Wildlife(Page 9)

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

Latest in Wildlife

a close up of an isopod with antenne and a segmented body

New foot-long crustacean named after Darth Vader

By Laura Baisas

A black rhino rests under a rainbow at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. In 2024, 21 black rhinos were moved to their new home at Loisaba Conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya. Kenyaís black rhino population was poached almost to extinction and went from a low of 290 animals to 1004 today. They are expanding their habitat and it is a testament to Kenyaís conservation efforts. Ami Vitaleís career stands as a testament to her deep dedication to documenting and addressing global crises. As an acclaimed National Geographic photographer, writer, and documentary filmmaker, as well as the founder of Vital Impacts, Ami has consistently spotlighted critical issues affecting our world. Her journey began in conflict zones, where she observed firsthand how environmental degradationófrom resource scarcity to climate changeóintensifies human suffering and conflict. Follow Ami on Instagram @amivitale Photo by Ami Vitale/The Nature Conservancy

Endangered Species

16 enthralling wildlife photos spotlighting the need for conservation

By Popular Science Team

a blue lobster-looking animal called a crayfish. it has long claws, antennae, and a segmented body

New colorful species of crayfish discovered in aquarium shipment

By Laura Baisas

a small bird sits in a tree with its beak open wide

Why do birds make so many different sounds? 100,000 audio recordings offer clues.

By Laura Baisas

a yellow cardinal sits on a tree branch

Extremely rare yellow cardinal flies into a Michigan backyard

By Laura Baisas

Three red ants interacting with one another

Even ants may hold grudges

a small brown fish swimming in a tank

These fish can mate 19 times per day

By Laura Baisas

KOU-III robot jumping on lawn

Behold the hybrid copter-robot that struts and leaps like a chicken

a long whale shark with gray spots swims in the ocean

Whale shark pre-mating ritual observed for the first time

By Laura Baisas

a bird with white and black plummage and an egg on a nest and three other birds standing around her

Which animals reproduce at the oldest age?

By Laura Baisas

Yellowstone's Wolf 907F walking in the snow

Yellowstone’s ‘Queen of the Wolves’ dies after fight with rival pack

a baby pygmy hippo in an indoor tank with its mother nearby

Endangered Species

Newest pygmy hippo born on US soil gets a name

By Laura Baisas

a puffin, whale tail at sunset, and a sea turtle

13 dramatic photos that capture the beauty of marine sanctuaries

By Popular Science Team

Roboticists at the Tallinn University of Technology have developed a new class of bio-inspired feet that significantly enhance robot mobility on challenging terrains like mud and wet snow.

Dog robots can trek through mud using moose-inspired hooves

Baby spider monkey in a pink onesie

Endangered Species

Endangered baby monkey found clinging to driver of speeding Rolls Royce

a dark brown moray eel

New ‘Hades’ moray eel discovered by accident

By Laura Baisas

two foxes walking

15 marvelous Nature Photographer of the Year 2024 images

By Popular Science Team

An adult female chimpanzee cracks an oil palm nut with a stone hammer and anvil while her infant son looks at the camera.

Some chimpanzees are great nutcrackers

By Laura Baisas

Chaunacops fish with 2024 Look Back article headline

Ghost ships to ghost sharks: 10 wildest underwater discoveries of 2024

a svalbard reindeer with antlers standing on muddy terrain

Shorter, fatter, and hairier: 5 fun facts about the world’s smallest reindeer

By Laura Baisas

a strange fish with a blob on its head sits on a rock

Endangered Species

27 new, exciting, and blobby species discovered in the Peruvian rainforest

By Laura Baisas

Two mastodon teeth found in Orange County, New York

Man discovers giant mastodon jaw in his backyard

An Andean bear at the nature reserve Bioparque Wakata, in Briceno municipality near Bogota, Colombia, on June 21, 2023.

Shy ‘Paddington’ bears need more plants to survive

By Laura Baisas

a squirrel sits eating a vole, pulling its meat with its teeth

‘Shocking:’ These squirrels are hunting and eating other rodents

By Laura Baisas

A reconstruction of the oldest known gorgonopsian in life.

This dog-like predator is the oldest known mammal ancestor

By Laura Baisas

A dramatic blue-grey sky highlights the soft greys of a Weddell seal as it rests on an ice floe.

25 enchanting images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice awards

By Popular Science Team

a bird opens it mouth to eat a bug.

9 fascinating images from the Royal Society Publishing Photography Prize

By Popular Science Team

Striated frogfish (Antennarius striatus), also known as the hairy frogfish.

