Australia

About 100 miles northwest of Mexico City in the UNESCO-designated Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, up to a billion of the brilliant-winged insects spend November to March clustered on branches.

A Ring of Fire, Millions of Monarchs and Other Rare Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling For

Be in the right place at the right time to witness these sublime sights

Vandals broke in to Koonalda Cave in South Australia and wrote a prank message over 30,000 year old art

Vandals Destroy 30,000-Year-Old Indigenous Cave Drawings in Australia

The perpetrators broke in to the cave and defaced some of the earliest known examples of First Peoples Rock Art

The skull of an elasmosaur found in Queensland, Australia

In Rare Find, Scientists Unearth Fossil of Large Marine Reptile With Both Head and Body

Skeletons of elasmosaurs are often found without their skull

A composite of the SKA telescopes that combines real images with an artist's impression. 

Construction of World’s Largest Radio Telescope Begins

Scientists will use its instruments to study the early universe

The last surviving thylacine's skull

Remains of Last Surviving Tasmanian Tiger Discovered in Museum Cabinet

Researchers found the lost body of the female thylacine after 85 years

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Octopuses Caught on Camera Throwing Debris at Each Other

Scientists say this is the first time they have documented the behavior among the tentacled sea creatures

Nat Drummond's surf ski

Shark Attacks Teenager Paddling Off Australian Coast

The shark bit a hole through the boat, but the 19-year-old was unharmed

Mangroves in Northern Australia

World’s Largest Mangrove Die-Off Was Likely Aided by the Moon

A lunar "wobble" affects tides, creating a cycle of growth and dieback for these carbon-sequestering trees

About 230 pilot whales were stranded on an Australian beach. 

About 200 Stranded Whales Die on Australian Beach

Rescue operations saved around 30 of the animals

The Gogo fish fossil 

World's Oldest Vertebrate Fossil Heart Found in Australia

The 380-million-year-old heart came from a prehistoric fish that is our earliest jawed ancestor

Barnaby Domigan with the giant earthworm

Nine-Year-Old Finds a Three-Foot-Long Earthworm in His Backyard

The New Zealand boy named the creature “Dead Fred”

An epaulette shark in the South Pacific

This Shark Can Walk on Land to Survive Its Extreme Habitat

Epaulette sharks could help scientists understand how animals respond to harsh conditions, including those caused by climate change

Australia is home to roughly 200 million rabbits, which are not native to the country and damage crops and ecosystems. 

How Two Dozen Rabbits Started an Ecological Invasion in Australia

The country’s “most serious pests” can be traced to one shipment from England in 1859, study shows

Thylacines were dog-like, carnivorous marsupials.

Why the Idea of Bringing the Tasmanian Tiger Back From Extinction Draws So Much Controversy

Using gene-editing technology, researchers hope to “de-extinct” the iconic marsupial carnivore

Experts were unable to pinpoint a cause of death, but three medical witnesses who testified during an inquest into the Somerton Man case agreed that his passing “was not natural.” 

Have Scholars Finally Identified the Mysterious Somerton Man?

New DNA analysis suggests a body found on a beach in Australia in 1948 belongs to Carl Webb, an electrical engineer from Melbourne

A model of an oarfish

Rare Oarfish Caught on Video on Great Barrier Reef

This is the first record of the species on the eastern seaboard of Australia

The seagrass Posidonia australis.

World’s Largest Plant Is a Seagrass That Clones Itself

The 4,500-year-old plant lives off the coast of Australia

Researchers found that crocodiles in the Northern Territory are eating more terrestrial food, including feral pigs, than in the past. 

Feral Pigs May Have Helped Boost Crocodile Numbers in the Northern Territory, Australia

Crocodiles have recovered from near extinction in the last few decades, with numbers increasing from only a few thousand to over 100,000

All are welcome at Papunya Tula's art centers.

Australia's Western Desert Art Movement Turns 50

Since 1972, hundreds of artists have painted under the guidance of Papunya Tula, one of the most respected players in the world of Indigenous art

Spotted tree frogs are critically endangered in New South Wales.

Critically Endangered Spotted Tree Frogs Released Into the Wild in Australia

Bushfires, fungal disease, predation and other threats have pushed these amphibians to the brink of extinction

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