The oldest known polar bear fossils hail from Svalbard and northern Norway and are dated at 115,000–130,000 years old, before the beginning of the last Ice Age. But some biologists think that polar bears diverged from brown bears as early as 600,000 years ago. According to research, polar bears evolved from brown bears that ventured onto […]
As British Columbia mulls continued wolf-killing to save caribou, critics say habitat loss is the real threat
The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia is in talks to extend its decade-long wolf cull program by another five years. Since 2015, the province has killed wolves in areas with declining populations of endangered woodland caribou as part of its Caribou Recovery Program. In April 2026, provincial authorities began engaging key stakeholders about […]
Could this endearing mammal be the reason Canada exists?
Canada may not have existed as we know it today if it wasn’t for the beaver, and certainly wouldn’t have been explored by Europeans as quickly, says Christian Dunn. From the mid-16th century, beaver pelts were brought from North America to Europe primarily for making hats, and this continued – to varying degrees – into […]
Australia has just 12,000 sea lions left – and ‘carnage’ may await them as bird flu takes hold, scientists warn
Scientists have warned deadly H5 bird flu could cause “carnage” for Australia’s seal and sea lion populations after detection of the virus in long-nosed fur seals in South Australia. SA confirmed Australia’s first case in a mainland mammal on Saturday after a dead long-nosed fur seal found at Beachport on the Limestone Coast tested positive for H5N1. The […]
Results of the Best Photo of the Month August 2026
We are delighted to announce the results of our latest photo competition. Alan Murphy wins First Prize with his outstanding image ‘Silver Fox‘. Jess Findlay wins Second Prize with “Hooded Merganser”. Third Prize goes to Marcel de Bruin with ‘Diving Kingfisher’. Please give kudos to the photographers by leaving comments at the bottom of the […]
It bites its own tail to transform into a brutal spiked wheel – one of nature’s strangest defences
It’s a brave beast that bites this tail. The spiky appendage belongs to an armadillo girdled lizard, as does the mouth that’s biting it. The reptile is the sole member of the genus Ouroborus, named after the mythical serpent that ate its own tail – a symbol of continuity, eternity, rebirth and cycles of life. […]
Quoll-ity Breeding
Now, 11 years later, I’m proud to introduce the next chapter. Premiering soon on Australian television. This film is more than a sequel. It represents more than a decade of persistence in the field, thousands of hours of observation, remote-camera monitoring and the development of non-invasive research methods designed to study quolls while allowing them to […]
Otters may be back in the Bronx River, but it’s still legal to kill them in New York state
Your report on the river otter’s return to New York City’s Bronx River after a century’s absence (19 August) is genuinely wonderful news – proof that patient ecological restoration works. But it sits uneasily alongside a fact rarely mentioned: New York state still permits the trapping and killing of hundreds of river otters every year, […]