This little desert hunter may not look especially imposing, but its bite can be deadly, and in India it is one of the “Big Four” snakes thought to be jointly responsible for around 58,000 mortalities per year. Those that encounter the saw-scaled viper would do well to heed the rasping warning sound it emits before […]
Alaska wildlife agents can kill bears to protect caribou, judge rules
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears — including from helicopters — as part of a plan to help recover a caribou herd that was once an important source of food for Alaska Native hunters, a judge ruled Wednesday. Two conservation groups, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance […]
A real-life kraken monster? At 19m it was longer than a railway carriage, devilishly smart and able to crush prey with a devastatingly lethal bite…
The largest predators in Earth’s oceans are typically vertebrates, so when palaeontologists recently announced they’d found fossils from a 19m-long octopus that lived during the Late Cretaceous, it’s no surprise a lot of people were left scratching their heads. What is Nanaimoteuthis haggarti? This colossal cephalopod is perhaps the closest palaeontologists have ever got to finding […]
Petition: Over 1,000 Toads Were Killed After This Water Company Drained Their Breeding Habitat
More than 1,000 toads may have died after a reservoir was suddenly drained by a water company right in the middle of breeding season. These toads return to the same site every year. They depend on it to survive. Now, it’s gone. Sign the petition now to urge Hafren Dyfrdwy to contribute to conservation efforts, […]
Is it an otter or a cat? Long-bodied, short-legged and weasel-headed, this is one of the most bizarre felines on the planet
The jaguarundi is one of the strangest-looking cats in the Americas. Long-bodied, short-legged and sleek, it has more than a hint of otter or weasel about it, which explains why it is sometimes called the otter cat. Yet this elusive hunter is very much a felid, and a close relative of the puma. Found from […]
Overtourism threatens Sri Lanka’s leopards
Yala National Park, Sri Lanka‘s most famous wildlife destination, is facing a conservation crisis as overcrowding and speeding safari jeeps increasingly threaten its wildlife, particularly its famed leopards, reports Mongabay contributor Kamanthi Wickramasinghe. Block I of the park, which boasts of one of the world’s highest leopard densities at one animal per square kilometer (2.6 per square mile), attracted […]
“It can live for 30 years without food & survive temperatures from zero to boiling point.” 8 indestructible animals that are the ultimate survivors
In certain situations, there are animals that seem almost immortal as they not only survive but thrive in extreme circumstances, says Sheena Harvey. The world’s most indestructible animals on Earth The animal that can survive fire The trick the echidna, an Australian egg-laying mammal, employs to stay alive despite all around them being destroyed by a wildfire was only discovered in […]