Florida’s battle against invasive species may have just gotten a lot tougher, as a new type hybrid snake was recently found lurking in the Everglades. A recent US Geological Survey (USGS) study on the genetics of invasive pythons has revealed that a number of the snakes in the Everglades are actually a hybrid between two species […] More
It’s official: humpback whales are the superheroes of the sea. Scientists have recorded 115 separate cases of humpback whales intervening in orca hunts to save various marine animals. Robert Pitman from the US National Marine Fisheries Service wrote in one published paper, “Anecdotes have been passed down for centuries about dolphins at sea coming to the […] 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
Meet the largest crab in the world. Weighing up to 40 pounds and reaching up to 18 feet from claw to claw, it can grow to triple the size of the average man! The Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) is actually the largest known arthropod, a group which includes crustaceans, spiders, and insects. It’s usually […] More
This amazing footage shows an octopus engaging in a remarkably human-like walk. This unique octopus does something several other deep sea creatures in its environment can be observed doing: carrying the shells of coconuts and other paraphernalia as they “walk” about the ocean floor. Amusing and bizarre as this behavior may seem, it turns out […] More
Scientists in China have revealed that one species of spider nourishes its newborns with “milk” — a behavior typically only observed in mammals. Toxeus magnus, an ant-mimicking jumping spider native to southeast Asia, secretes a highly nutritious milk-like fluid containing sugars, fats, and proteins to keep its young alive. The substance contains four times the […] More
These tiny mountain-dwelling marsupials have a unique and unusual mating strategy—the males mate frantically with multiple females until they drop dead. “Reproduce or die trying” is evidently the motto of the antechinus, a miniature shrew-like mammal found only in the remote mountaintops of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. For these animals, mating is a once […] More
They are the largest fish on the planet, reaching more than 40 feet in length and weighing up to 47,000 pounds. But as intimidating as their size may seem, whale sharks are virtually harmless. Unlike other sharks, these beautiful, bus-sized behemoths don’t have an appetite for flesh. Instead, they feed on plankton, which they filter […] 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
If you have a cat or have ever gotten sucked into cat videos on YouTube, then you know that beneath their fluffy exterior, often lies a heart of steel. It may come as no surprise, then, that a tiny, adorable wild cat is one of the world’s deadliest killers. Weighing about 3 to 4 points […] 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
With their arresting size, cunning, and athleticism, Africa’s big cats—like lions, leopards, and cheetahs—get plenty of attention as avatars of carnivory. But the swiftest death on the sun-baked savanna comes from an animal that doesn’t look all that different from the lovable mutt snoring on your couch. African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are among the […] More
