Wildlife (Page 3)

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

Latest in Wildlife

three polar bear cubs curled up with their mother

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 announces People’s Choice winners

By Popular Science Team

two owls sit on a metal table with their wings up

Spunky baby owls examined after being found on soccer field

By Laura Baisas

a bird with long legs and green feathers standing on a rock

Student discovers new Galápagos bird, solving a decades-old mystery

By Laura Baisas

Close up of gray squirrel in tree

Squirrels love almonds, and will work harder to get them

a sperm whale calf swims under its mother

Baby sperm whale birth captured in groundbreaking video

By Laura Baisas

A digital illustration of a large, prehistoric marine reptile, specifically a Pliosaur, swimming in a deep blue ocean. The creature has a dark, streamlined body with a pale underbelly, four powerful flippers, and a massive, elongated head. Its jaws are slightly open, revealing rows of sharp, protruding teeth. Beams of sunlight pierce through the water's surface from the top right, illuminating the predator as it glides through the clear, underwater environment.

The sea monster goes ‘bloop’—or does it?

By Andrew Coletti

a giraffe and her baby watch an airplane land

32 incredible wildlife images from the Nature Photography Contest

By Popular Science Team

a herd of bison running by a car

What to do if you encounter a bison

By Laura Baisas

A sperm whale and a photographer in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal.

First-of-its-kind video confirms sperm whales really do headbutt

By Laura Baisas

Robin song bird, nothing prettier then the basic robin in summer

4 myths about backyard birds, debunked

a green insect (left) the same insect, but it has changed to pink (right)

Green insect turns a puzzling shade of hot pink

By Nidhi Sharma

a seal swimming amongst fish

16 award-winning photographs from around the world

By Popular Science Team

a larger brown-ish sea turtle sits on an exam table

Endangered Species

Hello Helvetica! Vets name rescued sea turtles named after fonts

By Nidhi Sharma

a postage stamp with a bison on it

New stamp honors Yellowstone’s iconic bison

By Nidhi Sharma

a baby lion runs into its mother's butt

14 silly, never-before-seen images from the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

By Popular Science Team

two mating frogs with the male grasping on to the female

Even humans love a good mating call

By Laura Baisas

a coyote pup with brown fur tilts its head

Coyote pupping season is here. You can help keep them safe.

By Laura Baisas

A wide-angle, underwater photograph of a young sea lion with large, dark eyes and long whiskers looking directly into the camera lens. Sunlight beams down through the clear blue water, illuminating the sea lion's head and other sea lions swimming in the background. The foreground shows a rocky seabed covered in marine life, including several dark, spiny sea urchins.

How marine mammals stay hydrated in a salty sea

By Sara Kiley Watson

Adult bull shark ‘Chunky’ (foreground) parallel swimming with subadult female ‘Lady Lazarus’ (background).

Bull sharks make ‘friends’—and prefer females to males

By Laura Baisas

An adult male blue crab attempts to cannibalize a smaller blue crab on a tether.

Blue crabs have a serious cannibalism problem

By Laura Baisas

a blue whale swimming

Marine biologists spot rare blue whales off Massachusetts coast

By Margherita Bassi

a bird chick sits on a nest

The world’s oldest wild bird has a new grandchick

By Margherita Bassi

several birds flying overhead while a bird sits on its nest with a chick

11 wild photos show the Amazon River in its glory

By Popular Science Team

A wolf chases magpies and ravens from an elk carcass near Soda Butte.

Yellowstone’s ravens may memorize wolf hunting hotspots—to feast

By Nidhi Sharma

Illustration showing ancient hominid drinking water at river's edge with crocodile lurking nearby in the water

An odd-nosed crocodile ate our prehistoric ancestors

a grizzly bear stands on a bison carcass

Yellowstone’s first grizzly bear of 2026 emerges from his den

By Laura Baisas

Scientists suggest modifying cars to hit fewer hedgehogs

By Margherita Bassi

two parrots with red, green, and blue feathers sitting in a tree

Ancient Andean parrot trade route stretched over 300 miles

By Laura Baisas

two hares fight with their front paws

15 enchanting images from the 2026 British Wildlife Photography Awards

By Popular Science Team

An Ixodes tick (left). An Asian tiger mosquito. (right)

What a cold winter means for ticks and mosquitoes

By Laura Baisas

a black bird sits on a tree

These birds listen to their parents to avoid being eaten

By Margherita Bassi

a dolphin (left) and a more rounded porpoise (right)

Florida can’t decide if its official saltwater mammal is a dolphin or a porpoise

By Margherita Bassi

Gemini said Two budgerigars, one blue and white and one green and yellow, perched on a wooden branch while appearing to "whisper" or interact closely.

