Ecology

The highly regular spacing of fairy circles in Australia becomes visible in dense vegetation. The grasses in the foreground of the image are patchy as they rebounding from fire.

Mysterious Fairy Circles Have Been Found in Western Australia

Once thought to exist only in Namibia, circles spotted 6,200 miles away are helping sort out how these odd features form

The Marine Corps Plans to Airlift Over 1,000 Desert Tortoises

Despite the positive intentions behind relocation, conservationists worry that it will hurt the tortoises more than it helps

Wading Birds 'Pay' Alligators for Their Protection

It's a give-and-take relationship: alligators may chow down on a few chicks, but they keep predators at bay

Shockingly, Pandas That Like Each Other Have More Babies Together

The deceptively simple discovery could revolutionize panda breeding

A cheetah stalks past a herd of giraffes in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve.

Humans Caused a Major Shift in Earth's Ecosystems 6,000 Years Ago

We upended a pattern held for 300 million years, and that may mean we are causing a new phase in global evolution

The Last Wild Horses Are Rebounding From Extinction

After years of breeding programs, the last truly wild horses return

This Scientist Live-Tweets Cheetah Hunts

Documenting nature in all its beauty, viciousness, hilarity and boredom

Setting up sound monitors in Papua New Guinea.

Scientists Are Recording 24-Hour Soundtracks of Rainforests

The bioacoustic data gives Nature Conservancy researchers clues about the health of an ecosystem

A competitor named Rich Welsh midway through his challenge at this year's World Bog Snorkeling Championships in Wales.

Swimming Through Mud at the World Bog Snorkeling Championships

This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the world's strangest (and messiest) competitions

A mother hummingbird in Arizona incubates her eggs under the indirect protection of her neighborhood hawk.

Hawks Act as Unwitting Muscle for Hummingbirds

In Arizona, hummingbirds seem to deliberately seek out bodyguard hawks to shield them from nest-robbing jays

Ten years on, some of the scars that Katrina tore into coastal ecosystems persist, while others have healed. NASA's Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of the swamps and marshes that buffer New Orleans in August 2015.

How Hurricane Katrina Redrew the Gulf Coast

While storms here are nothing new, human influence helped Katrina make Louisiana’s ecological problems worse

Over 14,000 Miles of America's Coastline is Covered in Concrete

14 percent of America’s coastline is coated in concrete — and that could actually be really bad

"Flatties" might be more aptly nicknamed "fliers" for their ability to glide to safety should they lose their grip in tree canopies.

Gliding Spiders Found Falling From Tropical Trees

Flat-bodied spiders that live in the rainforest strike a Superman pose to take control of their free-falls

An image of the Italian Alps, snapped in June by the ESA's Sentinel-2, could be used in biodiversity studies.

Why Satellites Are a Biologist's Best Friend

From tracking penguins to coral reefs, satellites are changing the way scientists study ecology

The larger Pacific striped octopus uses unique prankster shoulder-tapping techniques to lure shrimp prey within arms' reach.

Tropical Octopus Definitely Mates Beak-to-Beak

Larger Pacific striped octopus couples engage in a host of behaviors unheard of among other octopuses

A wasp larva perches on its hapless spider host.

Parasitic Wasps Turn Spiders Into Zombie Weavers

Arachnids injected with a potent neurotoxin are forced to create shiny new web cradles for wasp larvae

Australian Cities Pass Cat Curfews

Fluffy little murderbeasts may soon be kept under lock and key

Why Do Hundreds of Macaws Gather at These Peruvian Clay Banks?

Brightly colored parrots of the western Amazon basin display a behavior not seen anywhere else

Boa constrictors seem to deliver death not through suffocation, but by cutting off blood flow to the heart and brain.

Boa Constrictors Kill By Stopping Blood Circulation

The popular belief that boas and other constricting snakes deal death by suffocation seems to be a flawed assumption

An Anopholes mosquito, the vector for malaria, taking a blood meal from a tasty human.

Mosquitoes Can Carry, and Deliver, a Double Dose of Malaria

Insects that are already carrying one strain are more likely to pick up a second infection and harbor higher numbers of parasites

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