Wild Animals News
August 25, 2025
Top Headlines
Aug. 24, 2025 — Ripple bugs’ fan-like legs inspired engineers to build the Rhagobot, a tiny robot with self-morphing fans. By mimicking these insects’ passive, ultra-fast movements, the robot gains speed, control, and endurance without extra ...
Aug. 23, 2025 — A new study reveals that the majority of Earth’s species stem from a few evolutionary explosions, where new traits or habitats sparked rapid diversification. From flowers to birds, these bursts explain most of the planet’s ...
Aug. 22, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a startling split in the venom of Australia’s Eastern Brown Snake. In the south, bites cause rock-solid blood clots, while in the north, they trigger flimsy clots that ...
Aug. 20, 2025 — Kelp forests bounce back faster from marine heatwaves when shielded inside Marine Protected Areas. UCLA researchers found that fishing restrictions and predator protection strengthen ecosystem resilience, though results vary by ...
Aug. 14, 2025 — Over 15 years of fossil excavations in Tanzania and Zambia have revealed a vivid portrait of life before Earth s most devastating mass extinction 252 million years ago. Led by the University of ...
Aug. 6, 2025 — A prehistoric predator changed its diet and body size during a major warming event 56 million years ago, revealing how climate change can reshape animal behavior, food chains, and survival ...
Aug. 4, 2025 — Glasswing butterflies may all look alike, but behind their transparent wings hides an evolutionary story full of intrigue. Researchers discovered that while these butterflies appear nearly identical to avoid predators, they produce unique pheromones ...
Aug. 4, 2025 — An intriguing new study reveals that over 80% of parasites found in the ancient poo of New Zealand’s endangered kākāpō have vanished, even though the bird itself is still hanging on. Researchers discovered this dramatic parasite decline by ...
Aug. 3, 2025 — Every time someone snaps a wildlife photo with iNaturalist, they might be fueling breakthrough science. From rediscovering lost species to helping conservation agencies track biodiversity and invasive threats, citizen observations have become vital ...
July 29, 2025 — A team at the University of Florida used drones and smart modeling to accurately count over 41,000 endangered turtles nesting along the Amazon’s Guaporé River—revealing the world’s largest known turtle nesting site. Their innovative ...
July 27, 2025 — Mesopelagic fish, long overlooked in ocean chemistry, are now proven to excrete carbonate minerals much like their shallow-water counterparts—despite living in dark, high-pressure depths. Using the deep-dwelling blackbelly rosefish, researchers ...
July 22, 2025 — New research from the University of Sydney sheds light on how coronaviruses emerge in bat populations, focusing on young bats as hotspots for infections and co-infections that may drive viral ...
Latest Headlines
updated 1:00pm EDT
Aug. 25, 2025 — A stunning discovery in North Greenland has reclassified strange squid-like fossils, revealing that nectocaridids were not early cephalopods but ancestors of arrow worms. Preserved nervous systems ...
Aug. 20, 2025 — Two independent research teams have unveiled near-complete reference genomes of the central bearded dragon, a reptile with the rare ability to change sex depending on both chromosomes and nest ...
Aug. 17, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered an extinct shelduck from the Chatham Islands that evolved shorter wings and stronger legs, adapting to a predator-free, windy environment. It vanished before the 19th ...
Aug. 16, 2025 — Once on the brink during the last ice age, great white sharks made a remarkable recovery globally, but their DNA reveals a baffling story. Classic migration explanations fail, leaving scientists with ...
Aug. 14, 2025 — A groundbreaking fossil discovery in the Grand Canyon has unveiled exquisitely preserved soft-bodied animals from the Cambrian period, offering an unprecedented glimpse into early life more than 500 ...
Aug. 9, 2025 — A fossilized Caribbean dirt ant, Basiceros enana, preserved in Dominican amber, reveals the species ancient range and overturns assumptions about its ...
Aug. 9, 2025 — The newly described Mirasaura grauvogeli from the Middle Triassic had a striking feather-like crest, hinting that complex skin appendages arose far earlier than previously believed. Its bird-like ...
Aug. 5, 2025 — Tyrannosaurus rex might be the most famous meat-eater of all time, but it turns out it wasn’t the only way to be a terrifying giant. New research shows that while T. rex evolved a skull designed ...
Aug. 4, 2025 — In a surprising twist of conservation success, a U.S. Air Force bombing range in Florida has become a sanctuary for endangered species like the ...
Aug. 1, 2025 — About 9 million years ago, a wild interspecies fling between tomato-like plants and potato relatives in South America gave rise to one of the ...
Earlier Headlines
July 29, 2025 — In the quest to understand how and why early humans started walking on two legs, scientists are now looking to chimpanzees living in dry, open savannah-like environments for clues. A new study ...
