MOROGORO, Tanzania — Often dismissed as pests, rats have long been misunderstood. But the African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei), the world’s longest, is challenging that perception. With its intelligence…
Honey-hunters in northern Mozambique rely on honeyguide birds to locate three-quarters of their harvest each year, a new study says, underscoring the economic value these wild birds play in the…
Wild chimpanzees have long been known to rely on their powerful memories to know where and in what trees they can find ripe wild fruit. Less has been understood about…
As the long summer days of August turn into nights, a few dozen volunteers gather in the small community of Witless Bay, a tiny town on the Atlantic coast about…
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are finding a new place to roam in the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean. Though Indigenous people in the region have seen the whales, also known as…
Gibbons are famed for their graceful agility high in the forest canopy. Swinging effortlessly from branch to branch, their bodies spilling through the trees, the small apes seem to defy…
KATHMANDU — Researchers have discovered brown bears in a part of Nepal not previously known to host the species, prompting a call to protect this area as a bear “stronghold.”…
KATHMANDU — Birds living in Nepal’s capital may be losing their fear of humans in response to rapid unplanned urbanization — with potential ramifications for the diversity of birdlife in…
Scientists have long surmised that birds migrate during winters to save energy. The reasoning has been pretty obvious: far away from the biting cold, birds would need to expend less…
In the grasslands of Yagul, in the central valleys of southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state, a jaguar makes its way through the bushes. It stops suddenly, lowering its head and sharpening…
Orangutans have long captured the human imagination, their expressive eyes and human-like behaviors drawing parallels with our own species. Yet few individuals have had the opportunity to dive as deeply…
KATHMANDU — On the morning of Aug. 1 in Dodhara-Chandani, a town on the banks of Mahakali, which serves as the western border between Nepal and India, a 23-year-old woman…
Ants perform amputations on injured nestmates to save their lives, according to a new study. The research published in the journal Current Biology found that Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus)…
Wild chimpanzees actively seek out plants with medicinal properties to treat themselves for specific ailments,a new study has found. While most animals consume foods with medicinal properties as part of…
“We (humans) are trying to get under the skin of other species, trying to understand them on their terms. And the more we succeed, the more we discover a natural…
What’s on the menu tonight? For one of the world’s largest species of monkeys, it’s likely to be antelope poop. This was among the findings from a study in which…
In California’s Monterey Bay, where the vast Pacific Ocean meets lush kelp forests, sea otters, especially the females, are becoming more resourceful. These charismatic marine mammals, known for their playful…
KATHMANDU — During the COVID-19 lockdown in Nepal, red panda conservation campaigner and researcher Sonam Tashi Lama came across a public service announcement on African rhinos, featuring action superstar Jackie…
JAKARTA — Self-medicating in animals has been reported before, but scientists noted something particularly special when they observed a wild orangutan in Sumatra treating a wound on its face with…
If you’ve ever thought of the caracal before, you’ve probably pictured it inhabiting the savannas of Africa, its long-fringed ears sticking up above the wild grasses. But although the caracal…
Chimpanzees, like humans, can use a variety of tools to perform tasks such as getting food from hard-to-reach places. Now, a study published in PLOS Biology has found that, also…
KATHMANDU — On an early spring morning in the western forests of Chitwan National Park in Nepal, a cacophony of birdsongs resonates through the air, mingling with the rustling of…
Barely a year after the Australian government classified the eastern pink cockatoo as an endangered subspecies, scientists have deployed technology to help study and protect the birds. With the help…
How do wild animals manage to continue hunting and reproducing in areas occupied by houses, roads, domestic animals and crops? Scientists increasingly point out that the only solution for most…
The Cao-vit gibbon is one of the most critically endangered apes in the world, with its entire population living in a single patch of protected forest on the border between…
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) released 25 critically endangered gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) into a tributary of the transboundary Mahakali River (also known as Sarda…
Being silly and indulging in humor may sound easy, but our brains need to do a lot of heavy lifting to pull it off. Landing a joke requires recognizing what’s…
Fifty kilometers north of Santiago, Chile, sits Loma Los Colorados, a sprawling landfill that receives more than 60% of the capital city’s domestic waste. Day after day, heavy machinery buries…
It’s a man’s world when it comes to ape societies — at least, that’s been the prevailing assumption for years. But some recent research is shaking up how we think…
KATHMANDU — Until four decades ago, villagers in Nepal’s mountains would likely name Himalayan wolves as their primary concern among the wild animals native to their region. Lower down in…
The stories people tell about bats seem to come from novels, comics or science-fiction movies. They’re able to emit and hear sounds in frequencies inaccessible to other species. Some undertake…
KATHMANDU — Until Tuesday afternoon for residents of Urlabari town in the eastern plains of Nepal, snow leopards (Panthera uncia) were animals they knew little about. The leopards they knew…
