For 30 years, the lesser long-nosed bat languished on the endangered species list, the federal government’s sick ward for animals on the verge of being wiped out. Its story, like those of most animals on the list, was a downer.   Researchers counted fewer than a thousand in 1988 as human development moved in on

Quick: What kind of dog is that? Using its scruffy face, plump black nose and blondish fur as clues, you might guess that it’s part or all Wheaten terrier. And that might lead you to think this dog, being of the vermin-catching terrier stock, would like to chase other animals. (Darwin’s Dogs) But according to a DNA test by researchers

A deaf, partially blind dog was made an honorary police pooch after helping rescue a three-year-old girl who got lost in the Australian bush, in Queensland. Seventeen-year-old blue heeler Max stayed with the girl, named locally as Aurora, overnight and then helped lead her grandmother directly to her location after a huge search and rescue

Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are conducting an expedition to explore the uncharted waters in the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico – and the footage they’re bringing back is stunning, or horrifying, depending on your view of the underwater world.   Last week, one of NOAA’s submersibles came across a large octopus on the seafloor just

Yellowstone National Park sits squarely over a giant, active volcano. This requires attention. Yellowstone has been a national park since 1872, but it was only in the 1960s that scientists realized the scale of the volcano — it’s 44 miles across — and not until the 1980s did they grasp that this thing is fully

The first scientific expedition to the depths of the Indian Ocean southwest of Java has returned with some amazing treasure: at least 11 unusual deep-sea species that were previously unknown to science.   Jointly conducted by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, the expedition collected over 12,000 specimens from

When it comes to defending the nest, ants have developed a whole bunch of unique and painful ways to stop their enemies. But a new and bizarre species of “exploding ant” (Colobopsis explodens) blows them all away.   During territorial combat, these tree-dwelling ants latch onto their enemies, split open their own insides, and spill yellow,

An unusual pair showed up in the pre-dawn hours at Fire Station 82 in Wayne Township, Indiana, last week. Repeatedly pressing the doorbell was a frantic woman. In her arms was a furry, masked animal that firefighters later described as “lethargic,” fire department spokesman Michael Pruitt said.   Through her panic, the woman divulged that

Dogs can quickly feel like part of the family, and a new study shows that our canine pals share more similarities with human beings than we thought – particularly when it comes to gut microbiomes and responses to diet.   By analysing poop samples, both with and without special diets in place, researchers found that

On 27 August 1883, Earth made the loudest noise in recorded history. Emanating from the island of Krakatoa, which sits between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, the sound could be heard clearly almost 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles) away and by people across 50 different geological locations around the world.   According to

An inspired display of animal ingenuity at a biomedical research institute in Texas saw a team of baboons work together to escape from the facility, briefly tasting sweet freedom outside its walls before eventually being recaptured.   The breakout, which took place on Saturday at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute (TBRI) in San Antonio, was

Off the coast of Costa Rica, about 3 kilometres (roughly 2 miles) beneath the ocean’s surface, there is a literal mother-lode of octopuses, where octopuses have no business being.   Not only does this concentration of cephalopods represent an entirely new species – which is exciting news in itself – but their numbers and unusual

Hundreds of basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) have been spotted swarming in massive groups, and it’s all a big mystery. A new study has revealed that when researchers were trying to locate the endangered North Atlantic right whales, they came across something strange.   Between 1980 and 2013, these researchers spotted hundreds of basking sharks in

Loggerhead sea turtles that nest on beaches with similar magnetic fields are genetically similar to one another, according to a new study. “Loggerhead sea turtles are fascinating creatures that begin their lives by migrating alone across the Atlantic Ocean and back,” says Kenneth Lohmann, professor of biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel

When it comes to birds having ears, you’ve probably had one of two thoughts – either you assumed birds’ ears were tiny, inconspicuous holes like they are on snakes, or you’ve never really thought about bird’s ears that much.   The secret option #3 here is you know exactly what birds’ ears look like, in which case it’s

For the first time, scientists have managed to reproduce the chemical processes that build those awesome geometric columns out of volcanic rock – one famous example being the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of Northern Ireland.   The polygonal columns form as hot magma cools and contracts into rock, but up until now it hasn’t

