Wildlife (Page 6)

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

Latest in Wildlife

two saigas spar on dirt
Endangered Species

10 award-winning images documenting wildlife’s will to survive

By Popular Science Team

a river otter with brown fur sits in water with a waterfall behind it
Wildlife

Otter poop reveals they may be ecosystem engineers

By Laura Baisas

a robot shaped like an antelope
Wildlife

A furry antelope robot is keeping tabs on its organic cousins

By Mack DeGeurin

a a small bird with brown and white feather and a long skinny beak sits on a tree
Birds

Scientists find male bird that laid an egg

By Laura Baisas

a dolphin rides on the bow wave in front of a humpback whale
Whales

Dolphin follows a whale all the way to the seafloor

By Laura Baisas

a raccoon with a peanut butter jar stuck on its head
Wildlife

Young raccoon saved from a sticky situation

By Margherita Bassi

Wild pig walking in grass
Wildlife

Wild pigs’ guts are turning blue in California

By Andrew Paul

a long, cylindrical blue-green mollusck sits on a rock under the ocean
Wildlife

Unsuspecting sea creature has Earth’s hardest teeth

By Margherita Bassi

a close up of a groundhog on the grass
Wildlife

Three orphaned groundhogs released back into the wild

By Margherita Bassi

an injured owl with wide eyes
Birds

Throwing food out of your car can kill owls

By Margherita Bassi

Norselaspis illustration
Fish

A googly-eyed fish could upend evolutionary history

By Andrew Paul

a small, yellow snail with dark eyes
Wildlife

Apple snails can regrow their eyeballs

By Laura Baisas

Robot fiddler crab waving claw at actual male fiddler crab on beach
Wildlife

‘Wavy Dave’ is a beefy-armed robot crab on a mating mission

By Andrew Paul

Australian major skink
Wildlife

Australian lizard mutated to resist snake venom

By Andrew Paul

a man kneels down by a tranquilized rhino and applies a substance to its horn
Endangered Species

How to stop rhino poaching: make their horns radioactive

By Margherita Bassi

Two researchers excavating dig site in Norwegian cave, seen from above
Wildlife

Remote Norwegian cave is an ice age animal jackpot

By Andrew Paul

Black tarantula with pixelated rectangle over back thorax
Spiders

These tarantulas’ genitals are so long, it required a new genus

By Andrew Paul

a hammerhead shark swimming in blue water
Wildlife

Hammerhead sharks eat other sharks—and it’s worth the risk

By Margherita Bassi

a purple crab stands on green moss in thailand
Wildlife

Rare purple crabs spotted in Thailand

By Margherita Bassi

Caption: In the Jazan region, mangrove trees are vital coastal habitats that provide a rich food environment for migratory flamingos. These birds feed on algae and small invertebrates like crustaceans and plankton in the shallow waters. The mangroves offer a safe refuge, shielding them from disturbances and predators—making them an ideal rest stop during migration and a key contributor to biodiversity along Saudi Arabia’s coastlines.
Endangered Species

14 beautiful wildlife images from the 2025 Mangrove Photography Awards

By Popular Science Team

a painting with cool pastel colors and with visible snake scales
Wildlife

This painting uses leather from an invasive Burmese python

By Margherita Bassi

Close up of three wasps
Wildlife

Radioactive wasp nest found at former nuclear weapons site

By Andrew Paul

Loch Ness monster sculpture in lake with googly eyes
Wildlife

The Loch Ness Monster’s body is a ‘zoological impossibility’

By Andrew Paul

a scientist holds a large, reddish-purple sea star with 24 legs
Endangered Species

Meet the 24-armed sea star, a kelp forest’s bodyguard

By Laura Baisas

Marsh Rabbit, Sylvilagus floridanus. Dark brown, small-footed rabbit found in wetlands from SE Virginia to Florida. Green Cay Wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida.
Wildlife

Robot bunnies deployed in Florida to fight invasive pythons

By Margherita Bassi

woman holding shark upside down next to a boat
Sharks

How to operate on a shark in 10 minutes or less

By Margherita Bassi

birds everywhere near the road
Birds

Riding a bike through the world’s largest albatross colony

By Margherita Bassi

a whale's tail as it goes into the water
Whales

Decoding the fingerprint of a humpback whale

By Avery Schluyer Nunn

several fireflies blinking at once in a forest
Wildlife

Why fireflies are everywhere this summer

By Laura Baisas

a beaver swimming in water. its eyes, nose, ears, and back are exposed
Wildlife

Beavers put to work saving two Utah rivers

By Margherita Bassi

a penguin looks directly at the camera. it has black and white feathers with some red around the eyes
Birds

The clever way Magellanic penguins ride—and adjust to—ocean currents

By Laura Baisas

a person holds a turtle with piercing eyes
Endangered Species

World’s largest known turtle nesting site found in the Amazon

By Laura Baisas

a larger shark and smaller one photographed from below near the surface
Sharks

17 fascinating images from the 2025 Shark Photographer of the Year awards

By Popular Science Team

A harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) on the beach during the summer premoult stage.
Wildlife