From chirps to ‘hellos’: Why some birds talk like people

By Laura Kiniry

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) hovers delicately at a feeder in a backyard, its iridescent feathers glinting in the sunlight. These tiny birds are famous for their incredible long-distance migration, with some traveling up to 2,000 miles between North America and Central America each year. Providing sugar-water feeders in backyards is a common way for bird lovers to help fuel the hummingbirds' energy-intensive journey. During migration, their diet consists of nectar from flowers and feeders, supplemented with small insects for protein. Backyard feeders like this one offer a critical source of food, especially as natural nectar sources become scarce in colder months.

How to attract hummingbirds to your yard

By Debbie Wolfe

a bobcat on a colorful blanket

Wild bobcat making remarkable recovery after getting hit by car

By Margherita Bassi

An Afghan Hound striking the fake rabbit.

28 powerful Sony World Photography Awards 2026 honorees

By Popular Science Team

Two photos next to each other. One is a man laying on grass next to longest snake in the world for scale reference. The other is a with portion of the world's longest snake draped over his shoulder in the jungle

Endangered Species

Longest snake ever measured is over 23.5 feet long

a white rat and a black rat looking out of a cage

163 surrendered rats seek new homes in Massachusetts

By Margherita Bassi

a turtle wearing a 3D printed wheel chair

A 3D-printed wheelchair is helping this turtle walk again

By Mack DeGeurin

purple crystals

Humans’ love of crystals goes back at least 6 million years

By Laura Baisas

a pink flamingo standing in water (left). a blue songbird sitting on a tree branch (right)

Florida considers making the flamingo its state bird

By Margherita Bassi

a woman holds a large lizard. it has black and white scales and is sticking out a red tongue tipped black

Frostbitten lizard found in Rhode Island is healing

By Margherita Bassi

a polar bear cub clings to its mother

24 beautiful images from the World Nature Photography Awards 2026

By Popular Science Team

a polar bear mother closes her eyes while laying down with two cubs. one cub is biting the other's cheek

11 cool photos to celebrate International Polar Bear Day

By Popular Science Team

a large goat with grey fur and large horns

Ireland’s native goats date back to Bronze Age

By Laura Baisas

Close-up of aedes aegypti mosquito sucking blood from human skin, transmitting dangerous diseases like dengue fever, zika virus, and chikungunya, Chumphon in thailand.

Mosquitoes have been sucking our blood for 1.8 million years

Panamanian golden frog on leaves in forest

Endangered Species

Panama’s golden frogs beat extinction

A detailed, extreme close-up of an emu's head and neck against its own feathered body. The emu has a sharp, dark beak and a striking, large orange eye. Its head is covered in fine, black wiry feathers, while the thick, gray and black plumage of its body creates a textured, blurred background.

Emus once faced down the Australian army—and won

a dolphin swims in venice, italy

Humans pose the biggest risk to Venice’s celebrity dolphin

By Laura Baisas

a chimpanzee laying on its back in a forest

Chimpanzees love alcohol and their pee proves it

By Laura Baisas

A great white shark swims near Guadalupe Island in Mexico.

Great white sharks don’t always flee after orca attacks

By Margherita Bassi

a monkey with white and black fur and a blue-ish face sits in a tree

Endangered Species

Blue-faced, puffy-lipped monkey scores a rare conservation win

By Margherita Bassi

a parrot with mostly green feathers and yellow feathers on the neck

The parrots having human-like conversations

By Margherita Bassi

a large bird called a wood stork stands in a wetland. it has long legs, white feathers, and a long beak

Wood storks to be removed from federal Endangered Species List

By Laura Baisas

a puma bits a guanaco

20 riveting images from the Sony World Photography Awards 2026

By Popular Science Team

African striped mouse and pups

Biologists discover gene that may determine ‘good’ and ‘bad’ dads

Artistic reconstruction of a Late Pleistocene cave lion overlooking Mount Fuji, Japan. Credit: Velizar Simeonovski

Prehistoric Japan was home to cave lions—not tigers

a small mammal with black eyes and big ears standing on a plant

World’s smallest possum may be hiding in South Australia

By Laura Baisas

a fox catches a crab mid-air3rd Place Photographer of the Year 2025 was awarded to Terry Donnelly from England, UK.

Society of Photographers announces Photographer of the Year

By Popular Science Team

live black scorpion (Emperor Scorpion)

Deadly scorpions are picky about their soil

a pigeon. the bird as light grey feathers with green and purple feathers around the neck

550 pigeons rescued in North Carolina

By Laura Baisas

a litter of naked mole rats

4 wild ways animals breed

By Laura Baisas

Example of paired images used during free-view eyetracking study. These image pairs focused on participant reactions to spider versus other arthropods – (A) spider versus butterfly, (B) spider versus insect, (C) spider eyes versus insect eyes, (D) spider versus non-spider arachnid, and (E) spider versus myriapod. We also included a paired image of (F) scorpion versus non-scorpion arachnid to gain insight into whether participants respond differently to spiders versus scorpions (e.g., d vs. f).

Psychologists made people look at spiders. They didn’t like it.

a zookeper places a piece of apple inside of an elephant's trunk

Elephants are smart. So are their whiskers.

By Laura Baisas