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Animals

Cool Finds

How Feral Donkeys Saved a Lost Hiker’s Life in Death Valley

But not everyone loves shaggy wild donkeys

A trap-jaw ant opens its massive mandibles.

New Research

Watch These Ants Hurl Themselves Out of Death Traps With Their Mouths

At least one trap-jaw ant species has coopted its exceptionally strong mandibles to escape its nemesis, the ferocious antlion

Riders view the incredible vista in Dýrafjörður, Iceland, alongside their equine companions.

Why the Best Way to See Iceland Is by Horse

The country’s landscape is surreal and one-of-a-kind—so is a ride on the Icelandic equine

A blood-sucker creeping around on a potential victim's pristine white sheets.

Cool Finds

How Our Modern Lives Became Infested With Bed Bugs

After being bitten by the tiny pests, author Brooke Borel set out to learn all she could about her blood-sucking foes

The marbled salamander is increasing its distribution and range in response to warming winter temperatures.

Anthropocene

Climate Change Will Accelerate Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction

The pace at which species disappear is picking up as temperatures rise, and things are looking especially troubling in the tropics

The Eurasian tree sparrow is one of 30 bird species in decline around Fukushima.

Birds Are in a Tailspin Four Years After Fukushima

Like the proverbial canary in a coalmine, avian abundances may paint a grim picture of the effects of nuclear disasters on wildlife

A Diana monkey, perhaps tuning in to the distress calls of fellow primates.

New Research

Monkeys Can Hack Each Other’s Grammar

Campbell’s monkeys add suffixes to alarm calls to indicate specific threats, and Diana monkeys tune in for their own benefit

Sinbad the Coast Guard dog surrounded by sailors.

The Adorable and Heroic Animals of the Museum of Maritime Pets

Telling the stories of dogs in sailor hats and cats in life jackets

Could we bring back the woolly mammoth?

These Are the Extinct Animals We Can, and Should, Resurrect

Biologist Beth Shapiro offers a guide to the science and ethics of using DNA for de-extinction

How Do Seals Find Their Prey and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

A walrus rests on an iceberg in Canada's Hudson Bay.

Inuit Wisdom and Polar Science Are Teaming Up to Save the Walrus

Traditional knowledge and scientific study are helping us begin to understand what a changing Arctic means for the marine mammal

A worker rescues a severely oiled brown pelican along the Louisiana shore in June 2010.

Anthropocene

The Gulf Oil Spill Isn’t Really Over, Even Five Years Later

Two Louisiana scientists reflect on the event and how its lingering effects are continuing to change the Gulf Coast

Anthropocene

Five Things The Gulf Oil Spill Has Taught Us About the Ocean

While researching the spill, scientists tracked deep-sea sharks, found new mud dragons, and discovered a type of ocean current

New Research

Hormones Show Dogs Don’t Just Think of Us As Providers of Food

When dogs and humans share long looks, a chemical involved in social bonding surges through their bodies

Cool Finds

Droves of Elegant Blue Jellies Wash Up on Pacific Shores

Unusually strong winds have pushed Velella velellas, or “by-the-wind sailors,” onto West Coast beaches by the thousands

A student shares a loving gaze with a Labrador retriever.

New Research

Dog Gazes Hijack the Brain’s Maternal Bonding System

When a dog looks into your eyes, it’s bonding with you in the same way babies bond with their human moms

Cool Finds

Female Chimps More Likely Than Males to Hunt With Tools

A new study investigates the social and hunting behaviors of Fongoli chimpanzees

Cool Finds

Fish Can Adjust Gender Balance in Face of Rising Temperatures

Warmer waters mean fewer female reef fish. But, over generations, populations can restore the balance.

New Research

Changes in California’s Roadkill Linked to State’s Drought

The California Roadkill Observation System studies wildlife by mapping out crowd-sourced roadkill sightings

Cool Finds

Colorado Lake Teems with Feral Goldfish

Parks and Wildlife thinks a goldfish owner dumped his pets into a local lake. Now a few years later, the fish swarm the water in thousands

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