In the animal kingdom, teeth come in all shapes and sizes. Some are anchored in the jaw for chewing or seizing prey, while others – known as fangs – are elongated teeth (often hollow or grooved), specially adapted for piercing flesh and injecting venom. A walrus‘s tusks, for example, are enormous canine teeth that can […]
Tag: Leopard
Meet the deadliest rat on the planet – it contains enough poison to kill an elephant
Did you know there’s a rat poisonous enough to kill an elephant? Lophiomys imhausi, also known as the crested rat, the maned rat, and the African crested rat, is a deadly rarity says Aoife Glass. The crested rat is the only known poisonous rodent, and the only known mammal to sequester plant toxins for use as […]
It’s covered in terrifying quills so, what could possibly eat a porcupine?
Can any animals eat porcupines? Surely not as porcupine quills present an impenetrable thicket to most predators. But these backward-pointing defences are only effective if the rodent can keep its assailant to its rear. What animals can eat porcupines? In North America, pumas and fishers (marten-like mammals) are skilled porcupine predators, outmanoeuvring their quarry to launch their attacks from the […]
Brazil’s wildcats face multiple diseases due to habitat fragmentation
Every day, millions of Brazilians recall how rich the country’s feline biodiversity is when they reach into their wallets: Since entering circulation in 2010, the ‘50 real’ notes have carried a printed drawing of a jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest feline in the Americas. In Brazil, one can even trace the animal that inspired the design of […]
Cambodia wants its tigers back. So it plans to import Bengal tigers from India
Cambodia is preparing to reintroduce tigers after nearly two decades without a confirmed wild population. The plan is ambitious, and many of its basic assumptions remain contested, report Mongabay India’s Arathi Menon and Mongabay contributor Andy Ball. The last confirmed tiger sighting in Cambodia came from a camera trap in 2007. By 2016, tigers had been declared […]
Trump called trophy hunting a “horror show,” but permitted 300-plus elephant trophy imports in 2025
The U.S. issued more than 300 elephant trophy import permits during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to records obtained by U.S.-based NGO the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). It’s the most ever issued on Trump’s watch in a year, and indicates that as many as 300 elephants were killed. Trophies are usually […]
Millionaire big-game hunter, 75, is trampled to death by herd of FIVE elephants while stalking antelope with shotgun
Armed with a shotgun and tracking a rare species of antelope, Ernie Dosio, 75, was killed after stumbling across the animals in dense vegetation in Gabon. The carcass collector had been moving through thick undergrowth with a professional hunter when the pair unknowingly walked into the herd. The animals were said to be so well […]
“Staring menacingly, the buffaloes encircled our vehicle.” My close encounter with a mega-stampede
We’re parked up in our Land Cruiser on the golden grasslands of Botswana’s Mababe Depression, surrounded by Cape buffaloes caked in mud. “There must be 3,000 of them here,” our guide Jonah Seboko says quietly, scanning the scene with his binoculars. “Beautiful, just beautiful.” That’s not a word I’d ever really associated with the notoriously […]