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This lion lost a leg and an eye, and he’s still hunting on his own today
A three-legged, half-blind lion in Uganda has survived years longer than any researcher believed possible, and new drone footage is…
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Watch a Giraffe and Leopard Face Off on a South African Safari Road
A leopard lying just yards from a herd of giraffes sounds like a recipe for chaos, but what unfolds on…
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Six Giraffes Take a Ferry Across the Nile to Their New Home
Moving six critically endangered Nubian giraffes across a river sounds like the setup to a joke, but for the wildlife…
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Mother Cow Stands Guard Over Her Calf in the Road Until Help Arrives
A calf lying motionless in a busy Nepal road drew no help from the cars and trucks steering around it,…
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Horse Watches Woman Make a Snow Angel, Then Decides to Try It Too
A handler drops into the snow to make an angel, and her horse wanders over with a look of serious…
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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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Even Quiet Traffic Can Drown Out Birdsong’s Mood Benefits, Study Finds
Scientists have long suspected that birdsong eases stress and anxiety, but a surprising new study from the University of Surrey…
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The Invasive Species That’s Hiding in Florida
Florida's python problem gets all the attention, but a far less conspicuous creature is quietly dismantling the Everglades food web…
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The Alien-Looking Fish That Sees Through Its Transparent Head
Somewhere in the ocean's depths swims a small fish with a see-through skull, tubular eyes, and visual tricks that break…
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A researcher says her cuttlefish recognize her after years of contact
Marine biologist Alex Schnell has spent her career probing the inner lives of cephalopods, and what she has found in…
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Did you know what a bumblebee can remember with such a tiny brain?
Bumblebees have brains barely larger than a poppy seed, yet scientists at Queen Mary University of London just handed them…
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Protective Elephant Mom Rushes In When Her Curious Calf Gets Too Close to Humans
A curious elephant calf broke away from its mother to investigate a safari vehicle full of strangers, and what happened…
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Is Your Backyard Bird Feeder Spreading Bird Flu?
Bird feeders bring joy and wildlife to your yard, but experts are now raising urgent questions about whether they also…
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The Surprising Reason Koalas Roam More in September
For most of the year, koalas barely move, sleeping tucked into eucalyptus trees day after day. But when September arrives,…
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The Genetic Quirk That Turns a Lion White Isn’t Albinism
White lions carry a secret in their DNA that sets them apart from every other big cat with unusual coloration,…
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Watch Wolves Return to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains for the First Time in Decades
Gray wolves vanished from Colorado by the mid-1900s, and now footage captures the tense, carefully orchestrated moment wildlife crews crack…
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One of the World’s Rarest Penguins Begins Breeding in September
The hoiho breeds alone in hidden coastal nests, far from the safety of a colony, making every egg a gamble…
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Arctic Shorebirds Begin Arriving in Australia After Epic Global Flights
Every year, flocks of shorebirds descend on Australia's coastlines after crossing entire hemispheres, some without stopping once. The habitats waiting…
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This Australian Lizard Sips Rain That Rolls Down Its Spikes
The thorny devil survives Australia's brutal Outback without ever raising its head to drink, and the real mechanism behind its…
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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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One of the largest spiders in the world remains largely unstudied
Hidden in the rainforest canopy of Southeast Asia, one of the largest spiders on Earth has spent over a century…
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Watch This Squirrel Enjoy an Ice Cream Cone Like a Tiny Human
A squirrel sitting on a tiny bench and licking an ice cream cone sounds like something out of a cartoon,…
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Watch This Herding Dog Round Up an Entire Flock of Sheep
A single dog scatters across a wide open pasture and does what most people could never manage on foot, bringing…
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Baby Sea Turtles Race to the Ocean After Kids Set Them Free
Watching children experience something for the first time carries a magic that's hard to put into words, but a video…
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Watch a Monarch Caterpillar Become a Butterfly in Seconds
A plump caterpillar hangs upside down, and seconds later a monarch butterfly pumps its wings to life. This timelapse captures…
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Elephants Grieve for Decades — and Never Forget Where Their Loved Ones Died
Elephants carry the memory of violent losses for decades, returning again and again to the places where family members died.…
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Would your cat still remember you after years of being apart from you?