July 29, 2025 — A fish thought to be evolution’s time capsule just surprised scientists. A detailed dissection of the coelacanth — a 400-million-year-old species often called a “living fossil” — revealed ...
July 24, 2025 — Half a billion years ago, a strange sea-dwelling creature called Mollisonia symmetrica may have paved the way for modern spiders. Using detailed fossil brain analysis, researchers uncovered neural ...
July 18, 2025 — Tourists feeding wild elephants may seem innocent or even compassionate, but a new 18-year study reveals it s a recipe for disaster. Elephants in Sri Lanka and India have learned to beg for snacks ...
July 21, 2025 — A scorching marine heatwave from 2014 to 2016 devastated the Pacific coast, shaking ecosystems from plankton to whales and triggering mass die-offs, migrations, and fishery collapses. Researchers ...
July 21, 2025 — Gene editing may hold the key to rescuing endangered species—not just by preserving them, but by restoring their lost genetic diversity using DNA from museum specimens and related species. ...
July 16, 2025 — After devastating wildfires scorched the Brazilian Pantanal, an unexpected phenomenon unfolded—more jaguars began arriving at a remote wetland already known for having the densest jaguar population ...
July 24, 2025 — A tiny, overlooked wrist bone called the pisiform may have played a pivotal role in bird flight and it turns out it evolved far earlier than scientists thought. Fossils from bird-like dinosaurs in ...
July 12, 2025 — A cat named Pepper has once again helped scientists discover a new virus—this time a mysterious orthoreovirus found in a shrew. Researchers from the University of Florida, including virologist John ...
July 10, 2025 — People can intuitively sense how biodiverse a forest is just by looking at photos or listening to sounds, and their gut feelings surprisingly line up with what scientists ...
July 8, 2025 — In the remote reaches of Arizona s Petrified Forest National Park, scientists have unearthed North America's oldest known pterosaur a small, gull-sized flier that once soared above Triassic ...
July 8, 2025 — Hovering fish aren’t loafing—they burn twice resting energy to make micro-fin tweaks that counteract a natural tendency to tip, and body shape dictates just how costly the pause is. The discovery ...
July 2, 2025 — Locked-down Hungarians who gained or lost pets saw almost no lasting shift in mood or loneliness, and new dog owners actually felt less calm and satisfied over time—hinting that the storied “pet ...
July 7, 2025 — Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, ...
June 27, 2025 — A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ...
June 26, 2025 — Urban wildlife is evolving right under our noses — and scientists have the skulls to prove it. By examining over a century’s worth of chipmunk and vole specimens from Chicago, researchers ...
June 26, 2025 — Cats overwhelmingly choose to sleep on their left side, a habit researchers say could be tied to survival. This sleep position activates the brain’s right hemisphere upon waking, perfect for ...
June 26, 2025 — South Australia’s tiny pygmy bluetongue skink is baking in a warming, drying homeland, so Flinders University scientists have tried a bold fix—move it. Three separate populations were shifted ...
June 26, 2025 — Poachers are using a sneaky loophole to bypass the international ivory trade ban—by passing off illegal elephant ivory as legal mammoth ivory. Since the two types look deceptively similar, law ...
June 25, 2025 — Two newly discovered viruses lurking in bats are dangerously similar to Nipah and Hendra, both of which have caused deadly outbreaks in humans. Found in fruit bats near villages, these viruses may ...
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
- Did Humans Learn to Walk in Trees?
