Animals

Why Do We Still Have Morse Code and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answer

"Hey guys this sugar is great, but where can we find some morphine?"

Addict Ants Show That Insects Can Get Hooked on Drugs, Too

How researchers got a non-mammal hooked on drugs for the first time

How far would you go to spot a bird?

Extreme Birdwatching Is a Thing, and This Could Be Its Greatest Year Ever

Thank El Niño for a Big Year that's bashing previous records

Euploea butterflies gather in force in valleys around the country.

Where to See Thousands of Fluttering Butterflies in Taiwan

There's a reason Taiwan is known as the "butterfly kingdom"

The male brown widow spider may not be as unlucky in love as we once thought.

Male Widow Spiders Prefer Younger Ladies—So They Don’t Get Eaten

This strategy means they live to mate again, upending assumptions about these arachnids

Do outdoor cats need to die?

The Moral Cost of Cats

A bird-loving scientist calls for an end to outdoor cats "once and for all"

Wild horses in Death Valley, California.

A Brief History of America’s Complicated Relationship With Wild Horses

The iconic symbol of the Wild West has a tangled and controversial story

A pair of bison hang out in the snow at Yellowstone National Park, one of the United States' best spots to see the huge mammals.

American Safaris: Where to See the Biggest Mammals in the U.S.

Go wild for the United States' largest mammals and take an American Safari

Researchers fear that these normal monk seal encounters could soon grow deadly.

Why Rare Hawaiian Monk Seals Are Lining Up to Get Their Shots

Fearing devastating disease, researchers are vaccinating a wild marine mammal for the first time

The lowly urban rat deserves our attention.

In Defense of Studying City Rats

By placing a taboo on researching these “disease sponges,” we leave ourselves at their mercy

"Butterflies and caiman," by Mark Cowan. Special commendation: Butterflies suck the salt off of an Amazonian caiman's head.

Royal Society Photo Contest Winners Capture Breathtaking Details of Our Rapidly Changing World

Winning photos capture moments of stark change in the natural world in the Royal Society’s second annual contest

What kept giraffes apart so long that they developed into separate species?

There Are Four Giraffe Species—Not Just One

The downside to this revelation: several of the new species are critically endangered

Like humans, captive Komodo dragons tend to impose their microbes upon their environments.

Captive Komodo Dragons Share Their Teeming Microbiome with Their Environment, Just Like Us

Komodos could be the perfect model for studying host-microbe interactions

Benjamin photographed at Beaumaris Zoo in 1933.

Remembering the Tasmanian Tiger, 80 Years After It Became Extinct

Today, the animal’s memory is alive and well in Australia

Giant Pandas Are No Longer Endangered but Are Still in Danger

They aren't the only ones in trouble: the state of the great apes is more dire than ever

Twin puppies Cullen and Romulus

Identical Twin Puppies Confirmed for the First Time

Two Irish wolfhounds from South Africa shared the same placenta and have the same genetic makeup

Dennis Wiist inspects an eagle's foot at the National Eagle Repository in Commerce City, Colorado.

Inside a Remarkable Repository that Supplies Eagle Parts to Native Americans and Science

The repository, which has long provided feathers to tribes for traditional uses, also helps bird conservation researchers

The tiny pterosaur from the late Cretaceous was no bigger than a cat and sported a five-foot wingspan.

Two Pterosaur Finds Are Helping to Untangle Their Family Tree

An intact skull and a pint-sized species offer clues to how these creatures evolved

The only one who really understands me.

Dogs Know When You're Praising Them. That Doesn't Mean They Understand Human Speech

A dose of caution with the results of an intriguing new study

Inspired by Squid, Scientists Create New Materials That Change Color and Texture

The technology has a number of potential uses, from anti-glare screens to color-changing clothing

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