It’s a punk rocker! It’s a troll doll! Oh no, wait – it’s just another remarkable species on the brink of extinction. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is like no creature you’ve ever seen before, and there’s definitely a reason for that.   The 40cm-long water turtle – complete with wide nostrils, chin fingers

A trio of satellites studying our planet’s magnetic field have shown details of the steady swell of a magnetic field produced by the ocean’s tides. Four years of data collected by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Swarm mission have contributed to the mapping of this ‘other’ magnetic field, one that could help us build better

When fossil collector Paul De la Salle discovered pieces of a giant bone on Lilstock beach in Somerset in May 2016, he didn’t realise he had stumbled on a clue to a near 170-year-old mystery.   Returning to the beach the following month, he found more pieces that together measured about a metre in length.

Snakes don’t bother with chewing – they open wide, swallow prey whole, and digest it at leisure. But the cat-eyed water snake from southeast Asia has figured how to rip its food into pieces – and that’s pretty impressive for an animal without any limbs.   Snakes don’t have paws to hold their food down,

In the ocean videos we’ve become accustomed to, the sounds of the sea are fairly simple: the whoosh of bubbles as a shark darts after a seal, the splash of a breaching dolphin, the British accent of a BBC narrator.   But for Kate Stafford and other oceanographers who have spent their careers eavesdropping on the sounds of marine animals, ocean noise is as

Researchers have uncovered exactly where a key protein forms before it triggers the flowering process in plants. Until now, no one has pinpointed which cells produce the small protein, called Flowering Locus T (FT).   The study also points to an extensive intercellular signaling system that regulates FT production. “Understanding where FT is located and

Spring has sprung, or so the calendar tells us. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and bears are emerging from their long winter’s nap. But not all bears. One particular bear in Glacier National Park has spent at least two weeks engaging in what appears to be a very groggy process of deciding whether to wake up.

On 24 May 1969, a deep rumbling started within Kīlauea, the largest of the volcanoes comprising the island of Hawai’i. Those were the first moments of the historical Mauna Ulu eruption – a spectacular outpour of lava that lasted for a total of 1,774 days, at the time becoming the longest Kīlauea eruption in at

For many people, the best way to melt off stress after a hard day is to soak in a hot bath. The Japanese macaques – commonly referred to as “snow monkeys” – that draw tourists to Jigokudani Monkey Park feel the same way.   And as a relaxation or de-stressing technique, a hot bath really

Researchers have found 214 RNA viruses that have never been seen before, lurking inside animals usually ignored when it comes to viral infections – frogs, fish and reptiles. Not only does the finding have implications for studying human virology in the future, it also shows that viruses have an evolutionary history dating back millions of

The mystery behind how birds navigate might finally be solved: it’s not the iron in their beaks providing a magnetic compass, but a newly discovered protein in their eyes that lets them “see” Earth’s magnetic fields.   These findings come courtesy of two new papers – one studying robins, the other zebra finches. The fancy

A hidden treasure trove of dinosaur footprints has been discovered in Scotland, and it may help shed light on an important, but fossil-poor period of dinosaur evolution. The prints date back 170 million years ago, to the Middle Jurassic – a timeframe that has yielded little to the fossil record.   The rare site was

You might not think about it much, but water is super weird. It doesn’t behave like any other liquid. Now, by thinking outside the box, scientists believe they have figured out why – and it has to do with the strange arrangement of its molecules.   One of the weirdest aspects of water is its

Australia is known for it’s strange and adorable wildlife found nowhere else on the planet: koalas, kangaroos, and that giant bird that looks like a dinosaur. And then there’s the platypus – a bizarre and reclusive animal that looks sort of like a duck and an otter had a baby, but fluffier.    It’s so

On their own, bee brains are fairly remarkable things, although human computing power still trumps them. But new research suggests that individual members of a swarm behave surprisingly like neurons in a human brain.   Not only does this tell us something about how these remarkable creatures interact – studying ‘bee speak’ could tell us

What we know for certain is that there are small guppy fish – Poecilia vivipara – on the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, off the coast of northeast Brazil. What’s less clear is how they made it so far away from the mainland, a distance of 345 kilometres (214 miles).   These small freshwater fish look

A recent fall of really strange orange-tinted snow is making headlines after it swept across a swathe of Eastern Europe. Images on social media from Russia show mountainous landscapes tinged auburn, where usually they are pristine white.   Although it resembles what we might imagine snow on Mars to look like, the explanation is actually

