Wildlife(Page 16)

The latest on the fascinating flora and fauna of our planet.

Latest in Wildlife

Animals and AI help scientists study pandemics
Wildlife

Animals and AI help scientists study pandemics

By Bethany Brookshire/Undark

This pangolin-inspired robot can curl up into a healing ball
Endangered Species

This pangolin-inspired robot can curl up into a healing ball

By Andrew Paul

An artist’s reconstruction of Olympicetus thalassodon pursuing a school of fishes alongside plotopterid birds (background) somewhere in the eastern North Pacific Ocean.
Whales

This dolphin ancestor looked like a cross between Flipper and Moby Dick

By Laura Baisas

A cockscomb pearl mussel.
Wildlife

The secret to better folding phones might hinge on mussels

By Rahul Rao

A school of grunts and horse-eye jack fish swim above a reef in Hol Chan Marine Reserve near Ambergris Cay, Belize.
Fish

Fish are thriving near marine protected areas—and so are coastal communities

By Laura Baisas

A Northern Hawk Owl looks directly into the camera as it perches at the tip of a frost-covered tree. Dark pine cones on the bare branches stand out against a white background, mirroring the pattern of the owl’s dark breast feathers.
Birds

Owls, puffins, and even city pigeons glam it up in winning bird photos

By Maddi Langweil

Bumblebee pollinator over red and orange flowers
Wildlife

Microscopic worms use electricity to ride bumblebees like EVs

By Laura Baisas

Line of rocks letting water leak through to represent a different approach to water management during drought
Wildlife

‘Slow water’ could transform the Southwest, one little rock wall at a time

By Erica Gies

Deer and other animals in wildfire smoke during California Dixie fire in 2021
Wildlife

Clouds of wildfire smoke are toxic to humans and animals alike

By Carla Delgado

The sustainable secret to raising tastier crabs
Fish

The sustainable secret to raising tastier crabs

By Sofia Quaglia/Hakai Magazine

A glow-worm on a leaf.
Wildlife

Bright white lights are a buzzkill for glow-worm romance

By Laura Baisas

Australian giant skink
Wildlife

This chunky ancient lizard was 1,000 times bigger than its modern relatives

By Sara Kiley Watson

Orca whale pod off Iberian coast from the subpopulation of orcas attacking sailboats in Europe
Whales

Orcas are attacking boats. But is it revenge or trauma?

By Zayna Syed

Two ants facing one another. Ants release a pheromone that helps other ants sense danger.
Wildlife

Ants brains are surprisingly good at communicating danger to others

By Laura Baisas

Young longleaf pines growing healthily in a burnt landscape
Wildlife

Longleaf pine forests in Alabama are making a comeback—thanks to fire

By Jamie Helmick

Noisy boats can cause temporary deafness in squid
Fish

Noisy boats can cause temporary deafness in squid

By Emily Harwitz / Hakai Magazine

emperor penguin and chicks
Birds

Many bird species are struggling—but data can help us save them from extinction

By Emily Sohn/Knowable Magazine

Paramecium bursaria under a microscope. All creatures whose cells house a nucleus, including Paramecium bursaria, can be traced back to a common ancestor called the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA).
Wildlife

Newfound single-celled hunters may have been Earth’s first-ever predators

By Laura Baisas

An illustration of the rhynchosaur Bentonyx from the Middle Triassic of Devon, about 245 million years ago.
Wildlife

This ancient reptile had a deadly vegetarian diet

By Laura Baisas

The California two-spot octopus (Bimaculoides) is the first octopus species to have its genome sequenced and is very helpful for studying cephalopods.
Wildlife

Octopuses rewrite their own RNA to survive freezing temperatures

By Laura Baisas

A monkey laying on a tree smiling.
Wildlife

Super semen could be one reason why primates evolved to masturbate

By Laura Baisas

A badger in a forest on a rainy day.
Wildlife

Air quality monitoring stations could help track and preserve threatened species

By Laura Baisas

Lionfish are now threatening ecosystems and livelihoods in Brazil
Fish

Lionfish are now threatening ecosystems and livelihoods in Brazil

By Osmar J. Luiz/The Conversation

An elk grazing in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Wildlife

The role of people in preserving nature, according to America’s National Parks docuseries

By Laura Baisas

A moth with wings extended outward lands on a flower.
Wildlife

This massively underrated pollinator needs your help

By Laura Baisas

These species were discovered in museum collections. They might already be extinct.
Bats

These species were discovered in museum collections. They might already be extinct.

By Katarina Zimmer / Undark

The adult gomphothere skull (foreground, tusk capped in white plaster) was separated from the main body (background, covered in plaster) prior to its preservation.
Wildlife

Elephants once roamed Florida—and scientists just stumbled on a graveyard full of them

By Laura Baisas

A mother and baby golden snub nosed monkey. These primates live in mountainous regions of southwestern China. Longer periods of maternal care may have helped them form more complex societies.
Wildlife

Chilly climates may have forged stronger social bonds in some primates

By Laura Baisas

This fake beach is a magnet for tourists—and peaceful endangered sharks
Endangered Species

This fake beach is a magnet for tourists—and peaceful endangered sharks

By Dag Goering/Hakai Magazine

A male and a female mallard duck in some green grass by some bushes.
Birds

Don’t feed ducks bread. Here’s what to give them instead.