Cats have a reputation for indifference, but science suggests their minds hold onto bonds in ways that might surprise even…
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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,…
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Hundreds of Deadly Cobras Share This Tiny Island With Fishermen
On a tiny island in Lake Victoria, a community of fishermen lives side by side with nearly a thousand deadly…
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This Australian Bird Builds a Giant Incubator Before September
The malleefowl doesn't sit on its eggs like other birds. Instead, it engineers a living, self-heating incubator from scratch and…
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Wolves are now hunting in the water, and researchers don’t know how yet
Gray wolves along Alaska's coastline have started hunting sea otters, and researchers scrambling to document this behavior are uncovering dangers…
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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…
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Boy Pulls 4-Inch Megalodon Tooth from a Jersey Shore Jetty
When a Pennsylvania boy slipped his hand into a crack in a Jersey Shore rock jetty, he pulled out something…
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Cats purr with a broken leg, and researchers finally worked out the reason
Veterinarians hear cats purr through broken bones and terminal illness, and the reason turns out to have nothing to do…
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Joro Spiders Eat Tiny Flies, Not the Bugs Scientists Feared
When giant Joro spiders started colonizing the eastern United States, scientists feared these invasive arachnids would devastate native species by…
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This Rare Bald Eagle Stands Out for Its Color (or Lack Thereof)
A photographer in Missouri captured something birders almost never see: a bald eagle with none of its signature coloring. The…
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Europe’s Red Deer Begin Their Dramatic Autumn Rut in September
Every September, red deer stags transform into something almost unrecognizable, their bodies surging with hormones as they prepare to roar,…
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Typhoon Maysak Burst a Dam — and 900 Snakes Washed into Villages
When a typhoon pushed a reservoir past its breaking point in southern China, the dam collapse did more than flood…
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Some Birds Really Do Have Claws on Their Wings — Here’s Why
How do birds end up with claws on their wings? A Smithsonian bird expert explains this fascinating feature and the…
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A living structure nearly the size of Vatican City, and nobody sees i
A deep-sea expedition off Argentina set out to find cold seeps and found almost none. What the seafloor was actually…
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Why Thousands of Hawks Fill the Sky for 2 Weeks in September
Every September, solitary broad-winged hawks undergo a dramatic transformation, abandoning their reclusive forest lives to swirl together in massive, sky-filling…
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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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Your Cellphone Data Helped Reveal How 37 Animal Species React to Us
Researchers combined GPS collars on thousands of wild animals with anonymized cellphone location data to expose something surprising about how…
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What Were Bengal Tigers Doing at a Mexican Fuel Smuggling Site?
When Mexican authorities raided a suspected fuel smuggling operation near the U.S. border, they expected to find stolen diesel. What…
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Carrying a spider outside feels kind, and it’s often a mistake instead
That spider you just released into the garden may have just been handed a death sentence, and the one you…
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Waders in Peril: How Climate Change and Habitat Loss Threaten Shorebirds Across Continents
Every year, shorebirds travel thousands of miles across continents, betting their survival on a chain of wetlands and mudflats that…
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Why Colorado’s Thirsty Black Bears Are Wandering into Town This Year
Colorado black bears are showing up in neighborhoods at a rate that has wildlife officials scrambling, and the reason behind…
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Misunderstood Scavengers: Why Vultures are Critical to Ecosystems and Face Extinction
Vultures silently prevent disease outbreaks, save farmers money, and hold entire ecosystems together, yet their populations are collapsing faster than…
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Did you know what to do in the seconds right after a jellyfish sting?
A jellyfish sting sends burning pain through your skin in an instant, and the next thing most swimmers do makes…