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 […]
Tag: carnivores
It looks like a cat, acts like a cat, but don’t be fooled – this is no cat… Discover Madagascar’s agile, stealthy, ferocious apex predator
The fossa is a fascinating and elusive carnivore native to the island of Madagascar. Despite its importance in Madagascar, the fossa remains relatively unknown outside of scientific circles. This is partly due to its secretive nature and the dense, remote forests it inhabits. Unfortunately, the fossa is currently classified as a vulnerable species, facing threats […]
10 deadliest, most ruthless, savage primates on the planet – “Their hunting expeditions involve intelligence, cooperation and utterly brutal violence.”
Super-strong simians, menacing monkeys, apes with attitude and lethal lemurs – here’s our pick of the primates that kill… Deadliest primates on the planet Mandrill This elusive inhabitant of equatorial African rainforests is the biggest of all monkeys and arguably the most beautiful. The 30kg males – three times the weight of females – […]
“Over the next 6 months, it will prey on the defenceless larvae until it’s 100 times its original size.” This undercover carnivore may look harmless – but don’t be fooled
The large blue butterfly (Phengaris arion), the largest and rarest of the UK’s blue butterflies, has a remarkable lifecycle. It relies entirely on a single species of red ant (Myrmica sabuleti) to survive. In the third episode of the BBC TV series Wild Isles, Grasslands, David Attenborough narrates a chilling chain of events. “This caterpillar is one of the very few in the […]
Electric fences help farmers and elephants coexist in Zambian borderlands
LUNDAZI, Zambia — “It’s not possible [to coexist with elephants], because they are animals and we are human beings — they should have their own home,” says Esnart Banda, a Zambian farmer whose maize and tobacco fields lie 5 meters, just 16 feet, from the boundary of Malawi’s Kasungu National Park. Just two thin strands […]
“Females can afford to be choosier in their social relationships because of their higher ranking…”
One of the four species highlighted in David Attenborough‘s Dynasties II series, female spotted hyenas are one of nature’s most interesting matriarchal societies. Back in 2018, scientists from Michigan State University studied a group in the Masai Mara, Kenya and found that spotted hyenas practise a group dynamic that’s as complicated as many primate species. The sex and rank of […]
Defying drought and invasives, a feisty Australian marsupial makes a comeback
The ampurta, a blond or brown guinea pig-sized marsupial, is distinctive for its short, fat tail that becomes a black mohawk at the tip. This micro-predator, also known as the crest-tailed mulgara, was once abundant in the arid, sandy landscapes of Central Australia as well as Western Australia. But by 1994, it had been listed […]
Asian wild dog spotted in Vietnam for the first time in 20 years
Recent research has confirmed the first sighting of a dhole in more than two decades, a reddish-brown wild dog native to Asia. Before the sighting, the predator was believed to be extinct in Vietnam. The dhole (Cuon alpinus), historically one of the most widespread large carnivores in Asia, was seen on camera-trap footage. The single adult […]