Wildlife(Page 16)

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

Latest in Wildlife

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

A male chimpanzee named Frodo frowns.
Wildlife

Nice chimps finish last—so why aren’t all of them mean?

By Laura Baisas

Deep-sea mining has murky aftereffects
Fish

Deep-sea mining has murky aftereffects

By Elham Shabahat/Hakai Magazine

Giving drones inflatable suits could help them survive crash landings
Birds

Giving drones inflatable suits could help them survive crash landings

By Sara Kiley Watson

A forest elephant with a raised trunk surrounded by greenery. Forest elephants are much smaller in size compared to savanna elephants, and their ears are an oval shape.
Endangered Species

Elephants and humans share surprising similarities. A new docuseries dives deep into that relationship.

By Laura Baisas

New Zealand’s wild pigs could be a source of much-needed donor organs
Wildlife

New Zealand’s wild pigs could be a source of much-needed donor organs

By Bill Morris/Undark

Sleeping elephant seals on a California beach
Wildlife

Seals snooze during 20-minute ‘sleeping dives’ to avoid predators

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

African penguins standing on a sandy beach.
Endangered Species

How African penguins continue to survive changes in climate

By Laura Baisas

White Moluccan cockatoo on a branch turning toward a person's hand. Reddish flames are behind the bird to symbolize past trauma. Illustrated.
Birds

Parrots are deeply intelligent. But do we understand their emotions?

By Brandon Keim

Turf wars between whales and crabbers have increased due to climate change
Endangered Species

Turf wars between whales and crabbers have increased due to climate change

By Jesse Kathan / Hakai Magazine

Brown garden snail eating a strawberry on a white table
Wildlife

Experience the uncomfortable weirdness of a snail eating fruit

By Laura Baisas

A polar bear standing on ice.
Wildlife

Why the biggest animals move so slowly

By Laura Baisas

The UN’s first high seas treaty could help dwindling Pacific salmon
Fish

The UN’s first high seas treaty could help dwindling Pacific salmon

By Sarah Trent / High Country News

An orb weaver spider spins a web in a forest.
Spiders

Spider glue might evolve faster than the spiders themselves

By Laura Baisas

Examples of floating plastics collected in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre during The Ocean Cleanup’s 2018 expedition.
Wildlife

Some coastal critters are thriving in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

By Laura Baisas

Black bear cub in a berry bush at Glacier National Park
Bears

Bears can count, take selfies, use tools, recognize supermodels, and even open car doors

By Ruscena Wiederholt

Baby cod seem to be drawn to the lullaby of wind turbines
Fish

Baby cod seem to be drawn to the lullaby of wind turbines

By Emily Harwitz / Hakai Magazine

An adult Pygmy Zebra Octopus
Wildlife

Pygmy zebra octopus stripe patterns are as unique as human fingerprints

By Jamie Helmick

Brown bear paw in summer for blood clotting study
Bears

Hibernating bears hold many secrets for better human health

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Skeleton of paratype of Icaronycteris gunnelli, the oldest bat skeletons ever found.
Bats

Oldest bat skeleton ever found by paleontologists finally has a name

By Laura Baisas

Luna moth resting on a tree.
Bats

The alluring tail of the Luna moth is surprisingly useless for finding a mate

By Jamie Helmick

A black sea cucumber on the floor of the Indian Ocean.
Wildlife

Sea cucumbers have a Spiderman-esque superpower—and it involves their butts

By Laura Baisas

A bird called an American Redstart sits on the branch of a tree.
Birds

Delaying departure may help birds migrate around climate change

By Laura Baisas

Rainbow trout are vulnerable to viruses—and microplastics make them even sicker
Fish

Rainbow trout are vulnerable to viruses—and microplastics make them even sicker

By Elise Cutts/Hakai Magazine

A juvenile elephant named Ko Raya (left) with Pang Pha (right) at the Berlin Zoo. Scientists believe that Pang Pha taught herself how to peel bananas.
Wildlife

Pang Pha the elephant learned to peel bananas by mimicking humans

By Laura Baisas

A warming climate is driving salmon to switch streams
Fish

A warming climate is driving salmon to switch streams

By Lesley Evans Ogden/Knowable Magazine

Dog’s are a human’s best friend—and a shorebird’s worst enemy
Birds

Dog’s are a human’s best friend—and a shorebird’s worst enemy

By Ben Goldfarb/Hakai Magazine

Woolly mammoths evolved tiny ears over 700,000 years in Siberia
Wildlife

Woolly mammoths evolved tiny ears over 700,000 years in Siberia

By Laura Baisas

Chronic wasting disease is sickening deer and elk. Could predators help?
Wildlife

Chronic wasting disease is sickening deer and elk. Could predators help?

By Christine Peterson/High Country News

A close-up of extended polyps of an apparently healthy great star coral colony on a reef near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The tentacles surrounding the mouth of each polyp help trap food particles for the coral to eat.
Wildlife

Caribbean coral is getting sick and dying. A probiotic could help.

By Laura Baisas

A snailfish that lives over 20,000 feet deep in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench in the northern Pacific Ocean.
Fish

Say hello to the deepest-dwelling fish ever caught on camera

By Laura Baisas

Why snails and slugs are so slow
Wildlife

Why snails and slugs are so slow

By and Jared Adam/The Conversation, Daniel Bliss, John F. Tooker

An adult elephant walks with two juvenile elephants.
Wildlife

Scientists may have figured out why elephants exhibit complex emotions

By Laura Baisas

A capuchin monkey in a tree looking at the camera.
Wildlife

Do magic tricks work on monkeys? Only if they have opposable thumbs like us.

