Wildlife(Page 17)

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

Latest in Wildlife

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

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 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

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

By Emily Harwitz / Hakai Magazine

An adult Pygmy Zebra Octopus

Pygmy zebra octopus stripe patterns are as unique as human fingerprints

By Jamie Helmick

Brown bear paw in summer for blood clotting study

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.

Oldest bat skeleton ever found by paleontologists finally has a name

By Laura Baisas

Luna moth resting on a tree.

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.

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.

Delaying departure may help birds migrate around climate change

By Laura Baisas

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

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.

Pang Pha the elephant learned to peel bananas by mimicking humans

By Laura Baisas

A warming climate is driving salmon to switch streams

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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

By Laura Baisas

Why snails and slugs are so slow

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.

Scientists may have figured out why elephants exhibit complex emotions

By Laura Baisas

A capuchin monkey in a tree looking at the camera.

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

By Laura Baisas

An ostrich inspects eggs in a nest.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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,

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

By Travis Hall / Field&Stream

A warm of bees on a honeycomb.

Older bees teach younger bees the ‘waggle dance’

By Laura Baisas

Butterfly cutouts painted with plasmonic paint hues against grass background

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

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

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

By Sara Kiley Watson

Whitespotted eagle ray swimming in the ocean.

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

By Laura Baisas

A worm at the bottom of a shot glass of Mezcal.

What kind of worm is in your mezcal?

By Laura Baisas

A tiny fish is more genetically diverse than we thought. Here’s why that matters.

A tiny fish is more genetically diverse than we thought. Here’s why that matters.

By Brian Owens / Hakai Magazine

Three honeybees fly near a crocus in a field.

Like the first flying humans, honeybees use linear landmarks to navigate

By Laura Baisas

A pod of dolphins swimming together in blue water.

The ‘High-Seas Treaty’ to protect marine life in the open ocean finally makes progress

By Laura Baisas

To lower food emissions, consider what your dinner ate

To lower food emissions, consider what your dinner ate

By Carla Delgado

Two orca whales, one with it's head and flukes above the water and the other with its nose out of the water.

Toothed whales turned their vocal fry into a hunting superpower

By Laura Baisas

A giant lacewing as seen under a microscope. The insect is a moth relative with large wings.

A bug expert went shopping at Walmart—and made a historic insect discovery

By Laura Baisas

The partner of one Caribbean flamingo helps it out in an argument with another pair.

Flamingoes have big personalities—and their friendships prove it

By Laura Baisas

A white-bellied woodstar hummingbird flying. Their colorful throat feathers are believed to help them find a mate.

This hybrid hummingbird’s colorful feathers are a genetic puzzle

By Laura Baisas

Desert lionesses now reign over beaches on the Skeleton Coast

Endangered Species

Desert lionesses now reign over beaches on the Skeleton Coast

By Ryan Truscott / Hakai Magazine

A glassy-winged sharpshooter rests on a leaf.

Watch these tiny bugs catapult urine with their butts

By Laura Baisas

Beaver driving construction truck with logs on back to symbolize ecosystem engineer. Illustrated in purple, yellow, and brown.

Beavers, snails, and elephants are top grads from nature’s college of engineering

By Philip Kiefer

Camels and sharks have small, sneaky antibodies that can help fight human diseases

Camels and sharks have small, sneaky antibodies that can help fight human diseases

By Christina Szalinski / Knowable Magazine

Purple sea urchins clumped together in an urchin barren.

Endangered Species

These urchin-eating sea stars might be helping us reduce carbon levels

An illustration of Hyneria udlezinye, a large, predatory fish, with smaller fish in the Waterloo Farm ecosystem in South Africa about 360 million years ago.

A gator-faced fish shaped like a torpedo stalked rivers 360 million years ago

By Laura Baisas