The way wolves are being managed in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho isn’t just controversial — it’s a case study in how politics can overwhelm science when it’s inconvenient. Grizzly bears are next. What’s happening to these animals is often framed as “management,” but that word loses its meaning when the underlying decisions are driven less […]
Tag: predators
Researchers find ‘remarkable’ hot-pink insect in Panama rainforest
In March 2025, biologist Benito Wainwright and his colleagues were searching for katydids — leaf-mimicking insects related to crickets and grasshoppers — in the rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, when they came across an unexpected sight: a hot-pink katydid individual of the species Arota festae. The researchers captured the katydid and raised her in […]
“Its iridescent green head and wings, spiky crest, blood-red breast, and flamboyant twin tail plumes, is like a carnival dancer.” In the forests of Guatemala lives an elusive creature few will ever see
The sneeze began as a tickle in my right nostril. It was almost imperceptible, like a mosquito landing lightly on my arm, ready to strike. Or a lone butterfly flapping its wings, producing a breeze that would unfurl into a tornado; a tidal wave of latent energy that demanded to be unleashed. Some people can […]
“They can stand up to 9 feet tall and weigh over a whopping 24 stone.” 11 bonkers, rule-breaking birds that can’t fly
Wings do not guarantee flight. You may think that the ability to fly might be one of the most envied and useful aspects of being a bird. However, there are numerous bird species which, through evolution, have lost their ability to fly over time. This has happened in different bird groups independently, meaning that flightlessness is a good […]
“Effects range from internal bleeding to manipulating behaviour or liquifying a host.” These are the deadliest weapons in the animal kingdom
When a peacock mantis shrimp strikes, it generates the heat of a star. The crustacean retracts a spring-loaded mouthpart known as a dactyl club and puts it on a latch, like a cowboy cocking the hammer of a gun. After pulling the trigger to release the stored elastic potential energy, the club moves like a […]
“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 […]
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 […]