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Mammals

Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, which ranks as one of the countries with the highest amount of biodiversity but the least funding to protect it.

Funding Biases Affect Wildlife Protection in the Developing World

Forty countries that receive low levels of aid for environmental conservation contain about one-third of the world’s threatened species

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Why Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious?

Pinpointing exactly why we yawn is a tough task, but the latest research suggests that our sleepy sighs help to regulate the temperature of our brains

Do cats always land on their feet? Scientists figured out the answers to this and other pressing questions once and for all.

Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet? (and Other Absurd Scientific Studies)

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Scientists figured the answers to this and other pressing questions once and for all

White-tailed deer making do in a harsh winter wonderland.

Deer May Be Peeing Themselves Out of Their Favorite Winter Habitats

Special patches of trees shield deer from harsh winter weather, but deer urine stimulates growth of competitive plants in those havens

The way a baby chimpanzee gestures to her mother resembles how a human infant interacts with its mother.

Gestures of Human and Ape Infants Are More Similar Than You Might Expect

Comparing the body language of baby chimps, bonobos and humans suggests that gesticulation came first in the evolution of speaking

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What Animal Sounds Look Like

Mark Fischer, a software developer in California, turns data from recordings of whales, dolphins and birds into psychedelic art

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Princeton University Celebrates the Art of Science

In a new exhibition, the university showcases 43 images rooted in scientific research that force viewers to contemplate the definition of art

Helpless babe or capable professional navigator?

Baby Weddell Seals Have the Most Adult-Like Brains in the Animal Kingdom

The newborn seal pups possess the most well-developed brains compared to other mammals, but that advantage comes with a cost

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Saving the Cao Vit Gibbon, the Second Rarest Ape in the World

Setting aside additional protected areas and creating forest corridors could help this Asian primate bounce back from just 110 individuals

Emperor penguins swimming

14 Fun Facts About Penguins

Which penguin swims the fastest? Do penguins have teeth? Why do penguins sneeze? How is penguin poop useful?

Flamingos depend on plant-derived chemical compounds to color their feathers, legs and beaks.

For Some Species, You Really Are What You Eat

Flamingos, shrimp and many other animals use chemical compounds found in their diets to color their exteriors

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Which Primate Is the Most Likely Source of the Next Pandemic?

To help anticipate the next outbreak of an emerging infectious disease, scientists scrutinize our closest relatives in the animal kingdom

ZnO Fall Flowers. Image by Audrey Forticaux, a graduate student in the Chemistry Department

Intriguing Science Art From the University of Wisconsin

From a fish’s dyed nerves to vapor strewn across the planet, images submitted to a contest at the university offer new perspectives of the natural world

Polar bear-brown bear hybrids like this pair at Germany’s Osnabrück Zoo are becoming more common as melting sea ice forces the two species to cross paths.

Brown Polar Bears, Beluga-Narwhals and Other Hybrids Brought to You by Climate Change

Animals with shrinking habitats are interbreeding, temporarily boosting populations but ultimately hurting species’ survival

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Do Drone Pilots Deserve Their Own Medal?

It’s never been easy, but drones and cybersystems are making it more difficult than ever to decide which servicemen are deserving of what

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The (Natural) World, According to Our Photo Contest Finalists

From a caterpillar to the Milky Way, the ten finalists in the contest’s Natural World category capture the peculiar, the remarkable and the sublime

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This 33,000-Year-Old Skull Belonged to One of the World’s First Dogs

A new DNA analysis confirms that an ancient skull found in a Siberian cave was an early ancestor of man’s best friend

A bull male forest elephant in Gabon. A new study published in the PLOS ONE shows that African forest elephants are being poached into extinction.

Miniature African Forest Elephants Could Be Extinct in 10 Years

Ivory poachers slashed the population of the small elephants by 62 percent in the past decade—future losses at those rates will doom the species

The human heart

Growing New Hearts Without Using Embryonic Stem Cells

A different type of stem cell—one used in asexual reproduction—can create new heart muscle tissue without raising ethical questions, new studies show

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Why Dogs are More Like Humans Than Wolves

The dumb dog days are over, says evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare

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