Animals
- Animals
Have we found bigfoot? Not yeti
Believe in bigfoot or sasquatch? The scientific evidence says bears are to blame for traces of yeti and abominable snowmen. But it’s ok to keep searching.
- Animals
This spider slingshots itself at extreme speeds to catch prey
By winding up its web like a slingshot, this spider achieves an acceleration rate far faster than a cheetah’s.
- Animals
Spiders’ weird meals show how topsy-turvy Amazon food webs can be
Rare sightings of invertebrates eating small vertebrates upend some assumptions about who eats who in the Amazon rainforest’s complex ecosystem.
By Jeremy Rehm - Animals
The world’s largest bee was lost, but now it’s found
Wallace’s giant bee hadn’t been spotted in the wild in almost 40 years. Now, scientists have found it again.
By Jeremy Rehm - Animals
How these maggots efficiently demolish a pizza
Mobs of black soldier fly larvae create a living fountain that lifts slowpoke noneaters out of the way.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Hermit crabs are drawn to the smell of their dead
A new study finds that the smell of hermit-crab flesh attracts other hermit crabs desperately looking for a larger home.
By Yao-Hua Law - Environment
Life on Earth is mostly green
A new survey of life on Earth finds that plants and microbes dominate. But even though humans are in the minority, they still play a major role.
- Animals
Could an elephant ever fly?
Dumbo is known as the only elephant to take flight. He’s not real. But could he be?
- Animals
Scientists Say: Okapi
Okapis are African mammals that look a bit like horses and a bit like zebras. But they’re most closely related to giraffes.
- Fossils
Bones show ancient marine reptile was a big baby
A new study of a rare baby plesiosaur reveals that these marine reptiles were huge at birth, then continued to grow speedily.
By Riley Black - Animals
Bee parasite is more werewolf than vampire
Inventing fake bee larvae prompts scientists to rethink how a mite — ominously named Varroa destructor — does its damage.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Ocean acidification may ground swimming skates
Fish might seem immune to acidic waters, but check their skeletons. They can be vulnerable and eventually alter how fish behave.