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Weird Animals

Comb jelly larvae, highlighted by red arrows, shown inside an adult.

New Research

Invasive Comb Jellies Might Overproduce Babies in Summer to Eat Them in Winter

Comb jellies might have evolved to eat their young when prey runs out, but some experts are skeptical of the strategy

Male pug-nosed tree frogs confuse predators by overlapping their mating calls with those their neighbors.

New Research

Illusionist Frog Attracts Mates Without Unwanted Attention From Predators

The simultaneous mating calls of the male pug-nosed tree frog confuses bats but not female frogs

Short-eared dogs are the only canines that live in the Amazon rainforest.

New Research

The Amazon’s ‘Ghost Dogs’ Face 30 Percent Habitat Loss

The solitary species is hard to spot on camera, and they’re the only canine that lives in the Amazon rainforest

Naked mole-rats pile on top of each other in large groups to sleep inside their nest. This behavior may help keep carbon dioxide levels high, lowering the animals' risk of seizure.

Naked Mole-Rats Bathe Their Bodies in Carbon Dioxide to Prevent Seizures

Expelled by animals as a waste product, the gas appears to play a crucial role in keeping these bizarre, burrowing rodents safe

An artist's rendering of a fossil frog found on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Cool Finds

Paleontologists Find Antarctica’s First Frog Fossil

The find could help pin down when the South Pole turned icy

Despite Their Differences, Dogs and Horses Find Common Ground in Play

Canine-equid pairs can mimic each other’s facial expressions during play, which has never been seen between animals of different species

Some rough-skinned newts host bacteria on their skin that produce the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin to keep predators at bay.

New Research

Toxic Newts Use Bacteria to Become Deadly Prey

Scientists discover neurotoxin-producing bacteria living on the skin of rough-skinned newts

A male lemur with clearly visible scent glands on its wrists.

For Male Lemurs, Love Stinks—and Scientists Now Know Why

A newly identified trio of chemicals may help the primates find a mate

With fluorescent dye, biologist Tagide deCarvalho beautifully illuminated the insides of a tardigrade.

Colorful Image Lights Up Microscopic Guts of ‘Water Bear’

Biologist Tagide deCarvalho created this award-winning image of the tardigrade using fluorescent stains

The Atlanta Humane Society has taken some of their kittens and puppies to the Georgia Aquarium to get a break from quarantine.

Animals Are Taking Adorable Field Trips During Quarantine

With many zoos and aquariums closed to the public, keepers let animals roam empty hallways to meet their neighbors

This siphonophore may be the longest ever recorded.

Watch This Giant, Eerie, String-Like Sea Creature Hunt for Food in the Indian Ocean

Researchers shared a video of this massive siphonophore, one of the longest of its kind ever recorded

The face of a sweat bee (Megalopta amoena) that is half female (viewer's left, bee's right) and half male (viewer's right, bee's left)

Meet the Bee With a Body That’s Half Male, Half Female

So-called gynandromorphs are rare, but they can teach us a lot about development and evolution

A gentoo penguin swimming underwater. This species, as well as others, vocalizes while hunting beneath the water's surface, research shows.

In a First, Researchers Record Penguins Vocalizing Under Water

But the scientists still aren’t sure what the birds are saying

An Asian trampsnail on a coffee leaf infected with coffee leaf rust.

New Research

Invasive Snails Might Save Coffee Crops From Fungus, but Experts Advise Caution

The snails are an invasive crop pest that are known to eat more than just coffee rust

Carl Cotton places individual letters on a label for an exhibition featuring hybrid birds.

Art Meets Science

The Chicago Field Museum Celebrates the Work of African American Taxidermist Carl Cotton

Cotton started working at the museum in the late 1940s, but he first became interested in taxidermy much earlier

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New Research

Watch This Deep-Sea Sponge Sneeze in Slow Motion

The glass sponge can take up to a month to finish a sneeze

The mother lion, her lion cubs and her adopted spotted leopard baby, all got along just fine.

In a ‘Bizarre’ Biological Twist, a Mother Lion Adopted a Leopard Cub in India

There have been only two other documented instances of interspecies adoption—and never between animals that strongly compete for resources in the wild

Swamp wallabies can nourish three separate offspring at once: an older joey that's left the pouch, a young one nursing inside of it, and an embryo that has yet to be born.

Swamp Wallabies Can Get Pregnant While Pregnant

These marsupials can conceive during the final days of an ongoing pregnancy, creating a “backup” embryo ready to take its predecessor’s place

This Cranwell's frog fluoresces green in blue light

New Research

In Blue Light, Most Amphibians Have a Neon-Green Glow

Researchers at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota shed light on frog and salamander bioluminescence

A rhesus monkey photographed in Florida in 2017.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Horde of Herpes-Infected Monkeys?

Feral rhesus macaques are invasive in Florida, but there are no easy solutions for managing them

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