Among modern-day carnivores, dogs, wolves, and their relatives (known as canids) are unique. Their snouts are long and narrow—in contrast to the short, compact faces of cats and weasels—and many of them are pack-hunting, high-endurance “pursuit predators” that run their prey to exhaustion. But millions of years ago, the world was full of other groups […] More
Jumping spiders, with their giant, shiny eyes, staccato movements, and stumpy bodies, are among the most charismatic arachnids out there. But all that charisma can’t erase the sense of alienness these spiders give off — perhaps an inevitable side-effect of the hundreds of millions of years of evolution separating them from humans. Now, new research suggests […] More
A rare clouded leopard was caught on camera at one of the highest altitudes ever reported. In a first, a team of researchers captured remote camera photos of a group of clouded leopards in the Nagaland Mountains in northeastern India. The leopards were reported at a remarkable elevation of 3700 meters by the researchers, led […] More
A water buffalo moves slowly through a shaded woodland on Rinca Island. It’s the dry season, so the grass rustles with each footfall, and it’s oppressively hot. Without warning, a massive reptile—the size of a full-grown man—bursts through the shrubbery. It’s a Komodo dragon, and before the buffalo can react, it lands a deep, gouging […] More
Humans don’t exactly have the most sterling reputation when it comes to how well we treat members of our own species. Any discussion about our propensity for violence is bound to involve the common, self-directed lambasting that among animals, humans are homicidal to a unique degree. But scientists have actually managed to quantify relative tendencies […] More
Big cats, like tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars are powerful, visually stunning and intimidating predators — so it’s completely understandable that they steal much of the limelight. At the same time, small wild cats garner attention as unmatched hunters, not all that different than the cunning, domesticated felines we share our homes with. But mid-sized […] More
Asia is a continent of extremes. It’s home to Earth’s highest mountain range (the Himalayas) and one of the largest expanses of forest on the planet (Eastern Siberia’s vast taiga.) Plus, half of the world’s ten longest rivers are in Asia, including colossal waterways like the Yangtze, the Yellow, and Amur Rivers. These huge river systems […] More
A “fire tornado” doesn’t seem like it would be real. The combination of inferno and whirlwind sounds like the sort of over-the-top phenomenon you’d see in an apocalyptic disaster film. But given the right conditions, “firenados” are very real events with the potential to be incredibly destructive. Watch the incredible footage below to see a […] More
Jumping spiders, with their giant, shiny eyes, staccato movements, and stumpy bodies, are among the most charismatic arachnids out there. But all that charisma can’t erase the sense of alienness these spiders give off — perhaps an inevitable side-effect of the hundreds of millions of years of evolution separating them from humans. Now, new research suggests […] More
In the popular Alien sci-fi film franchise, the titular species—known as the “xenomorph”—targets hapless humans, often horrifically implanting their bodies with its own eggs. When the eggs hatch, the young emerge explosively from their unwilling incubator, with invariably fatal results for the human host. The jarring life cycle seems like something cooked up entirely in […] More
Most of us are probably familiar with the occasional mid-night voyage to a drive-through window to quell the munchies. Well, one small species of bat takes the concept of long-distance moonlit foraging to whole other level. Lesser long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) are native to a large swath of territory that takes up much of Mexico, […] More
When cicada nymphs emerge from the ground, a certain percentage of them—between 2 and 5 percent—will acquire a fungal infection. The parasite rapidly grows inside these unlucky insects, eventually destroying whole sections of their body. But while the fungus has been known to science for a century, recent research published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports […] More
