Wild Things: Killer Whales, Spiders and Woodpeckers
Yellow saddle goatfish, mastodon ribs and more in this month’s summary of wildlife news
![Yellow saddle goatfish](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/sWPA6Bo9TRSqd79eKr_SepTqo3c=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/wild-things-yellow-saddle-goatfish-631.jpg)
Pack Hunters
![Yellow saddle goatfish](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/5jNGoAbZrFxaO3vtplF7yqX5clI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/wild-things-yellow-saddle-goatfish-1.jpg)
Pecking Mystery Solved
![woodpecker](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/LAKQdeRufZgpjvRLZ5CVw841_wI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/wild-things-woodpecker-2.jpg)
Early American
![mastodon](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/u5H7EeVlnwEkuceIzhWSvH9ISaA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/wild-things-mastodon-skeleton-3.jpg)
Caught In A Lie
![nursery web spiders](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/56Kn7c3T5t9uo11tHzNc51Db8bY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/wild-things-web-spiders-4.jpg)
Observed: Killer whale Orcinus orca
![Killer whale](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/iuWwekEp4s5pBzu6QyTFwHOOpFQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/wild-things-killer-whale-5.jpg)
Beelines: Occasionally for the subtropical waters off Uruguay and Brazil, a study documents for the first time. But the trips are so quick they’re probably not for foraging or giving birth. Instead, the trips may be the equivalent of a vacation skin peel.
Returns: Without the coating of algae that tinges its skin yellow. John Durban of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California, and his co-author suggest the orcas travel to milder latitudes when they shed their skin “to help the whales regenerate skin tissue in a warmer environment with less heat loss,” he says.