Anglerfish use ‘extremely rare’ mechanism to control their lures

waves in a deep cavern

Earthquake off northern California shook the water in Devils Hole, 500 miles away

By Laura Baisas

A juvenile Nile crocodile. It is small with pointed teeth

Why are crocodiles so bumpy? A dermatological mystery has been solved

By Laura Baisas

a new shrimp-like crustacean. it is white with two protruding tusk-like appendages at its head, at least 8 legs, and two tail-like appendages at the back

New predator uncovered 25,000+ feet under the Pacific

By Laura Baisas

Nautilus captured on video

After 15 years, a vessel named ‘Nautilus’ actually saw a nautilus

Two views of a slingshot spider (Theridiosoma gemmosum) web. The right image shows the web’s cone shape with a spider at the tip.

Watch a slingshot spider deploy a perfectly-timed trap

By Laura Baisas

The anglerfish species Lophius piscatorius.

Anglerfish are so much more than just their dangly bioluminescent lures

By Laura Baisas

an orca whale dorsal fin coming out of the water

Orcas observed preying on massive whale sharks

By Laura Baisas

a polar bear covered in snow

13 marvelous images from the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards

By Popular Science Team

Peach and Blossom, the National Thanksgiving Turkeys, are seen on the South Lawn of the White House before recieving a Presidential Pardon from US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC, on November 25, 2024.

How did Thanksgiving turkeys get so darn big?

By Mack DeGeurin

a more colorful dominant male fish next to a more muted subordinate fish

Stress is warping these fish brains

By Laura Baisas

A black tiger—known for its merged stripes—patrols the Similipal Tiger Reserve. (Photo by for Prasenjeet Yadav for National Geographic)

5 fascinating wildlife images from National Geographic’s Pictures of the Year

By Popular Science Team

Looking from the stern of the ship as it tows the long horizontal array of hydrophones. The tow cable can be seen going through the metal horn at the stern. The hydrophone array is several hundred meters behind the ship and about 200 meters deep. Credit: Ross Chapman

New theory explains mysterious ocean quacking first heard in the 1960s

a scan of a zebrafish with its eye highlighted in green and other parts of its anatomy stained red and blue

Mapping the shifting gaze of ‘fishlets’

By Laura Baisas

Ethiopian wolf licking nectar from Ethiopian red hot poker plant

Endangered Species

These wolves are the first known carnivores to ‘enjoy’ sweets

A mother and calf West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) in Crystal River, Florida.

Florida’s famous manatees were originally tourists

By Laura Baisas

An illustration of two Skiphosoura bavarica in flight.

New pterosaur species sliced through the air with a sword-like tail

By Laura Baisas

a tick half embedded in human skin

How hitchhiking ticks are bringing diseases to new places

By Laura Baisas

a molting penguin with a mixture of feathers

Famously extra large penguin Pesto is molting

By Laura Baisas

a female mountain lion walks at night with some kittens behind her

Mountain lions in Los Angeles become night owls to avoid humans

By Laura Baisas

a small bird with black, gray, and white, plumage solves a puzzle in a lab

Immigrating great tits learn from their new neighbors

By Laura Baisas

A diver from National Geographic Pristine Seas measures the world’s largest coral colony in the Solomon Islands.

World’s largest coral discovered and it’s longer than a blue whale

By Laura Baisas

a colorful coral reef with fish swimming above it

Chlorine and cocoa butter may help disease-ridden corals

By Laura Baisas

Beluga Whale or White Whale, delphinapterus leucas, Adult

Russian ‘spy whale’ was actually an aquatic guard turned ‘hooligan’

a new mollusc with a hood over its head

New deep-sea slug catches crustaceans like a Venus fly trap

By Laura Baisas

two leopards fighting in dirt

14 dramatic moments from the 2024 Nature’s Best Photo Awards

By Popular Science Team

Chimpanzee playing a number-based game on a touch screen

Like humans, chimps often perform tasks differently when crowds are watching

Pocket gopher emerging from burrow

How a crew of gophers helped Mount St. Helens bounce back

bats on treadmills

Why scientists made vampire bats run on treadmills

By Mack DeGeurin

a lone coyote in a forest looks into a camera lense

Coyotes appear to be thriving under pressure

By Laura Baisas

Close up of two rhesus monkeys

43 rhesus macaques have escaped from South Carolina’s ‘Monkey Farm’

The ‘wild’ salmon on your menu might not be wild

The ‘wild’ salmon on your menu might not be wild

By Lauren Leffer

a small hippo in straw

Endangered Species

5 things to know about pygmy hippos–like Scotland’s own Haggis

By Laura Baisas

two sperm whales singing

New method for finding sperm whales kind of works like a rideshare app

By Laura Baisas

a small bat glides over water

How these tiny bats use a sound map to navigate

By Laura Baisas

a tadpole swimming

A rock in Argentina turns out to be the oldest tadpole fossil ever found

By Laura Baisas

Thalattosuchian skulls. Showing the semi-aquatic species (A and B), and the fully aquatic metriorhynchid (C).

Why don’t we have deep sea crocodiles?