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 […]
Tag: lions
Cougars cut deadly vehicle-deer collisions in the US by up to 76%, study shows
If you’re a black-tailed deer on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington, you’re always surrounded by friends and family. You are free-range, with abundant food to forage in familiar woods and meadows. But you’re also vigilant because you’re a prey species and your ideal habitat is also home to your top predators: […]
Indonesia’s native hornbills are being hammered by online and offline trade
Among the many inhabitants of Southeast Asia’s dense rainforests are hornbills — a group of birds that stand out with their raucous call, large, ostentatious beak and colorful feathers. Indonesia harbors 13 species, the most of any country in Asia, three of which are found nowhere else. Hornbills are rapidly losing their homes as large swaths of […]
Big agriculture is killing our bees. We’ll all pay the price
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 […]
A hippo is dying of thirst in Botswana. But a pride of lions guards the water hole
In Botswana’s Okavango delta, deep floodwater can dry to dust in months. Thirsty animals seek out water holes for a much-needed drink – but this brings them into dangerous proximity with others. And in one episode of the BBC TV series Natural World, the film crew follow a group of hippos as they deal with the […]
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 […]
‘Black Death’ buffalo shot dead after fatally goring millionaire American trophy hunter in ambush while being stalked
THE “Black Death” buffalo that gored a big game hunter to death has been shot dead. Millionaire ranch trader Asher Watkins, 52, was on Safari in Limpopo, South Africa last Sunday stalking the 3,000lb bull when he was fatally charged at. Without warning, the buffalo – considered Africa’s most dangerous animal – burst from cover […]
“They can survive up to an hour in the icy water and use razor-sharp protruding teeth to scrape away ice.”10 amazing, remarkable Antarctic animals…
Antarctica is the southernmost, coldest continent and the only one with no permanent human habitation. With most of its surface covered in ice, it’s a tough wilderness to survive in. But incredibly, some of the world’s most captivating species thrive. Early in spring 2025, scientists caught the first-ever footage of the incredible glacial glass squid (Galiteuthis glacialis). It […]