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Science / Wildlife

A baby loggerhead sea turtle with a solar-powered tag attached to its shell swims in the Gulf Stream just after release off the southeast Florida coast in 2009. NMSF permit 1551 applies to all images featured in this article.

New Research

Where Do Newly Hatched Baby Sea Turtles Go?

Special satellite tags that track baby sea turtles show that some ride the North Atlantic Gyre while others float in the Sargasso Sea

White rhinos help shape the ecosystem by increasing plant diversity and providing grazing patches for other animals.

New Research

Here’s What Might Happen to Local Ecosystems If All the Rhinos Disappear

African landscapes may become very different places if rhinos aren’t there to diversify plant life and create prime grazing spots for other animals

Fossil whale skeletons, evidence of an ancient mass stranding of the animals, discovered during the building of the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile in 2011.

New Research

Scientists Solve the Mystery of a Nine-Million-Year-Old Mass Whale Die-Off

Ancient blooms of toxic algae appear to have killed dozens of whales at once

500,000 Cranes Are Headed for Nebraska in One of Earth’s Greatest Migrations

At the end of March, 80 percent of the world’s cranes will converge upon one 80-mile stretch of land

As the Planet Warms, What Happens to the Reindeer?

Ecologists are racing across the ice to find out how climate change will affect the Arctic natives

Beautiful and Eerie Photographs of Starlings in Flight

Photographer Richard Barnes captures the mesmerizing geometric patterns created by flocks of European starlings

New Research

Your Dog Can Tell From Your Voice If You’re Happy or Sad

New fMRI research shows that dogs’ brains are specially equipped to process human voices, and respond differently based on our emotions

Some dinosaurs, such as the (Caudipteryx zoui) above, had brightly colored feathers. New research suggests that modern birds inherited their own color varieties from their feathered dinosaur ancestors.

Colorful Plumage Began With Feathered Dinosaurs

The pigment patterns scientists use to predict ancient animal colors started with feathered dinosaurs and led to vibrant color in birds

A mother right whale and her calf.

New Research

Satellites Spot Whales From Space

This new method could help researchers remotely count and keep track of whale populations

Bombus flavifrons worker visiting a columbine in Grant Teton National Park

Bumblebees Can Fly Into Thin Air

Once thought to be unimpressive fliers, bumblebees may be able to summit Mount Everest, new research suggests

Super Bowl

14 Fun Facts About Broncos

Number six: Horses once had three toes

An osprey, commonly called a sea hawk.

Super Bowl

14 Fun Facts About Sea Hawks

Number one: There’s no such thing as a “seahawk”

Barro Colorado Island, on the Panama Canal, is home to at least 74 bat species. A group of German researchers is studying them all to understand the spread of diseases.

A Night in the Forest Capturing Bats

Our intrepid reporter joins tropical bat researchers in the field one night and gains some appreciation for their fangs

Hugh, a manatee, undergoes training at Mote Marine Laboratory, learning to touch his nose to a plastic target.

A New Paradigm for Animal Research: Let Them Participate

In labs around the country, researchers are realizing that in many cases, it’s easier to work with animals than against them

A fringe-lipped bat bits into a túngara frog.

New Research

Crazy Stupid Love: The Frog With a Mating Call That Also Attracts Predators

The sound and water ripples produced by the túngara frog’s mating call are picked up by predatory bats

Whitespotted greenling (Hexagrammos stelleri)

Art Meets Science

The True Inner Beauty of Fishes

A biologist and a poet team up for a new exhibition at the Seattle Aquarium that features images of bleached and stained fish skeletons

A three-toed sloth.

New Research

What Drives a Sloth’s Ritualistic Trek to Poop?

Scientists trace the odd bathroom behavior to relationships with bacteria and moths that inhabit their fur

What Can Rodents Tell Us About Why Humans Love?

A relative of the mouse may hold the key to understanding why human beings are one of the few mammals that seek lifelong mates

The Deadly and Devious Golden Eagle

Rare photos of a golden eagle attack illustrate the predator’s legendary hunting techniques

Art Meets Science

The Beautiful Flight Paths of Fireflies

Flirting lightning bugs illuminate a dark forest with golden flight during mating season

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