Australia

Thousands of Invasive Cane Toads Overtake Florida Community

A mild winter and rain has led to a spring explosion of the amphibians, which are clogging pool filters, lawns and driveways

Keepers suspect that the mother might already be pregnant with a second.

Is That Wallaby Sprouting a Second Head?

Last week, the first baby wallaby to be born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in three decades poked its head out of its mother’s pouch

Artist's impression of a Galleonosaurus dorisae herd on a riverbank in the Australian-Antarctic rift valley during the Early Cretaceous, 125 million years ago.

New Dinosaur Species Found in Australia Reveals a ‘Lost World’

<i>Galleonosaurus dorisae</i> thrived in the now-vanished Australia-Antarctica rift

Month-Long Oil Spill in the Solomon Islands Threatens World's Largest Coral Reef Atoll

Australia has stepped in to help contain the 600 tons of heavy fuel oil leaking from the transport that ran aground on Rennell Island early last month

A plume of sediment off the coast of Queensland after recent flooding.

Australia Allows One Million Tons of Sludge to Be Dumped on Great Barrier Reef

A loophole in Australian federal law allows dredging spoils from port maintenance to be dumped in the marine park

Baby wombat and mother on Maria Island.

You Can Visit This Australian Island, but Only if You Pledge to Skip the Wombat Selfie

The marsupials on Maria Island are so docile, tourism officials are asking the public to stop getting so close

A cane toad (Rhinella marina) at Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve, Northern Territory, Australia.

See Ten Lusty Cane Toads Latch Onto a Powerless Python

The toads, which are invasive in Australia, have been known to try and mate with everything from human hands to rotting mangoes

Prior to the new study, only one ancient individual's DNA had been retrieved: a person of aboriginal descent from the Willandra Lakes region seen here.

DNA Can Help Repatriate the Remains of Aboriginal Australians

A new study was able to match genetic material of ancient remains to the DNA of living Aboriginal communities

Here's How That Cow Got So Large

The sad fact is most steers are slaughtered before they reach their full, awesome size, making the Aussie bovine more lucky than freakish

The marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) stalked Australian forests tens of thousands of years ago.

How a Changing Climate May Have Killed Off the Marsupial Lion

The fearsome predator, related to koalas and wombats, ruled the wilds of Australia until the loss of its habitat helped drive it to extinction

Why Wombats Make Cube-Shaped Poos

New research shows differences in elasticity in the intestines shapes the poo as it moves through

A platypus living in the most contaminated site could be routinely exposed to up to half of an adult human’s daily dose of antidepressants

Australian Rivers Are Contaminated With Pharmaceuticals. That's Bad News For Platypuses, Study Says

The team found evidence of human medications in every insect tested, including those from national park previously believed to be free of contaminants

Australia is on Track to Eliminate Cervical Cancer

A new study predicts that by 2028, there will be fewer than four new cervical cancer cases per 100,000 Australian women

People Braved Australia's Western Desert Roughly 45,000 Years Ago

Newly dated artifacts from a rock shelter show humans were in the inhospitable Little Sandy Desert at least 10,000 years earlier than previously thought

How Much Plastic Does It Take To Kill a Sea Turtle?

A new study suggests one piece of plastic has a 22 percent chance of killing a turtle that eats it, and 14 pieces will kill half

RangerBot is an autonomous underwater vehicle designed to identify and kill crown-of-thorns starfish by lethal injection.

Sea-Star Murdering Robots Are Deployed in the Great Barrier Reef

The RangerBot is a new line of defense against coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish

Captain James Cook set out on a voyage across the Pacific 250 years ago, seemingly on a scientific voyage. But he carried secret instructions from the Navy with him as well.

Captain Cook’s 1768 Voyage to the South Pacific Included a Secret Mission

The explorer traveled to Tahiti under the auspices of science 250 years ago, but his secret orders were to continue Britain’s colonial project

Archaeologists unearthed the rotting teeth during construction of a new metro line in Melbourne, Australia

Archaeological Dig at Australian Metro Station Unearths 1,000 Human Teeth

A local dentist probably flushed the molars down the toilet or discarded them with his trash

The pores visible on the underside of this shark's snout are electrical field-sensitive ampullae of Lorenzini.

Magnets Help Keep Sharks Out of Fish Traps

Adding cheap magnets to the traps reduced shark and ray bycatch by a third and increased fish hauls by just as much, according to a new study

Darwin, described by caretakers as a bit "goofy," befriended even the Zoo's cassowary, widely considered one of the world's most dangerous birds.

The National Zoo’s Beloved, Aging Emu Has Died

Darwin delighted zoo patrons for 21 years with his clever antics and charisma

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