Sammy is a wildlife-loving Environmental Scientist and Conservationist, traveler, photographer, and adventure seeker. She's been all over the US and across the world to study and work with wildlife. She wants to save the world.
A baby snake that hatched 99 million years ago on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean was found encased in amber. The snake, just 4 inches long, was discovered in a chunk of resin in what is now known as Myanmar. It was initially misidentified as a centipede and subsequently sold to […] More
Long before the dinosaurs, colossal dragonflies ruled the skies. The creatures are the largest flying insects on record, measuring up to 15 inches long with wingspans larger than some birds. Known as Meganeura in the scientific community, these ancient insects are also sometimes referred to as griffinflies. However, they looked almost identical to modern-day dragonflies in […] More
A tiny beetle new to science gets around by piggybacking on army ants. The newly described species Nymphister kronaueri was discovered only 4 years ago by biologists studying ants in Costa Rica. The researchers noticed something a little peculiar about certain individuals: some of them appeared to have two abdominal segments, one on top of the […] More
Just when you thought penguins were the epitome of innocence, you find out they practice prostitution. Researchers Fiona Hunter and Lloyd Davis witnessed some unexpected sexual practices during a five year study on the behavior of Adélie penguins on Antarctica’s Ross Island in the late 1990’s. Female Adélie penguins were observed providing sex in exchange […] More
It may be hard to believe, but Canada Geese were once on the brink of extinction. Just 80 years ago, the wildly vocal birds were presumed extinct in the United States due to overhunting. Miraculously, a small flock was spotted in Rochester, Minnesota, and scientists came together to conserve the tiny population that remained. Soon […] More
An African Bush Camp guide and his guests witnessed quite a spectacular event on a game drive in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe: a wild dog playing dead to escape the jaws of a lioness. A pack of wild dogs were relaxing after a recent kudu feast when they were spotted by a hungry lioness, recalled […] More
Talk about a bizarre finding: Genetics have confirmed that an animal killed by a Greenland hunter in the 1980’s was a narwhal-beluga whale hybrid, and they’ve dubbed it a “narluga.” The animal’s skull had been sitting in a museum collection at the Natural History Museum of Denmark for nearly 3 decades before a DNA analysis […] More
One of the most breathtaking and incredible migrations on the planet is made by a creature you might not expect: the monarch butterfly. It is a sight to behold. Unable to survive the cold winters of North America, millions of these incredible butterflies travel 50-100 miles a day to reach the forests of central Mexico at […] More
What kind of creature is this? A wriggling aquatic centipede? Some sort of misshapen, possessed caterpillar? Nope. This is a bearded fireworm, and you really don’t want to touch it. Every so often, fishermen accidentally bring one of these guys up from the depths. The creatures writhe around on the deck as the anglers look […] More
Off the coast of Liberia lies an island inhabited solely by chimpanzees that were infected with a barrage of diseases and abandoned there by a testing lab. It sounds like the beginning of a movie, but there’s nothing fictional about this place. New visitors to “Monkey Island”—as it’s called by locals—are unwelcome. Apart from a […] More
Forget the reindeer decorations — folks in some parts of the world adorn their Christmas trees with spider ornaments, instead. The unusual arachnid ornaments are part of a centuries-old Eastern European Christmas tradition. The legend of the Christmas spider is believed to have originated in Ukraine, and according to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, […] More
Christmas Island, a tiny Australian territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean, has a bit of a crab problem. An estimated 40 to 50 million Christmas Island crabs reside on this 52 square mile island. In comparison, the human population there is only about 2,000. Each year, these fire-engine red crustaceans make their way […] More
