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What Is Whale Snarge? The Gross Substance Saving Whales
When a whale exhales, something far stranger than air shoots out of its blowhole at 300 miles per hour. Scientists…
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How the Maricopa Harvester Ant Claims the World’s Most Toxic Insect Venom
A tiny desert ant found across the American Southwest carries a venom so potent it outranks creatures many times its…
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Why UVB Lighting Isn’t Optional for Bearded Dragons
Bearded dragons can look perfectly healthy for months while a silent, preventable condition builds inside them. Getting UVB lighting wrong…
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The Toucan with Feathers That Fuse into Glossy Plastic Ringlets
One toucan species grows head feathers so bizarre that scientists still cannot agree on what they actually do. The curled,…
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Don’t Grab a Branch with One of These Creatures on It
Australia hides a spider so perfectly disguised as a twig that you could wrap your hand right around one without…
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Not All Leeches Drink Blood. Some Hunt, Scavenge, and Eat Snails
Leeches have a reputation built almost entirely on blood, but the reality of how they feed is far stranger and…
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Elk Antlers Grow an Inch a Day — Here’s Why July Is Peak Season
Every summer, something extraordinary happens inside a deer's skull that drives bone to grow at a pace almost nothing else…
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Snakes Are Vital to Ecosystems — So Why Do We Fear Them?
Snakes keep rodents out of your crops, balance entire ecosystems, and their venom saves human lives, yet nearly half of…
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Navigating the Most Dangerous Week of a Songbird’s Life
Every spring, millions of songbirds take their first shaky steps beyond the nest into a world full of cats, well-meaning…
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The Deer with 2-Inch Fangs That Stabs Rivals Instead of Locking Horns
Most deer settle disputes with antlers, but one species took a very different evolutionary path, trading headgear for something far…
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Florida Coyotes Are Now Eating Iguanas and Peacocks
South Florida coyotes have been spotted eating some surprisingly exotic prey, and the reasons why reveal just how cunningly these…
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Why Your Favorite Backyard Ducks Look So Strange in July
Every summer, the bold green-headed drakes that patrol neighborhood ponds seem to vanish without warning, replaced by drab, female-looking imposters.…
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Why ‘Rescuing’ a Baby Deer Can Do More Harm Than Good
You spotted a fawn curled alone in the grass, and every instinct is screaming at you to help. But wildlife…
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12-Year-Old Injured by Bison at Yellowstone’s Mud Volcano
A bison encounter at Yellowstone left a 12-year-old hospitalized, raising urgent questions about just how dangerous these seemingly calm giants…
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The Wrist Trick That Keeps Molting Hawks Airborne
Every time a hawk loses a flight feather, it faces a serious aerodynamic problem on its next landing approach. Researchers…
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These Look-Alike Salamanders Were Hiding a Secret Evolutionary Story
Woodland salamanders have worn the same basic body plan for over 100 million years, leading scientists to dismiss them as…
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Fat Albert May Be Alaska’s Heaviest Polar Bear — If He’s Real
Somewhere in Alaska, an enormous polar bear known as Fat Albert has earned a legendary reputation among locals who reportedly…
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Polar Bears Lie Flat on Ice — and the Reason Is Fascinating
When a polar bear flattens itself against the ice and drags itself forward, something remarkable keeps it from freezing to…
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This Parasite Turns Snails Into Flashing “Disco Zombies”
A parasitic flatworm has figured out how to hijack a snail's brain, warp its personality, and transform its body into…
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Millions of Mayflies Swarm a Toledo Gas Station — Here’s Why
A Toledo gas station became so overwhelmed with mayflies that customers could barely step out of their cars, and the…
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Birds Are Shrinking as Insect Populations Drop
Something is causing tree swallows across North America to shrink, and scientists tracking nearly 50 years of data just pinpointed…
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Your Old Cat’s Brain May Hold Clues to Human Aging
Scientists studying brain aging have turned to an unexpected research partner living right in our homes. What they discovered about…
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The Critically Endangered Great White Sharks Hiding in Spanish Waters
Great white sharks have a reputation for making themselves known, yet a population lurking in the Mediterranean Sea has stayed…
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Is H5N1 Now Spreading Between Mammals? New Study Raises Alarm
H5N1 has already killed seals and penguins across remote Antarctic islands, and a new study reveals the virus has now…
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A 6-Foot Waterfall Turns Brooks River into a Bear Buffet
Every summer, something extraordinary draws hundreds of brown bears to one specific stretch of Alaskan river, turning a single geological…
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Here’s What 2 Million Escaped Honeybees Looks Like
A truck hauling millions of live honeybees overturned in a Texas neighborhood, turning quiet streets into a buzzing crisis that…
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This Greek Restaurant’s Most Loyal Patron is a … Bird?
