ANIMALS

This Guitar-Shaped Fish Rocks Retractable Eyes

The guitarfish can retract its eyes nearly 1.6 inches into its head.

How Seeing Eye Dogs Found Their Way to America

In the 1920s, a journalist, a college student, and a German shepherd teamed up to change the lives of the blind.

To Cool Off, This Fish Gets Out of the Water

Mangrove rivulus fish use dry land the same way we use swimming pools.

What Makes Dogs Tilt Their Heads?

According to one study, dogs tilt their heads when they hear words that are meaningful to them, like the name of their favorite toy.

NPS/Brad Sutton, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

What Robots Can Learn From Lizards About Walking on Sand

Researchers at Georgia Tech are trying to develop better robots by studying lizards.

Opencage via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

Electric Eels Use Their High-Voltage Shocks to Locate Prey

Eels: As awesome as they are terrifying.

Megan Murphy, Smithsonian's National Zoo

Poop-Eating Naked Mole Rats Get Suckered Into Babysitting

Hormones in the queen rats’ poop may turn their subordinates into willing babysitters.

Weird Sea Slug Sniffs Out and Steals Its Food’s Defenses

Halimeda incrassata is a type of seaweed, and it’s pretty badass for an algae. But none of its defenses deter the sea slug Elysia tuca.

Watch Zookeepers Weigh a 1-Month-Old Aye-Aye

The strange, endangered lemur was born at the San Diego Zoo in September.

Genetic Study Suggests Dogs Originated in Central Asia

Our relationship with domesticated canines may have begun near Mongolia and Nepal.

Kids Help Save the Oceans With Shark Stanley

The cartoon hammerhead helps protect endangered sharks one smile at a time.

Robber Ants Spend Their Days Stealing From Other Nests

Thieves may be an established caste among some ant species.

Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility // Public Domain

These Caterpillars Trick Plants With Their Poop

You may have heard the saying “don’t s**t where you eat,” but fall armyworms certainly haven’t.

8 More Absurd Facts About Armadillos

Time to celebrate the easily startled, super-smelly mammal.

Why Scientists Are Training Wolves to Run on a Treadmill

Researchers at the Wolf Science Center in Ernstbrunn, Austria, have constructed what is perhaps the world’s largest treadmill.

Bees Love Caffeine, Too

Some plants may be luring bees with caffeinated nectar.

Meet the Bird that Imprisons its Prey

Humans aren’t the only animals that keep larders of food.

This Chicken is Tweeting for an Australian Barbecue Company

Whether she realizes it or not, this chicken named Betty is on her way to setting a world record for tweeting.

Male Crickets Bribe Their Mates With 'Gummy Bears'

The chewy nuptial gifts have no nutritional value.

7 Gorgeous Old Illustrations of Sea Creatures

The ocean is full of incredible creatures vying for our attention. The Rare Book Room at the American Museum of Natural History is giving them the spotlight they deserve

The Death-Defying Adventures of Emily the Cow

How a bovine fugitive became a local legend—and an accidental symbol for animal rights.

Fossils Reveal How and When Giraffe Necks Grew Long

The giraffe's neck evolved in two stages, millions of years apart.

11 Spunky Facts About the Maltese

Learn more about one of the world's oldest lap dogs.

How a Colorado Family Built a Home for the World's Weirdest, Most Beautiful Bugs

The May Natural History Museum hosts one of the largest privately owned collections of insects in the world.

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