Animals

A wasp larva perches on its hapless spider host.

Parasitic Wasps Turn Spiders Into Zombie Weavers

Arachnids injected with a potent neurotoxin are forced to create shiny new web cradles for wasp larvae

Nabiré had a chronic problem with uterine cysts, and the one that killed her was inoperable.

Only Four Northern White Rhinos Are Left on Earth

One of the species' last females died this week

Hamsters seem to have a more optimistic outlook when they have access to creature comforts.

Hamsters Are Optimists When They Live in Comfy Cages

Pet hamsters that enjoy habitats full of toys and fluffy bedding make more upbeat decisions than those in stark enclosures

Elephants are complex communicators.

How Elephants and Songbirds Are Helping Humans Communicate

In this Generation Anthropocene podcast, social animals show scientists how to trace our evolution and improve interactions

Two black rhinos, a mother and her calf, explore a watering hole at Etosha National Park in Namibia.

Researchers are Fitting Rhinos With Hidden Horn Cameras

One non-profit wants to outfit the animals with cameras and heart rate monitors to save them

Boa constrictors seem to deliver death not through suffocation, but by cutting off blood flow to the heart and brain.

Boa Constrictors Kill By Stopping Blood Circulation

The popular belief that boas and other constricting snakes deal death by suffocation seems to be a flawed assumption

Scientists Connect Monkey Brains and Boost Their Thinking Power

Researchers at Duke University have enhanced the mind power of monkeys and rats by linking their brains together

These Worms Hitchhike in the Belly of Slugs To Get Around

New study shows that worm their way into slug guts and feces to travel long distances

An Anopholes mosquito, the vector for malaria, taking a blood meal from a tasty human.

Mosquitoes Can Carry, and Deliver, a Double Dose of Malaria

Insects that are already carrying one strain are more likely to pick up a second infection and harbor higher numbers of parasites

Variegated squirrels, like the one pictured above in Costa Rica, may carry a virus that causes encephalitis in humans.

A Squirrel Virus May Have Killed Three Squirrel Breeders in Germany

A mysterious set of deaths seem to be linked to the rodents

A bontebok

Ever Heard of the Bontebok? It’s an African Animal Humans Nearly Destroyed, Then Saved

Part of this conservation success story relies on the bontebok’s inability to jump

Does she look like she would enjoy being jabbed with a needle? Conservationists have used assassin bugs to test the blood female Iberian lynx, like the mother picture above with her cubs, for pregnancy.

How Do You Give an Iberian Lynx a Pregnancy Test? Use an Assassin Bug

Researchers used the insects to keep tabs on population growth in the threatened species

Researchers have long debated whether shark repellants actually work.

Do Shark Repellents Really Work?

Mostly not, not even the one made by Julia Child

Unlike the tails of almost all other animals, seahorse tails are more like square prisms than cylinders.

Why Seahorses Have Square Tails

Engineers show that the animals' prism-like tails are mechanically superior to cylindrical ones

For the first time, Florian Engert and his team mapped every firing neuron in a living animal.

How a Transparent Fish May Help Decode the Brain

An outspoken Harvard neuroscientist is tackling the wondrous challenge of understanding the workings of the brain

What Did Insects Evolve From and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

14 Fun Facts About Marine Bristle Worms

In honor of the first ever International Polychaete Day, learn about the bristly worms that are everywhere in the ocean

Someone is Still Decapitating Animals in Sacramento

More headless animals (and surveillance video) have been found

Skin bacteria may have lured in this hungry Aedes aegypti mosquito.

To Stop Mosquito Bites, Silence Your Skin's Bacteria

Texas scientists tricked mosquitoes into skipping a blood meal by modifying the way bacteria talk to each other

Move Over, Clooney: This Japanese Gorilla is the Internet’s Newest Heartthrob

Shabani’s sexy looks are responsible for a spike in zoo attendance

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