Animals
We live on a planet with millions of species of animals -and a rich, diverse collection of known wildlife, and yet new species are being identified seemingly every day — both living and extinct.
Whether it’s the deadliest snakes, longest-living creatures or the history of the dinosaurs, at Live Science, our expert writers are here to help you understand Earth's incredible fauna — past and present — with the latest animal news, features and articles.
Explore Animals
Latest about Animals
'The simplicity of life just hits you': Watch rare footage of critically endangered eastern lowland gorilla feeding her baby in the wild
By Hannah Osborne published
Filmmakers captured a mother eastern lowland gorilla nursing her infant for the PBS show "Silverback."
32,000-year-old mummified woolly rhino half-eaten by predators unearthed in Siberia
By Sascha Pare published
Researchers found the carcass in August 2020 in Russia's Sakha Republic, and the discovery has revealed a never-before-seen characteristic of woolly rhinos: a fatty hump on the animal's back.
Which animal can have the most babies at one time?
By Katherine Irving published
How many offspring an animal can have depends on many factors, such as whether they're aquatic and how they get around.
Siphonophores: The clonal colonies that can grow longer than a blue whale
By Lydia Smith published
Siphonophores are unusual animals made up of individual organisms called "zooids," which each have a distinct function — despite being genetically identical.
Watch extremely rare footage of a bigfin squid 'walking' on long, spindly arms deep in the South Pacific
By Sascha Pare published
While exploring the Tonga Trench in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean, researchers captured extremely rare footage of a Magnapinna squid with arms several times the length of its body.
Pollen allergies drove woolly mammoths to extinction, study claims
By Sascha Pare published
A boom in vegetation at the end of the last ice age may have created so much pollen, it blocked mammoths' sense of smell. A new study suggests this drove the beasts to extinction, but not everyone agrees.
32 of the world's smartest animals
By Margaret Osborne published
Though measuring animal intelligence is tricky, some animals show remarkable cognitive abilities that may rival our own.
How did sharks become Earth's 'ultimate survivors'? Paleontologist John Long finds answers in new book 'The Secret History of Sharks'
By Patrick Pester published
"The Secret History of Sharks" author John Long met with Live Science to discuss his new book, recent revelations about megalodons, and how he got over his fear of great whites.
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