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Animals

Peanut eats blueberry yogurt, grapes, bananas and vegetables.

Meet Peanut, the World’s Oldest Living Chicken at 21 Years of Age

Peanut had a rough start to life but ultimately grew up happy and healthy on a 37-acre farm in Chelsea, Michigan

A mule deer crosses a road near Aspen, Colorado.

How Roads Have Transformed the Natural World

A brief history of road ecology, the scientific discipline that is helping us understand our impact on the environment and how to diminish it

Bears are a fairly common sight near Yellowknife at this time of year, however, they seem to be moving deeper into town during recent wildfires.

Black Bears Move Into Abandoned Canada Town Evacuated Due to Wildfires

Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, has been largely empty for the last two weeks amid Canada’s worst fire season on record

Sixteen-year-old Lindsey Stallworth cleans the whale skull in the lab at the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science.

Cool Finds

Teenager Helps Uncover 34-Million-Year-Old Whale Skull in Alabama

Working with one of her teachers, the 16-year-old student found the fossil, which may represent a new species, on her family’s property

A zoo employee weighs a meerkat during the annual weigh-in.

London Zoo Weighs All 14,000 of Its Animals, ‘From the Tallest Giraffe to the Tiniest Tadpole’

The annual measurements help zookeepers track each animal’s health over time

A remotely operated vehicle measured environmental conditions around the octopus nest site, including temperature and oxygen levels.

Why ‘Hot Springs’ Draw the World’s Largest Gathering of Deep-Sea Octopuses

Some 20,000 octopuses congregate near an inactive underwater volcano off California’s coast, using heat from thermal springs to hatch their eggs faster

Cows with the slick gene have sleek, short hair that helps keep them cool.

Farmers Are Breeding Cows to Withstand Heat Waves

A gene that occurs naturally in some cow breeds may be the key to helping cattle thrive as temperatures rise because of climate change

Doctors suspect the patient accidentally ingested the roundworm's eggs while foraging for edible greens near her home.

Doctors Pulled a Wriggling, Three-Inch Worm From a Woman’s Brain

The incident in Australia is the first known occurrence of the roundworm—typically found in snakes—infecting the brain of a mammal

Throughout the spring, biologists captured this behavior among adult members of Mollie's Pack using a trail camera.

Watch Adult Wolves Bring ‘Toys’ to Their Teething Pups at Yellowstone

When they can’t bring food back to the den, the animals retrieve bones, sticks and antlers for their young to chew on—and biologists captured it on video

One of the adult ospreys in the breeding pair

Ospreys Breed in Ireland for the First Time in More Than 200 Years

The birds were driven to local extinction in the 18th century, but the new chicks provide hope for a comeback amid reintroduction efforts

The clouded leopard kitten, born last month at the Oklahoma City Zoo, has now been transferred to the Nashville Zoo to be hand-reared and eventually paired with a mate.

‘Rare’ Clouded Leopard Kitten Born at the Oklahoma City Zoo

Keepers hope the young male will have his own “little cloudies” one day, helping maintain the vulnerable species’ captive population

It was Rebel’s fate, like many caught up in the war, to experience captivity and displacement.

America's 250th Anniversary

The Dog Who Served on Both Sides of the American Revolution

A newly discovered letter suggests a Newfoundland named Rebel accompanied both Continental and British officers into battle

Hogfish can change their color in less than a second to blend in with their surroundings.

How Color-Changing Hogfish Use Their Skin to ‘See’ Themselves

Light-sensitive proteins in the fish’s skin could play a role in monitoring how they camouflage, researchers theorize in a new study

The rare all-brown giraffe was born in July.

See the Rare Spotless Giraffe Born at a Tennessee Zoo

The baby might be the only all-brown giraffe on the planet, as the last one on record was born in 1972

Hugh Gray's famous 1933 photo of a creature he believed to be Nessie

Loch Ness Monster Lovers Come Together for Biggest Hunt in 50 Years

Volunteers will convene in the Scottish Highlands armed with drones, hydrophones and other technologies

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is trying to keep ‘akikiki from going extinct.

How Maui’s Wildfires Threatened Endangered Birds

Conservationists battled back flames to prevent them from reaching roughly 40 ‘akikiki in captivity

Though she appeared to be in good health just days earlier, Lolita died of a suspected renal condition.

Lolita the Orca Dies After More Than 50 Years in Captivity

Several groups were working to remove the 7,000-pound creature from the Miami Seaquarium and return her to the ocean at the time of her death

The yellow-legged hornet, native to Southeast Asia, has invaded other parts of Asia and Europe and feeds on insects, including honeybees.

Invasive Yellow-Legged Hornet Spotted in the U.S. for the First Time

The insect, detected in Georgia, can snatch bees from the air while hunting, posing a threat to native pollinators and agriculture

A wolf spotted in the Sequoia National Forest

New Pack of Endangered Gray Wolves Discovered in California

The pack, which consists of a mother and her four offspring, is now the state’s southernmost wolf group

Scientists know very little about the social behaviors of great white sharks, but they're trying to learn more.

How Two Great White Shark ‘Buddies’ Could Change Perceptions of the Species

A pair of great white sharks named Simon and Jekyll have been swimming together for more than 4,000 miles in recent months

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