By Laura Baisas

An ostrich inspects eggs in a nest.
Birds

Troodons laid eggs in communal nests just like modern ostriches

By Laura Baisas

Scientists are finally getting into the rhythm of sea creatures’ lunar cycle
Wildlife

Scientists are finally getting into the rhythm of sea creatures’ lunar cycle

By Virat Markandeya/Knowable Magazine

Otters are back, but that doesn’t mean our rivers are safe
Wildlife

Otters are back, but that doesn’t mean our rivers are safe

By Carin Leong/Hakai Magazine

Lolita the killer whale performing its 40th anniversary performance at Miami Seaquarium.
Whales

After 50 years in captivity, Lolita the orca may be freed

By Laura Baisas

Critically endangered right whales are losing the battle against fishing boats
Whales

Critically endangered right whales are losing the battle against fishing boats

By Darren Incorvaia/Undark

Polycirrus onibi, a newly discovered marine worm that glows in the dark, was named after a creature from Japanese folklore.
Wildlife

These newly discovered bioluminescent sea worms are named after Japanese folklore

By Laura Baisas

A baby song thrush bird looks up from the forest floor.
Birds

Postmortem poop can teach us a lot about the avian gut microbiome

By Laura Baisas

The parking lot outside a Buc-ee’s store in Temple, Texas.
Wildlife

A 15-million-year-old beaver was just named after an iconic convenience store

By Laura Baisas

Bears can run at surprisingly fast speeds—here’s how they vary by species
Bears

Bears can run at surprisingly fast speeds—here’s how they vary by species

By Bill Heavey/Field & Stream

How can you tell a dolphin’s age? Check its freckles.
Fish

How can you tell a dolphin’s age? Check its freckles.

By Marina Wang / Hakai Magazine

A white-tailed jackrabbit in it's winter white fur.
Wildlife

Jackrabbit’s color-changing fur may prepare them for climate change

By Laura Baisas

A Canada goose opening its mouth and spreading its wings to protect its nest and its mate behind it at the edge of a marshy area.
Birds

Read this if you’re too scared to walk past a goose

By Alisha McDarris

It’s still a mystery how snails ended up scattered around the globe
Wildlife

It’s still a mystery how snails ended up scattered around the globe

By Thom van Dooren/MIT Press Reader

A bug on a green leaf feeding on a caterpillar.
Wildlife

Save caterpillars by turning off your outdoor lights

By Laura Baisas

Birds sometimes hitch rides on ships—and it’s changing the way they migrate
Birds

Birds sometimes hitch rides on ships—and it’s changing the way they migrate

By Ute Eberle/Hakai Magazine

An illustration of Thylacosmilus atrox, an extinct marsupial with giant canine teeth,
Wildlife

With bulging eyes and a killer smile, this sabertooth was an absolute nightmare

By Laura Baisas

America used to have its own lions. Where did they go?
Endangered Species

America used to have its own lions. Where did they go?

By Devon Bidal/Hakai Magazine

A Wedge-tailed Eagle, a large vulture native to Australia.
Birds

An extinct 10-foot-long eagle could pick up kangaroos with its terrifying talons

By Laura Baisas

Red and speckled blue and black poison dart frog looking up from a light green leaf
Wildlife

Poisonous animals probably took their sweet time developing unappetizing bright colors

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Four male common fruit flies in a chain trying to mate with each other after being exposed to ozone air pollution
Wildlife

Horny male fruit flies plunge into chaos when exposed to air pollution

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Gorillas like to scramble their brains by spinning around really fast
Wildlife

Gorillas like to scramble their brains by spinning around really fast

By Sara Kiley Watson

Moonlight will help inspire a Danish church’s wildlife-friendly design
Birds

Moonlight will help inspire a Danish church’s wildlife-friendly design

By Theo Nicitopoulos / Hakai Magazine

A stinky, 5,000-mile-long wad of seaweed is about to gunk up Florida’s beaches
Wildlife

A stinky, 5,000-mile-long wad of seaweed is about to gunk up Florida’s beaches

By Sara Kiley Watson

A black widow spider side by side with a brown widow spiders, a fellow species in the same genus, Latrodectus.
Spiders

Black widows battle their even deadlier cousins in a brutal spider war

By Laura Baisas

How growing antlers on mice could lead to new treatments for humans
Wildlife

How growing antlers on mice could lead to new treatments for humans

By Travis Hall / Field&Stream

A warm of bees on a honeycomb.
Wildlife

Older bees teach younger bees the ‘waggle dance’

By Laura Baisas

Butterfly cutouts painted with plasmonic paint hues against grass background
Wildlife

Butterfly-inspired ‘plasmonic paint’ could be brilliant for energy-efficient buildings

By Andrew Paul

This fossilized ‘ancient animal’ might be a bunch of old seaweed
Wildlife

This fossilized ‘ancient animal’ might be a bunch of old seaweed

By Sara Kiley Watson

Whitespotted eagle ray swimming in the ocean.
Wildlife

Scientists test different gear for protecting clams from ‘crunching’ rays

By Laura Baisas