ANIMALS

PiccoloNamek, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

How Just One Nasty Winter Forced This Lizard to Evolve

"Selection always comes at a cost, which is death, basically."

Move Over, Goat Yoga: Alpaca Dance Classes Have Arrived

Sadly, the alpacas don't teach the dances. But you can pet them while you get your groove on.

What Is the Fastest Animal in the World?

If you blurted out "cheetah!" you're only a little bit right.

Mesobuthus martensii, also known as the Chinese golden scorpion.

Scorpions Use Acid and Protons to Make Their Stings More Painful

Scorpions in the Buthidae family make more than 100 different toxins, most of which we still don't understand.

5 Terrifyingly Huge Spiders

Arachnophobes, read no further: These massive spiders, mostly native to southeast Asia and Australia, can’t be dispatched by a shoe or a rolled-up newspaper.

20 of the Animal Kingdom's Most Surprising Friendships

These interspecies friendships prove that anybody can get along if they really put their minds to it.

The Tardigrade’s Extraordinary Weirdness Continues

The tough, tiny, many-legged creatures may be related to "wormy things."

Watch a Panda Caretaker Cuddle With Baby Pandas While Dressed Up Like a Panda

While adorable, the sartorial choice is also imperative for the bears' future survival in the wild.

Watch a 40-Ton Whale Jump Completely Out of the Water

The behavior is called breaching.

Derek Keats, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

Rising Temperatures Are Killing Off African Wild Dogs

It's too hot to hunt for too many hours of the day, and pup survival is down.

Fisherman Catches Rare Blue Lobster, Donates It to Science

"I've never seen anything like it."

Australian Scientists Discover First New Species of Sunfish in 125 Years

Sunfish are the biggest bony fish in the sea, but this species managed to elude scientists for centuries.

Why Male Hyenas Have It Worse Than Females

Rising to the top of the pecking order is impossible for them.

A Beached Whale Sculpture Popped Up on the Banks of Paris's Seine River

The artwork is meant to raise environmental awareness and evoke "the child in everyone who still is puzzled about what is real and what is not."

Courtesy of the Chemo III project, BOEM, and NOAA OER

These Deep-Sea Worms Could Live More Than a Thousand Years

The tubeworms, found in the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico, regularly reach 250 to 300 years old.

9 Wild Facts About the Bronx Zoo

One of their cobras has a very active Twitter account.

PierreSelim, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

Scientists Study the Starling Invasion Unleashed on America by a Shakespeare Fan

One hundred European starlings released in Central Park in 1890 have turned into 200 million across the U.S. today. Now scientists are looking into their genetic diversity.

Oakley Originals, Flickr Creative Commons // CC BY 2.0

Could Imported Sperm Help Save America’s Bees?

Scientists hope enlarging the gene pool will give our bees a fighting chance.

London's Natural History Museum Has a New Star Attraction: An Amazing Blue Whale Skeleton

The skeleton is suspended from the main entrance hall's ceilings, providing visitors with a 360-degree view of the largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth.