Five baby orangutans have been found in a forest in India, prompting authorities to investigate if they were trafficked into the country from south-east Asia. The orangutans, native only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and known for their shaggy red fur, were found in Balasore district of Odisha state, thousands of kilometres away from their natural […]
Its fate is “sealed by a clinical decapitation” – watch this praying mantis meet a cruel end
In this clip from the BBC’s Swarm: Nature’s Incredible Invasions, narrated by David Tennant, a praying mantis meets a cruel end when it gets caught up in an ant swarm. A colony of ants is not an opponent you want to mess with – especially when it’s on a mission. “In defence of the trail, the ants take no prisoners […]
Indigenous knowledge x tech in the search for a tiny Amazon monkey
How do you search for the world’s smallest monkey? Earlier this year, Nicolás Schuldt Durán took on this task after he was approached by members of an Indigenous community in Ecuador. Ever since, he’s been tapping into the knowledge of the Siekopai people and combining it with passive acoustic monitoring technology to look for pygmy […]
A story with hunters and told by hunters – coming soon in 2027
Quolls (/ˈkwɒlz/; genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal, and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Another two species are known from fossil remains in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits […]
“In the shadow of the Himalayas swims a fish that seems to have developed a taste for human flesh…” 10 most aggressive freshwater fish
We tend not to worry when dipping our toes into fresh water. There could be a slippery rock or two to negotiate, but any fish we encounter will be placid and calm, more scared of us than we are of them. There are toothy terrors in the vastness of the sea, but we have nothing […]
Victoria’s koalas in chronically poor health and population is half what was previously estimated
The Victorian government sat on a report for more than 12 months that found the state’s koala population was in chronically poor health. The review of the state’s koala populations, led by state science agency the Arthur Rylah Institute in conjunction with scientists from major universities, was completed for the Victorian government in June 2025. […]
This snake’s “outrageous” tail looks exactly like a spider. Scientists just looked inside it and found something odd
For the first time, scientists have been able to study the bone structure of one the more extraordinary serpentine tails in the natural world. The spider-tailed horn viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides) is found in the Zagros Mountain range in West Asia and remained unclassified as a singular species until 2006. A specimen found in Iran in 1968 was […]
Nepal’s high-altitude wildernesses & wildlife are increasingly under threat (commentary)
Changes like increasing geological and glacial instability driven by the warming climate are a growing concern across the Himalayas. Our hearts go out to the thousands of families across Nepal, China, and around the world grieving their loved ones and searching for those missing after the recent catastrophic flash flood at the Nepal-China border. Though […]