Animals

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Octopuses are one of several marine invertebrates to be recognized as sentient by changes to a new animal welfare bill.

New UK bill recognizes cephalopods and some crustaceans as sentient beings

By Harry Baker

The U.K. government has included cephalopods and some crustaceans in a new bill that recognizes sentient animals.

Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are most active in waters around the Cape Cod coast between August and October.

Video captures great white shark's gruesome attack on a seal near Cape Cod

By Mindy Weisberger

A great white shark attacks a seal near Cape Cod, and video captured the gory battle.

Zebras have distinctive black-and-white hides, and the stripes are unique to each individual.

Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

By Jennifer Welsh

Zebras' black-and-white coloration is iconic, but what color are their stripes?

A bigfin squid swims in the deep sea.

Eerie video captures elusive, alien-like squid gliding in the Gulf of Mexico

By Nicoletta Lanese

The bigfin squid has a ghostly pale appearance and long, spindly tentacles.

Little Muppet or a spider with a lot on its mind? Called Hyllus giganteus, this looker is the largest jumping spider, reaching lengths of nearly an inch (2.5 centimeters).

Jumping spiders: Facts about the cutest arachnids on the planet

By Stephanie Pappas

Jumping spiders are a diverse bunch. Some are drab, while others sport a dazzling array of colors and patterns. And they really can jump.

Narwhals surfacing.

Narwhals: Mysterious unicorns of the sea

By Rachel Ross, Vicky Stein

The closest to a unicorn you'll ever get.

Funnel-web spiders are among the world's deadliest spiders.

Deadly and massive 'Megaspider' found in Australia has fangs that can puncture a fingernail

By Mindy Weisberger

The Australian Reptile Park recently welcomed the biggest funnel-web spider that the keepers had ever seen.

Why would male flies mate with dead females? A fungus made them do it.

Mind-controlling fungus makes male flies mate with dead, infected females

By Mindy Weisberger

The pathogenic fungus Entomophthora muscae doesn't just kill the flies it infects; it also turns males into sex-crazed necrophiliacs.

Pingu the penguin is lost

Lost' Adélie penguin wanders nearly 2,000 miles off-course, ends up on New Zealand beach

By Joanna Thompson

A lost Adelie penguin ended up almost 2,000 miles off course.

A scorpion at the Scorpion Kingdom laboratory and farm in Egypt's Western Desert, near the city of Dakhla.

Scorpions flood Egyptian villages after storm, sting and hospitalize hundreds

By Mindy Weisberger

Venomous fat-tailed scorpions stung more than 500 people after heavy storms disrupted their habitats and brought the deadly arachnids closer to people.

common cuckoos

How do cuckoos trick other birds?

By Ailsa Harvey

Reference Rather than raising their own offspring, cuckoos have perfected the art of deception.

Reference
An illustration of Supersaurus shows what a giant it was, reaching at least 128 feet in length.

Supersaurus might be the longest dinosaur that ever lived

By Laura Geggel

If two Supersauruses bopped noses, they'd be longer than an American football field.

A lingcod's mouth photographed from a fishing boat. The fish was later released.

This fish has 555 teeth … and it loses 20 every day

By Cameron Duke

The Pacific lingcod has a mouth full of teeth and sheds up to 20 per day.

A photo of a taxidermy polar bear with its mouth open.

Polar bear parts are being smuggled around the world

By Patrick Pester

Hundreds of bear parts and their derivatives, such as bile, have been smuggled into Australia and New Zealand since 2007, including polar bears.

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and other types of monkeys retain the tails that apes and humans lack.

Why don't people have tails?

By Mindy Weisberger

Scientists recently found that a so-called jumping gene may have jumped ship millions of years ago, and taken our tails with it.

two bald eagles lying on the ground, their wings and bodies overlapping

Tangled bald eagles crash land on Minnesota street

By Nicoletta Lanese

The bald eagles may have tangled while fighting over territory or executing a courtship ritual.

Diane Nelson, a tardigrade researcher who works in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, used a scanning microscope to take this 3-D image of a Tardigrade.

Facts about tardigrades

By Alina Bradford, Mindy Weisberger, Ailsa Harvey

Reference Tardigrades, often called water bears or moss piglets, are near-microscopic animals that are almost indestructible and can even survive in outer space.

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This rare cotton-candy-colored lobster was just caught in Maine.

Rare 'cotton candy' lobster was a 1-in-100 million catch

By Nicoletta Lanese

The stunning lobster, named Haddie, is bright blue with dark purple specks.

Even when they leave, they still are there.

You can't hide from your cat, so don't even try

By Mindy Weisberger

Cats create "mental maps" using audio cues, scientists have discovered. This enables cats to spatially orient unseen companions, an ability that was previously unknown in felines.

An illustration of the newly named dinosaur Issi saaneq, which lived in Greenland 214 million years ago, back when the supercontinent Pangaea was splitting apart.

Triassic skulls unearthed in Greenland reveal 'cold bone' dinosaur

By Laura Geggel

A new analysis of two Triassic skulls found in Greenland reveals a new species of long-necked dinosaur.