The iconic tusked elephant may soon be a thing of the past, say researchers. Male African elephants’ tusks are smaller than in the past, and many females are missing them altogether due to years of intense poaching pressure. Because individuals with the largest tusks have been targeted by poachers for so long, their genetics are […] More
If you thought crocodiles were intimidating, you might be horrified to know that an aggressive, 9-ft-long crocodilian predator once patrolled its North American hunting grounds on hind legs, snacking on small mammals and reptiles. Carnufex carolinensis — also known as the “Carolina Butcher” — existed long before the dinosaurs rose to dominance, roughly 230 million years ago. The […] More
Wombats may have the most uniquely-shaped poo in the animal kingdom, and scientists have finally figured out why. Wombats, cousins of the koala, are the only animals to produce cube-shaped scat. They use their feces to communicate with each other through scent and mark territory by piling the pieces next to burrows or on logs […] More
Human activity is killing wildlife on an unprecedented scale — and mammals will need millions of years to recover, according to a recent report. Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark have concluded that if we don’t improve current conservation efforts, so many large mammal species will go extinct in the next 50 years that it will […] More
In a controversial move, China has made it legal to use rhino horn and tiger bone for “medicinal purposes,” lifting a ban that had been in place to protect both species since 1993. According to a statement by the State Council, rhino horns and tiger bones can now be sold and used for “medical research” […] More
Researchers recently happened upon an unprecedented sighting — more than 1,000 female octopuses huddled close together in what they describe as an “octopus garden” two miles beneath the waves in the Pacific. The team was exploring the Southeast Davidson Seamount off the coast of California with Explorer Vessel Nautilus when they came across the incredible […] More
Visitors at a Dutch zoo got quite a shock recently as they witnessed a group of bears brutally attack and kill a wolf that shared their enclosure. In a video below captured by a horrified onlooker, four bears can be seen tearing the two-year-old female wolf in a pool of water at the Dierenrijk Zoo […] More
Australian researchers recently filmed an unusual sea creature that has been described as a “headless chicken monster” in the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica. Translucent and sporting fins that allowed it to swim upwards, the animal initially stumped the scientists, who described its appearance as “a chicken just before you put it in […] More
A large network of spider webs stretching over half a mile is blanketing a Greek lake and surrounding city, making it look like something out of an arachnophobe’s nightmare. Local photographer Giannis Giannakopoulos recently took to Facebook to share some amazing images of the dense webs, which house hordes of spiders and cover an alarming […] More
Update: The animals have been released, thanks to the incredible work of Four Paws International, a global non-profit organization that fights against animal abuse. “Together with the Albanian Ministry of Tourism, and supported by the Albanian police, we had to force our way into the zoo to finally rescue the animals,” reads a statement by the organization. “We […] More
Some lady lizards don’t need no man—they reproduce all on their own. Several species of female whiptail lizards from the southwestern United States and Mexico are capable of producing viable offspring without the help of fertilization. In fact, they’re so good at it that the species consists only of females. No males are known to exist. […] More
Talk about weird defensive strategies! When attacked, this cricket ejects blood from various parts of its body and vomits all over itself. Native to parts of southern Africa, the armored ground cricket is one tough creature, as its name suggest. The large, flightless insect is impressively outfitted with an armored exoskeleton, five rows of spikes […] More
