The search for intelligent life is looking in the wrong direction. There are billions of stars in our galaxy, some of them older than our sun and with Earth-like planets…
Named after a river in the state of Goiás, Corumbá the puma was named after a river in the central Brazilian state of Goiás. Between 2022 and 2023, as much…
CAPE TOWN — South Africa’s False Bay was once known as a global hotspot for great white sharks. But within the span of a few years, between 2015 and 2019,…
If you thought only humans had unique musical tastes that differed drastically across geographies and generations, think again. Researchers have long suspected that migration and population dynamics shape the musical…
To a layperson, it’s footage of adorable polar bear cubs with their moms against the backdrop of endless Arctic snow. For researchers who study the animals, however, it’s a rare…
Martín Maceda can still rattle off the exact date of his most memorable fishing encounter. On March 1, 2014, he was 8 kilometers (5 miles) off the north coast of…
Human activities such as mining, agriculture, urbanization, damming and logging threaten the habitats of great apes in Africa and Asia. Apes have shown resilience to these disruptions by adapting their…
Rhythmic clicks, grunts and roars fill the Año Nuevo Island Reserve in California, home to a large breeding colony of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). For nearly 60 years, scientists…
What better way to track whales than listening in on them? Passive acoustic monitoring, in which microphones are placed underwater to pick up any sounds, has long helped scientists detect…
“It’s amazing, it’s amazing! I have no other word to describe it.” That’s how biologist Marcos Roberto de Brito defines the thrill of seeing a jaguar up close for the…
Not all elephants are the same. A new study has found that male African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) develop distinctive personality traits as they age. “We wanted to know whether…
Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals, hit the headlines more often for the illegal trade in their scales and meat than for their cherished role in their environment. As insectivores,…
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…