Animals

In spring, fur farms in the United States had raised biosecurity measures by increasing the use of personal protective equipment like masks, gloves and rubber boots.

Covid-19 Reaches Mink Farms in Utah

Veterinarians have confirmed five cases in U.S. minks, but suspect the actual number is higher

New research suggests painting eyes on cattle behinds can help protect them from predators.

Painting Eyes on Cow Butts Could Save Cattle and Lion Lives

The four-year study in Botswana found cattle with eye marks painted on their behinds were less likely to be killed by predators

Some groups stuck together for four years.

Grey Reef Sharks Hunt With the Same Group for Years—but Don't Call Them Friends

They're more like reef proximity associates

Researchers collecting tears from Broad-snouted caiman.

Microscopically, Crocodile Tears Look Sort of Like Our Own

Humans are the only species known to cry in response to emotional turmoil, but a new study finds reptile and avian tears aren't so different

A male Thoropa taophora, pictured near Sununga beach in Brazil.

This Frog Mates With Two Females in an Unusual Love Triangle

Relationships like these are rare among amphibians, scientists say

An illustration of the 30-foot-long, dinosaur eating crocodilian Deinosuchus.

30-Foot 'Terror Crocodile' Ambushed Dinosaurs at Water’s Edge

Study says the five-ton extinct reptiles had teeth the size of bananas

A lifelike restoration using the remains of a baby woolly rhinoceros recovered from the Siberian permafrost. The specimen was nicknamed Sasha after the hunter who discovered it.

Climate Change, Not Hunting, May Have Doomed the Woolly Rhinoceros

Populations of the Ice Age icon were healthy right up until their extinction, suggesting they crashed precipitously as the planet warmed

An artist's illustration of the Triassic reptile Tanystropheus hydroides hunting with its long neck.

Study Reveals This Mysterious, Super Long-Necked Triassic Reptile Was a Marine Hunter

The creature’s neck was stiff like a giraffe’s and was nearly three times the length of its torso

A fox in Germany (not pictured here) spirited away more than 100 shoes.

Sole-Searching, Shoe-Swiping Fox Caught in Germany

The crafty urban dweller built a colorful collection of footwear dominated by Crocs

A 99-million-year-old piece of amber trapped this worker hell ant grasping an ancient relative of modern cockroaches in its unique jaws, which swung upwards unlike all modern ants.

Amber Fossil Shows 'Hell Ant' Was Unlike Anything Alive Today

The 99-million-year-old ant had scythe-like jaws that swung upward to pin prey against a horn-like head appendage

Each of the more than 50 animatronic dinosaurs remains fully functional.

These Life-Size, Animatronic Dinosaurs Are Heading to New Homes

Yesterday, an auction house in Canada offloaded more than 50 robotic reptiles in a unique online sale

As natural space is converted to cropland, pastures, cities and suburbia, certain short-lived animals like pigeons and rats, thrive.

In Cities and Farms, Disease-Carrying Animals Thrive

When humans dominate wild land, disease-carrying animals take over and biodiversity suffers

Emperor penguins standing on sea ice at the Brunt ice shelf in Antarctica.

Satellites Spy Poop-Stained Ice, Revealing New Emperor Penguin Colonies

Researchers found eight new colonies, but all were small and located in parts of Antarctica predicted to be ravaged by climate change

A hypothetical escape route for Regimbartia attenuata

When This Beetle Gets Eaten by a Frog, It Heads for the 'Back Door'

New research details how this Japanese water beetle travels through the bowels of its predator to emerge out the other end, alive and unharmed

North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.

River Otters Take 'Party Pooping' to a New Level

Latrines keep otters up to date on who is around, how they are feeling, and who’s ready to have babies

Newly discovered fossils indicate the Asio ecuadoriensis owl hunted and ate various smaller species of owl.

This Giant Prehistoric Owl Was an Actual Cannibal

Fossils found in the Ecuadorian Andes suggest the creature was a formidable predator

Two sociable weaver birds being recognized by a new artificial intelligence-powered software.

This A.I. Can Recognize Individual Birds of the Same Species

Humans can’t reliably tell birds of the same species apart, limiting our ability to study their behavior, but the new A.I. is 90 percent accurate

The comparatively massive female anglerfish (Melanocetus johnsonii) with her tiny mate permanently fused to her belly.

Anglerfish Drop Their Immune Defenses to Find Love

Male anglerfish are major clingers. To avoid mistaking mates as foreign tissue, the deep sea couples lost part of their immune system in evolution

Side-by-side renderings of the marsupial saber-tooth Thylacosmilus atrox (left) and the saber-tooth cat Smilodon fatalis (right).

This Marsupial Sabertooth Was No Killer Cat

Long fangs caused many to assume Thylacosmilus was a slashing predator, but new research suggests it was a scavenger with a preference for leftovers

This "grain mummy" honors the Egyptian god Osiris.

CT Scans Reveal Miniature Mummies' Surprising Contents

One appears to hold the skeleton of a bird, while the other contains a tightly packed lump of grain and mud

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