A pelican has been strolling into a Mykonos taverna every morning for decades, charming tourists and locals alike into handing…
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How Ants Know a Nestmate Has Died Before Decomposition Starts
A dead ant can be detected and removed from the nest within an hour, long before any rotting smell develops.…
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How Birds Physically Transform to Keep Their Eggs at 100 Degrees
To keep eggs alive, many birds do something far stranger than simply sitting on them. Their bodies physically transform in…
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Meet the Rodent That Looks Like a Slightly Drunk Rabbit
Somewhere in the rocky peaks of South America lives a creature that has been confusing hikers for centuries, borrowing the…
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The World’s Largest Frog Builds Its Own Nursery Ponds
The Goliath frog is the largest frog on Earth, but its size may not be just a quirk of nature.…
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How Artificial Structures Are Creating Nurseries for Stinging Swarms
Jellyfish blooms dense enough to stop boats and shut down nuclear power plants are spreading across the world's oceans, and…
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Hare Escapes a Cheetah’s Grip with a Mid-Air Backflip
A cheetah closes in, makes contact, and still loses its quarry in the most unexpected way possible. What this hare…
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Scientists Discover Amazing New Species of “Walking Shark” in Papua New Guinea
A shark that walks on land at low tide just turned up in one of the ocean's most remote corners,…
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The Invasive Species Making Mississippians Nervous
Behind this slightly scary Instagram post is a serious message about an invasive species. The post features a close-up shot…
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Why Female Chickadees Leave Their Mates for Smarter Birds
A fascinating new study has revealed that female chickadees are very fussy when it comes to selecting a father for…
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Does Owning a Cat or Dog Lower Your Stress?
Cats and dogs have been our loyal companions for thousands of years. Our ancestors initially used them for rodent control,…
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Georgia Officials Warn Invasive 4-Foot Lizards Are Threatening Native Wildlife
A large South American lizard is causing concern to wildlife officials in the state of Georgia. The Argentine black and…
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A Cornish Isolated Ecosystem Is Hiding a Rare Treasure
The extraordinarily beautiful scene captured in this Instagram post is also a superb example of genetic morphs or how diet…
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Meet the Desman, Europe’s Critically Endangered “Water Mole” That Never Stops Eating
Not all moles live in holes! In the drainage basins of the Don, Ural, and Volga rivers in Russia, there…
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The Australian Rat That Flips Cane Toads Before Eating Them
Rats are not always viewed in a positive light. Scientists are becoming increasingly aware, however, that the Australian water rat…
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Hundreds of Thousands of Mice Are Swarming Australia’s Farms
A mouse plague of Biblical proportions has struck parts of Australia, and it’s not for the first time. The startling…
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Florida Scientists Broke Their Own Record Removing 4 Tons of Pythons
Over four tons of invasive Burmese pythons have been removed from Southwest Florida ecosystems during this breeding season. Here’s how…
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What Is a Gummivore? The Animal Diet You’ve Never Heard Of
There’s a lot more to diet classification than carnivores and herbivores. Have you heard of a gummivore? For example, you…
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A Volcano Finished This Cat-Sized Caribbean Rat But Humans Started It
The islands of the West Indies were once home to a group of rats of nightmarish proportions. These super-rats, some…
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Why Only Female Mosquitoes Drink Blood — and What Males Eat
You may think of mosquitoes as simple little insects that give you annoying bites. However, they have a surprisingly fascinating…
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How One Ant Queen Clones Males of a Completely Different Species
The whole point of reproduction is that you produce more of your own species, right? Well, not exactly, and not…
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How Dung Beetles Keep Our Pastures From Suffocating
Dung beetles may not have the most glamorous name or lifestyle, but they are essential for the ecology of agricultural…
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The Molecular Science of Why Mosquitoes Single You Out in a Crowd
Are you one of those people who get covered in mosquito bites while your friend’s skin remains totally unblemished? Some…
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Why a Python Hid 20 Eggs Beneath a Florida Sidewalk
Some movement beneath a concrete sidewalk in South Florida turned out to be a mother Burmese python and her 20…