These tree-dwelling cuties are the original panda, having been described by scientists nearly 50 years before their black and white namesakes. They’re not actually even close relatives of the giant panda, belonging to their own unique family (Ailuridae) and sharing traits withracoons, weasels and skunks. How big are red pandas? Brilliantly adapted against the cold and for life in the […]
South Africa’s free-roaming cheetah population is much smaller than previously thought, according to the first coordinated national census of the species living outside protected areas. Over three and a half years, between 2022 and 2026, researchers from Ashia Cheetah Conservation, the Cheetah Outreach Trust (COT) and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands surveyed almost 100,000 square […]
Authorities are searching for a bear that sneaked into the home of an elderly couple and raided their fridge amid concerns it may be behind 14 break-ins across a Japanese town in the past fortnight. On Monday evening, Mitsuo Matsubara, 87, was confronted by a large Asiatic black bear when he went to investigate a […]
The common raccoon is North America’s most numerous mammal and is famed as a nuisance! It belongs to the Procyonidae family and its nearest relatives includes the coati. Before the urbanisation of North America, raccoons scampered mainly through deciduous woodland. With much of their former habitat gone, these excellent climbers began denning in attics instead, even […]
It’s Australia’s largest land carnivorous mammal, yet it’s viewed very differently depending on who you ask. Revered by some as an important native predator and condemned by others as a destructive pest, few animals spark as much debate. It may look familiar at first glance, but there’s far more to this iconic Australian species than […]
Vying for first place in the smallest cat in the world category are the rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus) and black-footed cat (Felis nigripes), which are very close in size, measuring 35-48cm and 35-52cm in length respectively. The smallest cats in the world Each cat is the smallest species on its continent – the rusty-spotted cat […]
Storks are gaining weight from a diet of literal junk, according to research that suggests the previously disappearing birds face potential health risks as a result of increasingly eating from rubbish dumps. Landfill offers what appear to be quick and convenient meals for white stork populations in Europe. But new research suggests they may be gaining […]
The Merlin bird ID app will allow users to feed real-time bird identifications into one of the world’s biggest citizen-science biodiversity projects in an update it is hoped will aid conservation of at-risk birds. Since 2021, the free Merlin app, created by the Cornell Lab for Ornithology, has used machine learning to provide an almost […]