Locals and tourists have long fawned over Catalina Island’s mule deer population. For nearly a century, the ungulates have roamed the land’s waterfronts and woodlands, so comfortable around humans that it is not uncommon to spot deer roaming downtown Avalon. But that sight will soon disappear, after a judge this week paved the way for […]
“It thrusts its spear into the cavity, killing or severely wounding any dozing animal inside before pulling out its skewered quarry…”
Did you know there are animals that use weapons to kill? The chimpanzees that live in the savannahs of Senegal are such animals. There is considerably less food available in this arid habitat than in the forests occupied by other populations, so the great apes of the savannah have learned to fashion and use spears to take advantage of […]
Kākāpō rising: 90 chicks swell population of the world’s heaviest parrot
The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree. Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to […]
“They were bouncing off umbrellas and pavements and hopped off in their hundreds…” 10 times it rained animals
You’ve heard of it raining cats and dogs. Thankfully, it’s just a figure of speech, but did you know that sometimes it really does rain animals? From starfish and shrimp to fish and frogs, sometimes creatures really do fall from the sky. The episodes leave people running for cover and scratching their heads, prompting explanations […]
When Truth Becomes Optional: The War on Grizzly Bears
There is something deeply disturbing about the way grizzly bears are being talked about today. It isn’t simply that people disagree about grizzly bear management. Disagreement is healthy. Debate is necessary. Science should be questioned and management strategies should be examined. But that is not what we are watching. We are watching a growing willingness […]
How old are polar bears? Just when did these fearsome Arctic giants first appear?
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 […]