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Science / Wildlife

You can thank these Theobroma cacao flowers for your brownie sundae.

The World of Chocolate

You Wouldn’t Have Chocolate Without Invisible Flies and Extreme Yeast

It takes a wild and temperamental menagerie to bring the beloved candy to store shelves. Bon appétit!

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The Sultry Dance of the Bowerbird

A brightly-colored male bowerbird mesmerizes a young female with his bizarre dance

A male houbara bustard putting on an infinitely sexy "booming" display to impress the ladies.

New Research

Old Male Bustards Have Less Desirable Sperm

Male birds don’t just lose their female-wooing prowess as they age, but also their ability to sire healthy chicks

Naked mole rats are likely contenders for the most hideously adorable creature on Earth - but also one of the longest lived.

New Research

The Secret to a Long Life: Be Cooperative and Live Underground

Naked mole rats enjoy exceptionally long, healthy lives, and there’s more than good genes at work

Monarch Butterflies, Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary, Angangueo, Michoacan, Mexico

Where to See Thousands of Monarch Butterflies

The species is being reviewed for potential addition to the Endangered Species list. Can tourism help save the butterfly?

Tony the Tiger, a 550-pound Siberian-Bengal mix, lives in a cage at a Louisiana truck stop.

America Has a Tiger Problem And No One’s Sure How to Solve It

No one even knows how many of the big cats are in the United States

Can the Siberian Tiger Make a Comeback?

In Russia’s Far East, an orphaned female tiger is the test case in an experimental effort to save one of the most endangered animals on earth

The Wrists of Birds Reveal Evolution Undoing Itself

Contrary to earlier claims, a new study shows that evolution may be reversible

The world's six known punked out snail species, which have mohawk-like spikes, acidic-dyed psychedelic colors and hardcore shells that are falling apart.

New Research

New Deep-Sea Snails Are Nature’s Own Punk Rockers

The spikes on one hardcore species inspired scientists to name it after Joe Strummer of the Clash, who was also an ardent environmentalist

Dumpling squid don't let danger stop them from mating.

New Research

Threat of Being Eaten Doesn’t Deter Dumpling Squid From Sex

The adorable cephalopods seem to rate mating higher on their list of priorities than survival

Arachnophobia, coral reefs, artificial cells and strange amphibians starred in some of this year's science finds you might have missed.

Ten Cool Science Stories You May Have Missed in 2014

ICYMI, there’s a newfound coral reef in Iraq, the smallest force has been detected and more in this year’s surprising science

Get a good look at Sinea incognita, a newly recognized species of assassin bug.

New Research

Meet the Stealthiest Assassin Bug in the United States

The unique and secretive species has been living among us unrecognized for a century

Volunteers participate in the 2009 Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Now in its 115th year, Audubon touts the event as the largest and longest-running citizen science project in the world.

Top Three Results From a 115-Year-Old Citizen Science Project

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is touted as the world’s longest running citizen science project—so what has it taught us?

Eurasian lynx playing in the snow in Germany.

New Research

Europe Is a Great Place to Be a Large Meat-Eater

In a rare success story for wildlife, bears, lynx, wolverine and wolves are increasing in numbers across the continent

Why the Leatherback Turtle Has a Skylight in its Head

How do animals with poor vision see in dark locales?

7th Place: Butter daisy (Melampodium divaricatum) flower at 2x magnification. Fluorescence. Oleksandr Holovachov, Ekuddsvagen, Sweden.

Some of the Most Beautiful Things in Nature Come in the Tiniest of Packages

The winners of the 2014 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition capture a rat brain, the mouthparts of a vampire moth and other small wonders

The Melitta haemorrhoidalis bee, collected from Wotton-under-Edge, England, requires patches of bellflowers to make its nests.

Bees and Wasps in Britain Have Been Disappearing For More Than a Century

Changes in agricultural practices since the 19th century may be a major culprit in the pollinators’ decline

The Shape of Things to Come, Antarctic Sound, February 2010: "As we sailed with the land to our backs, I saw this bright, jagged iceberg with a dark-blue sea," writes Seaman.

Art Meets Science

These Photos Capture a Decade of Change at Earth’s Poles

From courting penguins to moody icebergs, photojournalist Camille Seaman shares her personal journey through polar habitats

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