When wildlife photographer Mohammed Almuntasir uploaded 18 seconds of footage to YouTube, he thought little more about the small, pale cat seen digging a hollow in the sand in the remote dunes of south-west Libya. The video, however, posted in 2017, turned out to be the first material evidence that the sand cat (Felis margarita), the world’s only […]
At the entrance to Wyperfeld national park, in north-west Victoria, more than a dozen pink cockatoos are sprinkled across a hedge row of pine trees like Christmas decorations. These are Aleppo pines, not the native conifers that the birds rely on for nesting habitat and as a primary source of food. Still, the feathered ornaments appear […]
Marine iguanas can reach an impressive age of 60 years, but their average lifespan is 12 years or less – which is not surprising, considering what they have to face straight out of the egg. Galapagos racer snakes are on high alert, knowing that this will be their best feeding opportunity all year. A baby iguana is more […]
With dainty forelimbs tucked against their fluffy belly and a wonderfully solemn expression on their whiskered face, the sight of a sunbathing mountain viscacha is sure to raise a smile. This Andean rodent is perplexing and endearing in equal measure, looking as if someone has assembled it from spare parts, with rabbit ears, a squirrel […]
If you have noticed a large dark shape lumbering through your backyard lately, you are not alone. Black bear sightings across the United States surge every summer, and understanding why can help you feel less startled and more prepared. For anyone who cares about coexisting with wildlife, this seasonal phenomenon is both a Conservation success […]
Scientists documented the first long-distance travel of an Arabian Sea humpback whale (ASHW): a small population of only around 82 individuals that live off Oman’s coast. Unlike other humpbacks around the world, these endangered whales usually stay close to home. The population is genetically distinct from other humpbacks, having diverged around 70,000 years ago, and individuals usually stay within […]
Cannibalism – the act of eating an individual of the same species – is often not a good idea, and not just because of our own human morals. It can lead to the spread of some very nasty diseases, as well as the evolutionary cost of potentially eating your own kin. However, it is not […]
Last winter, commercial beekeepers lost more than 60% of their colonies – their worst losses on record. We tend to blame bee losses on separate, singular threats: pests, pesticides, habitat loss or extreme weather. But we’ve been thinking about bee losses wrong. The real culprit is our industrial food system. Managed honeybees are in effect […]