The population of the world’s last mountain gorillas has rebounded by 73% since 1989, allowing the subspecies to be reclassified from critically endangered — one step away from extinction — to endangered. But they remain imperiled, with about 1,063 left. They live in just one place: the Greater Virunga Landscape that straddles Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic […]
Strange, devil-like sea creatures are about to gather in huge numbers off ‘Europe’s Hawaii’. Here’s what’s going on
Sitting on the edge of a small dive boat, clad in a thick wetsuit and bulky scuba gear, every movement feels awkward and cumbersome. But with a deep breath, I roll backwards into the Atlantic Ocean. The instant rush of cool water is a relief, and the heaviness of the equipment eases as gravity releases […]
Researchers find ‘remarkable’ hot-pink insect in Panama rainforest
In March 2025, biologist Benito Wainwright and his colleagues were searching for katydids — leaf-mimicking insects related to crickets and grasshoppers — in the rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, when they came across an unexpected sight: a hot-pink katydid individual of the species Arota festae. The researchers captured the katydid and raised her in […]
“Faced with a rugby scrum of suitors, females have little choice over who to mate with.” Here’s why these weird frogs suddenly turn blue
In the world of amphibians, sexual dichromatism, where one sex appears a different colour, is an unusual phenomenon. Dichromatism can be further split into ‘ontogenetic’, where the sexes remain different colours, and ‘dynamic’, where the colour change occurs temporarily – something considered rare as hen’s teeth among anurans. Fighting this froggy trend to a spectacular […]
Two Cheetah Cubs Rescued from Illegal Wildlife Trade in Somaliland
When a tip came in that two cheetah cubs were about to be loaded onto a boat and smuggled into the exotic pet trade, responders had only hours to act. What followed was a remarkable effort that not only saved two young lives but also shone a spotlight on a crisis that continues to threaten […]
They’re 2 metres long, 10,000 times heavier than the males and can even rip off the infamous Portuguese man o’war’s tentacles and wield them as weapons
Arms spread to reveal the colourful webbing stretched between them, a female blanket octopus treats us to a spectacular threat display, staring us down with one of her two huge eyes. At up to 2m in length, female blanket octopuses are at least ten thousand times heavier than the tiny 2cm-long males, which are little […]
Invasive ferrets removed from an island in a world-first
Rathlin Island off the north of Northern Ireland is now free from feral ferrets that were harming its native seabirds. Conservationists say this is the first time these nonnative animals, which were domesticated from polecats some 2,000 years ago, have been completely eradicated from any island. Ferrets (Mustela furo) were introduced to Rathlin in the […]
“Notoriously cruel methods are involved in training elephants be ridden.” 10 cruellest and most barbaric animal attractions on the planet…
Cruelty to wild animals can take many forms and is often not obvious to the casual viewer. Many of the worst examples – elephant riding, civet coffee tours, for example – are commonly offered to tourists in the countries in which they take place and might appear to be traditional aspects of their cultures. What this list […]