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Science / Wildlife

A growing body of work shows that marine animals are attracted to the sounds of healthy environments.

Playing Recordings of a Healthy Ocean Can Help Restore Marine Ecosystems

Scientists are using a ‘fake it til you make it’ approach to attract animals to coral reefs and other degraded habitats

An eastern barred bandicoot explores its space in the Werribee Open Range Zoo.

How Australia’s Eastern Barred Bandicoot Came Back From Extinction

With help from a captive breeding program and the watchful eyes of sheepdogs, the small mammal has been reintroduced to the country’s plains

Jeffrey Peter, of Old Crow, Yukon, cleans a caribou hide during an autumn hunt. When camping, the hide is used as a mattress; at home, it’s clothing.

For the Gwich’in People, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Isn’t a Political Issue, It’s Home

Journey to the far north of Alaska, where the Indigenous communities hunt caribou, the backbone of the region’s ecosystem

A Magdalena River turtle hatchling

Inside the Local Movement to Recover Colombia’s River Turtles

In river basins across the country, communities are working to protect the endangered and endemic reptiles

A researcher holds a golden-crowned spadebill in Brazil. Seventy-seven rainforest bird species in the country showed a decrease in body weight over the last four decades.

Climate Change Is Transforming the Bodies of Amazonian Birds

A 40-year study found 77 species of rainforest birds weigh less on average, and many have longer wings, than they used to

The tentacled butterfly ray hadn’t been documented since 1986, but in 2019 Mohsen Rezaie-Atagholipour started finding them hidden as by-catch in Iranian shrimpers’ catch.

Presumed Extinct Tentacled Butterfly Ray Is Found

Scientists were shocked to find the species holding out in the water off Iran

Real guppies respond to Robofish—a 3D-printed plastic model with a vaguely realistic paint job—as if it were a real schoolmate. Researchers used different-sized Robofish to show that guppy schools tend to follow larger fish.

How Scientists Are Using Robotic Animals to Learn About Real Ones

Biomimetic bots can teach researchers a lot about how creatures interact in the natural world

A male (left) and female (right) Nala lividipes earwig

Half of These Earwigs Use Their Right Penis. The Other Half Use Their Left Penis. Why?

Scientists mated males with females under a microscope to try and understand why some are southpaws and others are righties

A humpback whale feeds on sand lance in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

Some Whales Can Eat Upwards of 16 Tons of Tiny Shrimp a Day

The giant mammals consume enormous quantities of marine organisms, three times more than previously thought, then their poop fertilizes the sea

Mosasaurus was among the largest and last of the sea-dwelling mosasaurs.

Giant Sea Lizards Ruled the Waves While T. Rex Roamed on Land

A new fossil discovery shows marine reptiles called mosasaurs lived up until the asteroid impact that killed non-avian dinosaurs

Researchers are hoping to decipher the communications of sperm whales.

Could We Chat With Whales?

An ambitious project is attempting to interpret sperm whale clicks with artificial intelligence, then talk back to them

Spider silk is more than just a web for snaring prey.

Fourteen Ways That Spiders Use Their Silk

From making parachutes to building scuba tanks, the arachnids have come up with some fascinating creations

Hermit crabs are essential scavengers in the ocean. They may crawl into discarded tires looking for food or shelter, and become trapped and die of starvation.

Discarded Tires Are ‘Ghost Fishing’ Hermit Crabs

New research suggests these shell-swapping crustaceans are vulnerable to becoming trapped inside human debris

Not just food: Plant chemicals within nectar yield honey that packs a pharmaceutical punch and helps keep bees healthy.

Honey Has Numerous Health Benefits for Bees

From pesticide detox to increased longevity, the pros of the sweet stuff go well beyond simply nourishing the hardworking insects in the hive

For the first time in 16 years, a pair of golden-headed lion tamarins were born on the morning of October 7, 2021. New mom Lola carries the new infants on her back and cradles them close to her body. 

Zoo’s Historic Newborn Tamarin Twins Cling to Mom, Doing What Healthy Babies Do

Keepers worked with breeding parents Lola and Coco, who soon “become very interested in each other”

Single penguins will snag mates, and couples, both new and established, will start breeding around January or February.

The South African Town Where Penguins Rule

A colony of 1,000 breeding pairs of African penguins nests on the beaches and in the gardens of Simon’s Town

A starlit night at Joshua Tree National Park.

What Does the Future Hold for the Joshua Tree?

The beloved desert denizen is feeling the heat

Gigantic and extinct, Steller’s sea cows would have played an important role in shaping their environment.

How Steller’s Sea Cows Impacted the Environment They Left Behind

A new paper explores the ways these extinct megaherbivores would have reshaped kelp forests across the North Pacific

A gharial has the same skull shape as some extinct crocodiles. This skull shape has likely evolved three different times during the history of crocodiles.

Modern Crocodiles Are Evolving at a Rapid Rate

Despite their reputation as “living fossils,” crocodiles have changed dramatically in the last two million years

The embryo of a small-spotted catshark, safe inside its egg case, is being raised at the aquarium Oceanogràfic València by Associació Lamna, a nonprofit that promotes shark conservation and research. At this stage, the young shark's gills are still external and it is growing from the sustenance provided in the yolk, visible at the bottom of the egg case.

Biologists Rescue Unborn Baby Sharks at Fish Markets

Scientists are collecting egg cases from recently caught pregnant sharks, raising the babies and releasing them into the wild

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