ANIMALS

Should Scientists Battle Poachers by Keeping Animal Locations Secret?

Poachers are using scientific papers to help find their targets.

Itsy-Bitsy Spiders Follow Laser Pointers Like Cats Do

Instead of building webs, jumping spiders stalk their prey, and, occasionally, lasers.

Andreas Trepte, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.5

Survey Says: Gray Seals Are Back

Researchers used Google Earth and radio tags to survey seals at sea and camouflaged against the ice.

15 Amazing Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Goats

Over the millennia, we’ve found a range of interesting uses for these incredible animals—which are also capable of some unbelievable feats of their own.

Are Cats Smarter Than Dogs?

Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges, according to experts.

Watch How Researchers Are Tracking Polar Bears in Russia

A thorough survey of this population could lend insight into the aftermath of sea ice loss.

Ravens Can Hold Grudges for Weeks, Study Finds

The birds can remember who wronged them.

Baby Eels Migrate by Following Magnetic Fields

The eel babies join wild boars, deer, foxes, lobsters, butterflies, whales, and their own parents in the magneto-orienteering club.

11 Surprising Places Where You Can Adopt a Cat

From feline-friendly boats to college campuses, some cat shelters turn up in unexpected places.

Stargazer Fish Looks Like the Babadook, Will Haunt Your Nightmares

Sweet dreams!

Scientists Find 99-Million-Year-Old Baby Bird Preserved in Amber

The tiny hatchling belonged to a group of toothed birds that died out along with the dinosaurs.

SMBishop, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

Bats Yell, Too

Scientists say bat brains can process the need to raise their voices in just 30 milliseconds.

World’s Oldest Sloth Dies at 43

Miss C was the only sloth in Australia.

Scientists Tell Octopus Species Apart by Counting Their Warts

Recognizing the different skin growth patterns will make it easier to identify them in the future.

Watanabe. 2017. The Auk: Ornithological Advances.

A New Way to Tell If a Dead Duck Could Fly

One fossil expert developed a new system for classifying extinct ducks and geese.

11 Surprising Facts About Cat Adoptions

Think black cats get adopted in lower numbers? Not so much.

How Ancient Rome’s Scariest Ghosts Gave Their Name to Madagascar’s Lemurs

Though lemurs hail from Madagascar, they have a ghostly connection to Ancient Roman folklore.

10 of History's Craziest Cat People

Many illustrious historical personages had a beloved cat or two, but some of them were full-on cat-crazy.

Why Do Cats Like Boxes?

That banged-up cardboard box is your cat's makeshift panic room.

Murray Foubister, Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0

‘Lost’ Galapagos Tortoise Species Could Make a Comeback

The descendants of one thought-to-be extinct species have apparently been chilling on the side of a volcano, eating grass for the last few hundred years.

13 Secrets of Pet Groomers

Cats and water aren't that big a deal, actually.

A black-and-white image of a newly discovered faceless fish.

Deep-Sea Mission Nets a Fish With No Face

The “faceless cusk” is rarely seen … and it probably can’t see us.

Scientists Look to Prairie Vole Brains to Understand Monogamy

Monogamous relationships, or pair bonds, are a lot less common than you’d think, arising in fewer than 5 percent of mammal species.

himmelskratzer, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Boa Constrictors Form Hunting Parties and We’re Totally Fine with That

Just before sunset, Cuban boas line up and dangle from the ceiling of a cave like a curtain, waiting for bats to pass through.

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