Articles
One of the Most Beautiful Tarantulas on Earth Is Also One of the Most Endangered
A metallic blue spider hiding in a tiny patch of southern India sounds like something out of science fiction, yet…
Articles
Articles
How Do Tarantulas Actually Eat? The Answer Is Stranger Than You Think
Tarantulas look like they're eating, but what's actually happening to that cricket is far weirder than a simple bite. Richard…
Blog
Urban Pigeons Change Their Parenting Duties When Food Runs Short
When food grows scarce in the city, feral pigeons do something unexpected to keep their eggs alive. A new German…
Blog
Rabbit-Sized Bettongs Are Back, and They Shrink Bushfires
Rabbit-sized and nearly wiped out, rufous bettongs once shaped entire landscapes across Australia, and their disappearance left ecosystems far more…
Blog
A Glassy Black Beetle Indicates the Antilles Were Settled Twice
A glassy black beetle hiding in the cloud forests of the Dominican Republic has left scientists questioning everything they thought…
Blog
70% Of America’s Mussels Are Vanishing. Then 5 New Ones Turned Up
North America's freshwater mussels are disappearing at a staggering rate, with entire species vanishing before scientists can even name them.…
Articles
An Octopus Clung To A Dolphin’s Fin Off England, In The Biggest Octopus Boom In 75 Years
A wildlife photographer spotted something strange clinging to a Risso's dolphin off the Devon coast, and marine scientists say the…
Blog
A Dog Named Shep Saved This Species from Extinction in 1981
In 1981, a ranch dog dragged home a mysterious dead animal, setting off a chain of events that would determine…
Blog
This Brainless Sea Blob Has No Ears, but It Feels Sound
Sea squirts have no ears, no brain, and spend their adult lives glued to the ocean floor, yet new research…
Blog
One Disaster Could Wipe out This Newly Found Amazon Fish
Scientists just discovered a brilliantly orange killifish deep in the Brazilian Amazon, but the celebration was short-lived. The entire known…
Articles
Three Wild Dog Brothers Traveled 2,564 Miles Across Zambia, A Record For An African Mammal
Three wild dog brothers slipped past highways, cities, and rival packs on a nine-month trek across Zambia that shattered every…
Articles
Utah Moved 47 ‘Nuisance’ Beavers To A Desert River, And Only About A Quarter Stayed
Wildlife managers trucked dozens of so-called nuisance beavers into two of Utah's most parched and degraded desert rivers, betting the…
Articles
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…
Anaconda
Jeremy Wade Swims Toward a 20-Foot Anaconda, Then Gets Face-to-Face
Jeremy Wade does not back away when a massive green anaconda materializes out of the murk beside him. What happens…
Blog
She Opens a Bedroom Drawer and Finds a Rare Blue Snake Inside
A woman reaches into her bedroom dresser and finds something coiled among her belongings that stops her cold. The color…
Animals
Lion Walks Straight Through a Hyena Clan, But Why Do They Back Off?
A lone male lion walks straight into a crowd of spotted hyenas without flinching, and the clan steps aside. The…
Blog
240 Million Years Apart, These Spiders Build the Same Trap
Two spider families split apart nearly 240 million years ago and went their separate evolutionary ways, yet both spin webs…
Articles
A Trawler Hauled Up A Blue Fish In 1938 That Science Believed Extinct For 65 Million Years
When a South African trawler captain called his museum curator friend to look over an unusual catch in 1938, neither…
Blog
Why Baby Snakes Twist Into Spirals Before They Can Move
Something inside a snake egg pulls the embryo into a tight spiral before it ever develops muscles, and scientists only…
Articles
Banner Health Says Arizona Rattlesnake Bites Happen At Home, Not On Trails, And Here’s Where
Walter Martin reached around a shelf in his own shop and felt the sting before he ever heard the rattle.…
Articles
The Greenland Shark May Live Nearly 400 Years, And It Doesn’t Reach Adulthood Until Around 150
Scientists have long suspected Greenland sharks outlive every other vertebrate on Earth, but a new genetic study is asking a…
Articles
This innocent pet release could spark an environmental disaster, here’s why it matters
A goldfish slipped into a neighborhood pond might seem like a small act of kindness, but scientists say that single…
Blog
Lion Walks Into a Campsite, But Why Don’t the Campers Run?
A lion just walked into a campsite in Botswana, started sniffing around the furniture, and the people nearby did something…
Blog
Snow Leopards Get the Zoomies, But Why Do Big Cats Do This?
Two young snow leopards tear around their enclosure like they raided a coffee warehouse, and the footage raises a real…
Blog
Why Sockeye Salmon Turn Brilliant Red Before They Spawn
A sockeye salmon's dazzling crimson spawning colors hide a secret that starts forming years earlier, long before the fish ever…
Blog
Empty Forest Syndrome Explains Why Cambodia Can’t Bring Tigers Home Yet
Cambodia's forests still look lush and alive, but something is deeply wrong beneath the green canopy, and it may keep…
Articles
Your Dog’s Ear Infection Returns Because the Allergy Was Never Treated
Your dog finishes a round of ear infection treatment, seems fine, and then the scratching and head shaking start all…
Articles
This Dolphin Chases Fish Until They Vomit, Then Eats The Meal: A First For Any Cetacean
A wild bottlenose dolphin in Australia has developed a foraging trick so strange that researchers spent four years making sure…
Bear
Cyclist Appears to Be Chased by a Grizzly. There’s One Big Catch
A GoPro clip of a cyclist being chased down a trail by a charging grizzly has racked up tens of…
Blog
Insect Declines Could Leave Wildlife Without Food, Shelter, and Defenses
A massive review of 300 wildlife studies uncovered something unsettling: the fates of mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles are far…
Articles
A Mountain Lion Was Confirmed In Southern Illinois, A State That Lost Them Before 1870
A landowner near the Big Muddy River spotted something Illinois wildlife officials had confirmed only a handful of times in…
Articles
A Wyoming Ranch Dog Brought Home A Strange Carcass In 1981: It Was A Species Presumed Extinct
A Wyoming ranch dog dragged home a small masked carcass one September night, and the local taxidermist took one look…
Blog
They Thought They Adopted a “Micro Pig.” Then She Grew to 600 Pounds
Steve Jenkins agreed to take in one tiny piglet, and for a while, everything seemed fine. Then Esther kept growing,…
Blog
Hilarious Video Captures a Man’s Sneeze That Causes a Cat to Fall Into a Pool
One moment this cat was calmly watching a pool, and then a single sneeze sent it flying into the water.…
Blog
Winged Termites’ Nuptial Flight is Like Something From a Horror Film
After a heavy rainstorm, something stirs underground, and then hundreds of winged termites erupt into the sky in a synchronized…
Articles
Hikers Spotted 3 Stranded ‘Dinosaur Fish’ In A Michigan River, And Rescuers Found 27
A phone call to a poaching hotline set off something no one expected, pulling crews deep into the Michigan wilderness…
Blog
This Caterpillar Looks Like a Starfish Crossed With a Slug, and You Shouldn’t Touch It
Something strange is crawling through a West Virginia farm, and it looks like no caterpillar you have ever seen. Before…
Articles
A Bobcat Attacked The World’s Largest Rattlesnake, And 38 Camera Trap Photos Show How
A bobcat squared off against the world's largest rattlesnake species, and a camera trap captured every move across 38 frames.…
Blog
2 Bull Moose Locked Antlers on a Path in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Over One Prize
Two massive bull moose collided on a Steamboat Springs path in a clash violent enough to stop bystanders cold. What…
Blog
A Giraffe Towers Over Two Cyclists, Then Leans In for a Closer Look
Two cyclists hold perfectly still as one of the tallest animals on Earth slowly bends its enormous head down into…
Blog
Hundreds of Cormorants Flew in Perfect Formation, and It Wasn’t Just for Show
Hundreds of cormorants stretched across a pale blue sky in perfect synchronicity, moving with a precision that would make a…
Blog
A Pig Spots a Running Hose, Then Opens Wide for 12 Seconds Straight
Most animals think twice before walking up to a running hose. This shaggy pig skipped that step completely and committed…
Blog
A 2-Headed Turtle Hatched on Cape Cod, and It’s the Third in Five Years
Cape Cod's salt marshes have now produced three bicephalic diamondback terrapins in five years, and scientists are struggling to explain…
Blog
A Ghostly Octopus Appears 2 Miles Deep, Then It Opens Up
Nearly two miles beneath the Pacific, a pale octopus drifted into the lights of a research ROV and did something…
Articles
Bears Have Entered More Than 60 Connecticut Homes This Year, And Fall Is Raising The Risk
Connecticut bears are entering homes at a rate that baffles wildlife officials and dwarfs what neighboring states report, and fall…
Articles
Why A 700-Pound Elk Named Smash Keeps Charging Trucks And Golf Carts In Estes Park
A 700-pound bull elk in Estes Park has been on a tear this fall, going after trucks and golf carts…
Articles
Only 6 Venomous Sea Snakes Were Ever Found In California, And 5 Came During El Niño
A venomous tropical sea snake just turned up on a Southern California beach, and scientists say the timing was entirely…
Blog
An Aphid Hacks a Plant’s Genes to Grow Its Babies a Nursery
Cone gall aphids pull off a molecular heist every spring, injecting proteins into plants that force the plants to build…
Animals
Watch an Entire Forest Come Alive Around One Tree
A camera locked onto a single tree reveals just how crowded a quiet forest really gets when no one is…
Blog
A Swarm of Bees Won’t Keep This Animal from Its Favorite Snack
Covered in a swarm of angry bees, one bold animal refuses to stop eating. What makes the honey badger so…