When wily sea lions and determined wildlife officials sparred in Seattle

By Alix Morris

The acoustic parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea and its host cricket.
Wildlife

This parasitic fly gives birth inside of crickets

By Laura Baisas

several small fish with colorful organa and blue scales
Fish

Orange male guppies are hornier

By Laura Baisas

plastic coyotes on robots
Wildlife

US Army deploys plastic coyotes attached to mini four-wheelers

By Mack DeGeurin

a team of greenland sled dog puppies with white fur pulls a sled
Wildlife

Oldest known dog breed reveals hidden human history

By Lauren Leffer

a yellow crab on a beach
Endangered Species

Australia’s ghost crabs decapitate baby sea turtles

By Laura Baisas

Images of prehistoric multitool made from cave lion bone
Wildlife

Neanderthals made a ‘Swiss Army knife’ from cave lion bone

By Andrew Paul

A pseudoscorpion from the genus Nipponogarypus in South Korea.
Wildlife

New pseudoscorpions with dragon-like jaws discovered in a South Korea cave

By Laura Baisas

Steven Spielberg, director of ‘Jaws,’ films the mechanical shark on set.
Sharks

50 years of the ‘Jaws effect’

By Laura Baisas

Burmese python on ground
Wildlife

Pythons can devour bones thanks to unique stomach cells

By Andrew Paul

Masked boobies on Johnston Atoll
Birds

Pacific island wildlife refuge spared from SpaceX rocket project

By Andrew Paul

baby elephant under mother in water
Wildlife

12 compelling wildlife photographs from BigPicture 2025

By Annie Colbert

a yellowtail parrotfish swims by a coral reef
Wildlife

Real Coral Reefs of Miami: A Q&A with the marine biologist behind a popular livestream

By Laura Baisas

a close up of a hermit crab, with brown coloring and dark eyes
Wildlife

What makes a hermit crab more bold? Hairy claws.

By Laura Baisas

A jumping spider devours a hoverfly. The hoverfly has evolved to look like a wasp, but in this case the resemblance is not sufficient to deter a spider from attacking it.
Wildlife

Flies disguised as wasps can’t fool birds

By Lauren Leffer

Orca whale on beach
Whales

Wild orcas will sometimes offer food to humans

By Andrew Paul

Eryops megacephalus’ (left) skull alongside Rex from the film “Toy Story” (right).
Wildlife

Skull that looks like a ‘Toy Story’ character unearthed in Texas

By Laura Baisas

two sea turtles released into the ocean wearing transponders
Endangered Species

17 rehabilitated sea turtles released off Cape Cod

By Laura Baisas

a leopard in a forest in myanmar
Endangered Species

Elusive and critically endangered leopard caught on camera

By Margherita Bassi

Portrait of a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis helleri).
Wildlife

Spring rain could mean more rattlesnake bites

By Andrew Paul

Birdfy smart bird feeders on a plain background
Birds

Our favorite budget smart bird feeder is cheaper than it has been all year at Amazon

By Stan Horaczek

An artistic reconstruction of Swaindelphys. it has black fur, pointy pink ears, and pointy nose, and very large brown eyes
Wildlife

Shockingly large extinct possum uncovered in Texas

By Margherita Bassi

several baby turtles all crowded together
Wildlife

3,427 trafficked baby turtles rescued in Mexico

By Margherita Bassi

eight chipmunk specimens with tags on them in a museum collection
Wildlife

City living is changing rodent skulls in Chicago

By Laura Baisas

Cissy, a Sumatran orangutan mother, is taking a nap in her day nest.
Wildlife

Orangutans sacrifice sleep to socialize–but naps can help

By Lauren Leffer

An artist’s view of what the area of the Zvejnieki cemetery (present-day northern Latvia) might have looked like when animal parts were processed in the cooking pits.
Wildlife

Stone Age humans extracted animal teeth with flames, blades, and fleshy stews

By Laura Baisas

A turtle basking with its legs outstretched on a rock. This activity is normal and beneficial to turtles.
Wildlife

Why do turtles do the ‘Superman pose’?

By Laura Baisas

two orca whales come into contact with one another and a piece of kelp is between them
Whales

Orcas spotted using seaweed to groom each other

By Laura Baisas

a close up of a sedated black bear undergoing an examination by a team of vets. the bear's mouth open, showing his teeth
Wildlife

This is how you give a bear a check-up

By Margherita Bassi

a baby sea turtle in the sand
Wildlife

13 serene nature images from the Florida State Parks photo contest

By Popular Science Team

small fish in a net being rescued
Endangered Species

After a devastating wildfire, rescued fish make a triumphant return to Malibu

By Margherita Bassi