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 […]
Baby orangutans found in forest in India spark trafficking investigation
Five baby orangutans have been found in a forest in India, prompting authorities to investigate if they were trafficked into the country from south-east Asia. The orangutans, native only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and known for their shaggy red fur, were found in Balasore district of Odisha state, thousands of kilometres away from their natural […]
Its fate is “sealed by a clinical decapitation” – watch this praying mantis meet a cruel end
In this clip from the BBC’s Swarm: Nature’s Incredible Invasions, narrated by David Tennant, a praying mantis meets a cruel end when it gets caught up in an ant swarm. A colony of ants is not an opponent you want to mess with – especially when it’s on a mission. “In defence of the trail, the ants take no prisoners […]
Indigenous knowledge x tech in the search for a tiny Amazon monkey
How do you search for the world’s smallest monkey? Earlier this year, Nicolás Schuldt Durán took on this task after he was approached by members of an Indigenous community in Ecuador. Ever since, he’s been tapping into the knowledge of the Siekopai people and combining it with passive acoustic monitoring technology to look for pygmy […]
A story with hunters and told by hunters – coming soon in 2027
Hidden within the tropical rainforests of North Queensland lives one of Australia’s most elusive marsupial predators — the northern spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus gracilis). The northern subspecies of the spotted-tailed quoll, it is restricted to North Queensland and is listed as Endangered. A powerful and highly mobile predator, it occupies rainforest and adjoining forest habitats […]
“In the shadow of the Himalayas swims a fish that seems to have developed a taste for human flesh…” 10 most aggressive freshwater fish
We tend not to worry when dipping our toes into fresh water. There could be a slippery rock or two to negotiate, but any fish we encounter will be placid and calm, more scared of us than we are of them. There are toothy terrors in the vastness of the sea, but we have nothing […]
Victoria’s koalas in chronically poor health and population is half what was previously estimated
The Victorian government sat on a report for more than 12 months that found the state’s koala population was in chronically poor health. The review of the state’s koala populations, led by state science agency the Arthur Rylah Institute in conjunction with scientists from major universities, was completed for the Victorian government in June 2025. […]
This snake’s “outrageous” tail looks exactly like a spider. Scientists just looked inside it and found something odd
For the first time, scientists have been able to study the bone structure of one the more extraordinary serpentine tails in the natural world. The spider-tailed horn viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides) is found in the Zagros Mountain range in West Asia and remained unclassified as a singular species until 2006. A specimen found in Iran in 1968 was […]