snatch sea lion pups from the beach, a calculated gamble…
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The Ocean’s Deadliest Camouflage Artist Has a Neon Warning Sign
Lurking in Australian tide pools, one of the ocean's smallest predators carries enough venom to stop a human nervous system…
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The Candiru Tracks Fish the Same Way It Supposedly Hunts Humans
The candiru catfish earned a fearsome reputation in Amazon legend, but the truth of how this tiny parasite actually hunts…
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7 Animals That Look Harmless But Are Actually Quite Dangerous
Some of the most adorable creatures on the planet are hiding venomous stings, bone-crushing bites, and razor-sharp claws behind those…
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Cyanide Killed 15 Elephants in Kenya. But Who Is Responsible?
Fifteen elephants in Kenya's Kimana region dropped dead near a tomato farm, and investigators are now wrestling with a disturbing…
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One Owl Family Can Kill 4,000 Rodents a Year in Vineyards
California winemakers are ditching pesticides and turning to a feathered predator to protect their vineyards, and the results of a…
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The Octopus That Transforms into Sea Snakes, Lionfish, and Stingrays
When a predator closes in, one ocean creature does something no other animal on Earth can match: it becomes a…
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Palau’s Shark Sanctuary Generates 8% of Its GDP. Here’s How.
Shark fishing nets hundreds of millions of dollars a year, yet one small island nation found a way to profit…
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Pitchfork Teeth and Seven Gills: Inside Earth’s Oldest Shark Order
Some sharks have been prowling the deep ocean since before the dinosaurs, armed with pitchfork-shaped teeth and extra gills that…
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This Songbird Skewers Toxic Prey on Thorns, Here’s Why
Among songbirds, the loggerhead shrike looks perfectly innocent, but its hunting ritual has earned it a reputation that puts most…
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They Came to Tag Sandbar Sharks. They Found Hammerheads.
Atlantic Shark Institute researchers set out to tag sandbar sharks off Rhode Island, but a drone spotted something far more…
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It Rolls Ocean Waste into Meatballs to Survive. Meet the Vampire Squid.
Its scientific name translates to vampire squid from hell, yet this ancient deep-sea creature has a diet that no blood-sucking…
Articles
10 Sawsharks: The Order of Sharks with Saws for Snouts
Sawsharks rule some of the ocean's most unforgiving depths by turning their most bizarre physical feature into a precision weapon.…
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A Single Sawfish Can Net Poachers $8,000 for Cockfighting
Sawfish are critically endangered, yet poachers keep hunting them for a use so unexpected it has flown completely under the…