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
Anacondas are four species of giant snakes native to South America, but the snake most commonly referred to as an “anaconda” is the green anaconda, which at 17.1 feet (5.21 meters) and 215 pounds (97.5 kilograms) is the largest and heaviest snake species and among the longest of all snakes. So, with that in mind, […] More
Hummingbirds may have tiny brains, but they’re unusually powerful. A new study, published in Current Biology, says the way the tiny birds fly — flitting abruptly in every direction and using rapidly-beating wings to hover — requires a lot of brain power. Hummingbirds are the only species of bird that’s able to truly hover, and to do […] More
Another battle in the heart of the African wilderness… Watch what happens when mongoose meets mamba! In Africa, the black mamba is one of the most feared snakes, and it is generally considered the most aggressive and dangerous snake in the world. The black mamba’s venom can kill an adult human in 7-15 hours, and […] More
In the animal kingdom, there are many, many penises. But the biggest penis of all belongs to the largest animal that has ever lived, the blue whale. The average length of a blue whale penis is 8 feet (2.4 meters) to 10 feet (3 meters), but the average diameter is only 12 inches (300 mm) […] More
The number of Adélie Penguins, the species most common on the Antarctic Peninsula, has been steadily declining for several decades. At least, that’s what scientists thought, until researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NASA discovered something interesting in satellite imagery of the Danger Islands, off the peninsula’s northern coast. The images revealed guano (bird […] More
The world’s tiniest monkeys are actually not one, but two separate species, researchers using the latest genomics techniques learned recently. First discovered by a German researcher named Johann Spix in 1823, the itty bitty creatures, which average 0.2 pounds in weight, were named Cebuella pygmaea. Now, researchers have discovered there are actually two tiny species of marmoset […] More
Believe it or not, Americans once considered importing hippos from Africa so we could raise them for meat. The idea was proposed back in 1910, while the United States was in the middle of a serious meat shortage. A massive population explosion combined with overgrazed farmland resulted in skyrocketing beef prices as farmers scrambled to […] More
Sea turtles are specially designed for swimming: their flippers are incredibly good at dispersing water, propelling them through the water for miles at a time. However, those fingerless limbs typically don’t help much when it comes to handling their food … or so scientists thought until now. While they typically rely on just their mouths, […] More
Image: FB/WolfWatchUK Meet Madadh, the oldest known wolf to have ever been recorded. While the average wolf in the wild lives to only 8 and those in captivity rarely make it to 14, this female overcame the odds and thrived into her 19th year. Madadh, also known as “Maddie,” was a captive and well-socialized Canadian […] More
Archerfish attack prey in quite an unusual way — by spitting at it. They’ve got great aim, too. Adults almost always hit their target on the very first shot, dislodging and bringing down insects and small animals above water up to 10 feet away. These aptly-named fish hover underwater waiting for prey to come into […] More
Army ants are known for their colossal foraging groups, which can exceed 15 million individuals. These insanely productive ants are constantly on the move in search of prey, covering wide swaths of ground, with an entire colony capable of carrying and consuming thousands of prey items in a single day. But from time to time, […] More