- 400-Million-Year-Old Fish Exposes Big Mistake in How We Understood Evolution
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Friday, July 18, 2025
Monday, July 21, 2025
- The Heatwave That Shattered Ecosystems, Starved Whales, and Drove Fish North
- This Genetic Breakthrough Could Help Thousands of Species Cheat Extinction
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
- North America’s Oldest Pterosaur Unearthed in Arizona’s Triassic Time Capsule
- Hovering Fish Burn Twice the Energy—study Shocks Scientists
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Monday, July 7, 2025
Friday, June 27, 2025
Thursday, June 26, 2025
- Skull Study Shows Chicago's Rodents Are Rapidly Evolving
- Why Cats Prefer Sleeping on Their Left Side—and How It Might Help Them Survive
- Can These Endangered Lizards Beat the Heat? Scientists Test Bold Relocation Plan
- New Test Unmasks Illegal Elephant Ivory Disguised as Mammoth
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
- New Viruses Discovered in Bats in China Could Be the Next Pandemic Threat
- Mammals Didn't Walk Upright Until Late—here's What Fossils Reveal
- Scientists Reprogram Ant Behavior Using Brain Molecules
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
- Mining the Deep Could Mute the Songs of Sperm Whales
- Killer Whales Use Seaweed Tools in Never-Before-Seen Grooming Behavior
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Monday, June 16, 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025
- Fruit-Eating Mastodons? Ancient Fossils Confirm a Long-Lost Ecological Alliance
- Africa's Pangolin Crisis: The Delicacy That's Driving a Species to the Brink
- Koalas on the Brink: Precision DNA Test Offers a Lifeline to Australia’s Icons
Friday, June 13, 2025
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
- How Madagascar’s Lizards Became the Island’s Last Hope for Reforestation
- Scientists Reveal the Hidden Pause That Keeps Bee Colonies Alive
Friday, June 27, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Saturday, June 7, 2025
- Whales Blow Bubble Rings--And They Might Be Talking to Us
- Satellite Tracking of 12,000 Marine Animals Reveals Ocean Giants Are in Trouble
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
- Eating an Array of Smaller Fish Could Be Nutrient-Dense Solution to Overfishing
- DNA Floating in the Air Tracks Wildlife, Viruses -- Even Drugs
Friday, June 6, 2025
Thursday, May 29, 2025
- Long Shot Science Leads to Revised Age for Land-Animal Ancestor
- Birds Nested in Arctic Alongside Dinosaurs
- Evolution of a Single Gene Allowed the Plague to Adapt, Survive and Kill Much of Humanity Over Many Centuries
- Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% With Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows
- Genetic Basis of Purring in Cats
- Cannabis Pangenome Reveals Potential for Medicinal and Industrial Use
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
- Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk
- Bed Bugs Are Most Likely the First Human Pest, New Research Shows
- Nearly Five Million Seized Seahorses Just 'tip of the Iceberg' In Global Wildlife Smuggling
- New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo
- Timing, Consistency of Activity Linked to Better Fitness
- Coastal Alaska Wolves Exposed to High Mercury Concentrations from Eating Sea Otters
- When the Forest Is No Longer a Home -- Forest Bats Seek Refuge in Settlements
- Even Birds Can't Outfly Climate Change
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
- How Does Digestion Affect Molecular Analysis of Owl Pellets?
- Nordic Studies Show the Significance of Old-Growth Forests for Biodiversity
- Discovery Offers New Insights Into Skin Healing in Salmon
Monday, May 26, 2025
Friday, May 23, 2025
- Mystery of 'very Odd' Elasmosaur Finally Solved: Fiercely Predatory Marine Reptile Is New Species
- Different Phases of Evolution During Ice Age
- Managing Surrogate Species, Providing a Conservation Umbrella for More Species
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- Why Europe's Fisheries Management Needs a Rethink
- Scientists Have Figured out How Extinct Giant Ground Sloths Got So Big and Where It All Went Wrong
- 'Selfish' Genes Called Introners Proven to Be a Major Source of Genetic Complexity
- Diversity Is Key to Ecosystem Stability
- Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests
- Climate Change Poses Severe Threat to Bowhead Whale Habitat
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- Shrinking Nemo: Clownfish Survive Heatwaves by Shrinking
- Something's Fishy Here
- Yeast Reveals How Species Adapt to a Warmer Climate
- Why Some Spiders Are More Venomous Than Others
- Unlocking the Secrets of Bat Immunity
- Natural Algal Communities Can Inhibit Aquaculture Pathogens
- Songbirds' Great Risk Results in Great Genetic Reward
- Toothache from Eating Something Cold? Blame These Ancient Fish
- Taking the Guesswork out Birdsong Evolution
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- On the Origin (and Fate) of Plants That Never Bloom
- New Research Reveals Puff Adders as an Important Conservation and Rodent Control Solution
- Asian Elephants Have Larger Brains Than Their African Relatives
- 'Sharkitecture:' A Nanoscale Look Inside a Blacktip Shark's Skeleton
- Native Turtles Return to Yosemite After Removal of Invasive Bullfrogs
- Thousands of Animal Species Threatened by Climate Change
- Surprise Baby Whale Sightings Reveal There's Still Much to Learn About Humpbacks
Monday, May 19, 2025
- Bees Facing New Threats, Putting Our Survival and Theirs at Risk
- Genomic Data Shows Widespread Mpox Transmission in West Africa Prior to 2022 Global Outbreak
- Capuchin Monkeys Develop Bizarre 'fad' Of Abducting Baby Howlers
- Fitness Fight: Native Bees Struggle Against Invasive Honey Bee
- Scientists Describe 71 New Australian Bee Species
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Wild Orangutans Show Communication Complexity Thought to Be Uniquely Human
- Very Different Mammals Follow the Same Rules of Behavior