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Ecology

Can you see the plant in this picture? This small brown Fritillaria delavayi has evolved camouflage in response to heavy harvesting by humans. The more closely the plant mimics its environment, the harder it is for humans to find and harvest the plant.

New Research

Medicinal Plant May Have Evolved Camouflage to Evade Humans

In places where people harvest the plant most aggressively, its color has changed to blend in with the rocky environment

A new study finds beaver-eating wolves alter the landscape in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota by changing the number and distribution of beaver ponds.

New Research

Minnesota Wolves Are Eating Beavers and Reshaping Wetlands

A new study finds that when a wolf kills a beaver its abandoned dam falls apart and goes unoccupied for more than a year

One of the oldest living organisms on Earth is a colony of Neptune grass in this vast meadow of the plant in the Mediterranean Sea.

Planet Positive

Why Seagrass Could Be the Ocean’s Secret Weapon Against Climate Change

A vast, mostly invisible ecosystem crucial to our life on Earth is in trouble, but efforts to save the ‘prairies of the sea’ are finally coming into focus

Two banded mongoose groups face off.

New Research

Warmongering Female Mongooses Lead Their Groups Into Battle to Mate With the Enemy

New research finds females of this species engineer conflicts with rival groups to gain sexual access to males outside their group and combat inbreeding

The fin of a great white shark being tagged by researchers off the coast of Southern California.

Record Number of Great Whites Tagged in Southern California

Researchers working in Southern California tagged 38 sharks this year, more than triple last year’s total

A satellite image shows the A68a iceberg in the lower left. The chunk of ice looks a bit like a pointed finger, and scientists say it's currently on a path to collide with the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia.

Delaware-Sized Iceberg Could Decimate Wildlife on South Atlantic Island

Iceberg A68a is on track to hit the British Territory of South Georgia, where it could complicate access to food for millions of seals and seabirds

A stunned iguana lying on the ground during a cold snap in Florida on January 22, 2020. When temperatures dropped into the 30s and 40s, some of these cold blooded lizards lost their grip and fell from their nighttime perches up in the trees.

New Research

Lizards Fell From Palm Trees During a Florida Cold Snap, but Now They’ve Toughened Up

New research finds the lizards are now able to withstand temperatures up to 7.2 degrees colder than lizards tested in 2016

Time-lapse of fruiting mushrooms

Watch an Amazing Time-Lapse of Growing Mushrooms

A mesmerizing 10,000-shot video captures the dramatic life cycles of several species

A swordfish photographed underwater southwest of Tampa, Florida.

New Research

Shark Stabbed Through the Heart and a Swordfish Is to Blame

Recent research documents the latest instance of a strange but not unheard-of phenomenon in which swordfish impale sharks with their bills

Damselfish typically live in the nooks and crannies of coral reefs. But do you have anything with more of an open concept?

If a Fish Could Build Its Own Home, What Would It Look Like?

By exposing fish to experimental constructions, scientists hope to find out if replicating coral reefs is really the way to go

Rattlesnakes can bite after death.

14 Fun Facts About Frightening Animals

From snakes that eat their prey alive to primates that inject their peers with flesh-rotting venom, these are the scariest deeds committed by critters

Invasive species, like the zebra mussels seen here, have been on scientists' radar for decades. But intensifying storm surges and flooding caused by hurricanes are moving these, and other non-native species, to new locations.

‘Storm Tracker’ Maps Shows How Hurricanes Spread Invasive Species

The U.S. Geological Survey launched the program in 2018 after hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate scrambled coastal ecosystems

An entomologist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture vacuums invasive Asian giant hornets out of a nest discovered last week in the city of Blaine on October 24, 2020.

Entomologists Destroy Asian Giant Hornet Nest Found in Washington

The crew sucked nearly 100 hornets from the tree-hollow hive—the first ever found in the U.S.—using a vacuum and captured escapees with nets

Pier 26 in Tribeca is the first revitalized pier to open to the public in the Hudson River Park in ten years.

How New York City Is Reclaiming Its Piers

A renaissance in pier developments is reconnecting people to the city’s waterfront

Last month in Brooklyn, a man dumped two bags full of eels into Prospect Park Lake. They're thought to be Asian swamp eels, seen here.

Man Seen Dumping Bags of Eels Into Lake at New York City Park

Officials say the non-native eels are unlikely to survive the winter, but experts caution that the serpent-like fish could still disturb the ecosystem

Fish and corals on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Between a quarter and a third of all marine species spend some part of their life cycle in coral reefs.

New Research

Climate Change Has Killed Half of the Great Barrier Reef’s Corals

A new study finds corals on the Australian mega-reef declined 50 percent between 1995 and 2017

A reintroduced swift fox outfitted with a GPS collar looks out across the shortgrass prairie of the Fort Belknap Reservation in northern Montana. The tribes on the reservation are bringing the species back to Fort Belknap after an absence of more than 50 years.

Tribes Reintroduce Swift Fox to Northern Montana’s Fort Belknap Reservation

After absence of more than 50 years, the pint-sized predator returns to the prairie

Conservation groups released Tasmanian devils in mainland Australia earlier this month, marking a major milestone in the process of restoring a species that has been missing for thousands of years.

For the First Time in 3,000 Years, Tasmanian Devils Return to Mainland Australia

The marsupial carnivores will roam the outback once again

More than 580 species of bird, 271 types of fish, 174 mammal species, 131 different reptiles and 57 amphibian species known to inhabit the Pantanal.

Wildlife Suffers as Brazil’s Pantanal Wetland Burns

Fires in the world’s largest tropical wetland have burned an area double that of California’s unprecedented 2020 blazes

A small-banded kukri snake seen with its head thrust inside the body of an Asian common toad. This snake does this to feed on its prey's internal organs, and, perhaps, to avoid the poisonous milky secretions that can be seen on the toad's back.

New Research

This Snake Slurps Organs of Living Toads in Grisly Feeding Strategy

Researchers say no other snakes are known to feed this way, adding that the snakes may feed this way to avoid toxins secreted from the toads’ backs

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