More than 150 short-finned pilot whales stranded en masse at Hamelin Bay, 10km north of Augusta, in Western Australia. About 135 of the whales died after beaching themselves. Incident controller Jeremy Chick says the main priority is to ensure the welfare of the remaining live whales. Short-finned pilot whales stranded on Hamelin Bay beach. (Parks

Every dog owner knows the telltale look of a dog who did something it wasn’t supposed to do. Maybe she pooped on the floor. Maybe she chewed through your favourite couch cushion, or the carpet on the stairs.   You know she did something she shouldn’t have done and, seemingly, she does too. Since you’re a human being,

Methanotrophic bacteria are air-cleaning champions among microbes in the way they can absorb both a key greenhouse gas and heavy metals from the environment, and now scientists have gained new insight into the way they work.   Two never-before-studied proteins, called MbnB and MbnC, have been identified as being partially responsible for the inner workings

Anglerfish are weird and mysterious creatures. They live hundreds of metres below sea level, and we have very few specimens of these bizarre animals. Even fewer have been seen alive in the deep ocean they inhabit.   But a new video released through Science Magazine shows not just one, but two anglerfish, in the ‘close’

Meet the bootlace worm, Lineus longissimus. It’s ugly. It stinks. It produces an offensive mucus. And, if a specimen that washed up on Scotland’s shores in the 19th century is anything to go by, they rank among the longest animals on the planet.   What that 55 metres (180 feet) of living horror noodle lacks

The pale, eyeless pink Mexican cavefish is surprisingly chubby for a fish that lives in an environment with a big lack of algae food. Now a team of researchers have figured out how this can be, and it’s identical to a mechanism that causes insulin resistance in humans.   Insulin is a hormone produced by

A couple dozen steps. Two fistfuls of tomatoes. A perfectly upright posture. That was all it took to launch Louis, an 18-year-old male western lowland gorilla at the Philadelphia Zoo, to viral fame.   It started in early March, when zookeepers filmed Louis standing on two legs, like a human, strutting from one side of

It’s always been there, but a layer of the ocean is so distinct from the waters above and below it that it needed its own category. Scientists have just defined the newly named rariphotic zone, a layer of ocean between depths of 130 and 300 metres (400 and 1,000 feet) – a low-light or “twilight

A strange-looking animal has washed up on a beach in Georgia, and is making headlines thanks to its resemblance to the fabled ‘Loch Ness Monster’. Georgia resident Jeff Warren stumbled across the remains of the creature while boating with his son at Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge in Golden Isles, Georgia.   He originally thought

Unable to stand, and suffering from a string of infections in his advanced age, the world’s last male northern white rhino was euthanized Monday by a veterinary team in Kenya that had fought for years to save him and his dwindling species.   Only two now remain – his daughter, Najin, and granddaughter, Fatu –

Once upon a time, there was just one form of life on Earth – the last universal common ancestor of all cells, or LUCA. At some point, it split into archaea and bacteria, two of the three domains of life on our planet.   At least, that’s what we think happened. That single-celled ancestor probably sat

Just when we thought octopuses couldn’t be any weirder, it turns out that they and their cephalopod brethren evolve differently from nearly every other organism on the planet. In a surprising twist, in April last year scientists discovered that octopuses, along with some squid and cuttlefish species, routinely edit their RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences to

The platypus is a truly bizarre beast. So bizarre, in fact, that when British scientists first encountered the “extraordinary” Australian animal, they seriously wondered whether it was an elaborate hoax of different animal bits stuck together.   We don’t blame them, really. It’s got a duck bill, a beaver tail, webbed feet, even venom. But

A piece of pointed, fossilised tooth, which once belonged to a huge shark that dwarfed even the great white, long sat undisturbed in a remote, secret location in Western Australia.   Until last week. Wildlife officials said the megalodon tooth, believed to be about 1.6 million years old, had been stolen from its resting place

In 1861, German paleontologist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer wrote a short paper about a fossil so unusual he first thought it was a fake. What appeared to be a bird feather was pressed into 150-million-year-old limestone.   Von Meyer labeled it Archaeopteryx, meaning old wing, and a full skeleton was found shortly thereafter. The