By Natalie Wallington

Why it’s time to stop naming new species after people
Wildlife

Why it’s time to stop naming new species after people

By Asher Elbein/Undark

A saltwater crocodile with its mouth wide open.
Wildlife

Snorkeler pries crocodile’s jaws off his head to survive attack

By Laura Baisas

A sloth hangs in a tree in Costa Rica. The mammals have the slowest digestive system of any animal on Earth. It can take sloths two weeks to digest an entire meal, and they sleep about 20 hours a day to conserve energy.
Wildlife

Sloth schedules are surprisingly flexible

By Laura Baisas

The weevil Anchylorhynchus trapezicollis is the main pollinator of South American palm Syagrus coronata. Here, the weevil is seen on a female flower, touching the receptive parts and leaving pollen grains in the process.
Wildlife

Move over, bees: The lowly weevil is a power pollinator

By Laura Baisas

The sun over the ocean. Over 5,000 species could be at risk if deep sea mining begins in the Pacific Ocean's Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
Wildlife

A deep sea mining zone in the remote Pacific is also a goldmine of unique species

By Laura Baisas

Andean long-tailed chinchillas are mysteriously thriving on Chile’s coast
Wildlife

Andean long-tailed chinchillas are mysteriously thriving on Chile’s coast

By James Hall/Hakai Magazine

A spiny mouse standing on a rock. Spiny mice can regenerate skin, muscle, nerves, spinal cord, and possibly cardiac tissue.
Wildlife

African spiny mouse joins a small but mighty group of bony plated mammals

By Laura Baisas

A newly hatched California condor.
Birds

Thriving baby California condor is a ray of hope for the unique species

By Laura Baisas

Siler collingwoodi is a colorful, ant-mimicking spider found in China and Japan.
Spiders

This spider pretends to be an ant, but not well enough to avoid being eaten

By Laura Baisas

A young baboon hangs from a thin tree branch.
Wildlife

Baboons can recover from childhood trauma with a little help from their friends

By Laura Baisas

A blue butterfly on a pink flowering plant.
Wildlife

A ‘butterfly tree of life’ reveals the origins of these beautiful insects

By Laura Baisas

A coral reef in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba in the Red Sea. Corals here and in the Persian Gulf are particularly affected by light pollution.
Wildlife

Light pollution is messing with coral reproduction

By Laura Baisas

Dolphins use echolocation to find fish and navigate in the dark sea.
Bats

How echolocation lets bats, dolphins, and even people navigate by sound

By Ben Guarino

Stressed clams turn ghostly white in warming waters
Fish

Stressed clams turn ghostly white in warming waters

By Janine Peralta/Hakai Magazine

Extinct ‘thunder beasts’ went from mini to massive in the blink of an evolutionary eye
Wildlife

Extinct ‘thunder beasts’ went from mini to massive in the blink of an evolutionary eye

By Laura Baisas

A clownfish swimming in an anemone.
Fish

Baby anemonefish can rapidly change their genes to survive in the sea

By Laura Baisas

These whales might follow their noses to their next snack in the surf
Whales

These whales might follow their noses to their next snack in the surf

By Elizabeth Preston/Hakai Magazine

A mosquito hanging upside down on a leaf.
Wildlife

Can scented soap make you less of a mosquito buffet?

By Laura Baisas

A new butterfly species with orange wings and black spots next to the eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings films.
Wildlife

Lord of the Rings villain Sauron inspires the name of new butterfly genus

By Laura Baisas

A koala in a leafy tree.
Endangered Species

Wild koalas are getting vaccinated against chlamydia

By Laura Baisas

A bat sea star on a dark background.
Wildlife

The blueprints for early organs may be hiding in sea stars

By Laura Baisas

Elephants have complex communities and distinct traditions
Wildlife

Elephants have complex communities and distinct traditions

By Mridula Chari/Undark

Yellow-green cyanobacteria bloom in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. Events like these can cause mass fish dieoffs.
Fish

A fish-kill mystery in a remote Alaska village takes a toxic turn

By Saima Sidik/Hakai Magazine

Woolly mammoth tusks in dawn light on Wrangel Island, northeast Siberia, where the female mammoth tusk used in the testosterone study had been found several years earlier.
Wildlife

Male woolly mammoths had hormone-fueled bouts of aggression

By Laura Baisas

An illustration of the organisms that lived in the Castle Bank community.
Wildlife

Fossil trove in Wales is a 462-million-year-old world of wee sea creatures

By Laura Baisas

Red cherry shaped as butt on orange and purple ombre background
Wildlife

A scientific exploration of big juicy butts

By Rachel Feltman

The oldest chili pepper specimen may be from present-day Colorado
Birds

The oldest chili pepper specimen may be from present-day Colorado

By Sara Kiley Watson

A small partula snail crawls on a leaf.
Endangered Species

Researchers release more than 5,000 snails in the Pacific

By Laura Baisas

How deadly amphibians survive their own poisons
Endangered Species

How deadly amphibians survive their own poisons

By Geoffrey Giller/Knowable Magazine

Volcanoes can be a fiery death sentence for fish
Fish

Volcanoes can be a fiery death sentence for fish

By Chris Baraniuk / Hakai Magazine

Protecting wildlife starts with securing land for animals to roam
Endangered Species

Protecting wildlife starts with securing land for animals to roam

By David Jachowski/The Conversation

An adult male and adult female California sea lion sit on a beach surrounded by pups.
Wildlife

Male California sea lions have gotten bigger and better at fighting

By Laura Baisas

A mushroom called coprophilous grows in woods.
Wildlife

What prehistoric poop reveals about extinct giant animals

By Laura Baisas

Two mudskippers fighting in the mud, with eyes and pectoral fins exposed.
Fish

Mudskippers blink—and that’s a huge evolutionary clue

By Laura Baisas