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. 

• Which animals have the strongest bite force?

• What is the fastest animal on Earth?

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Latest about Animals

Eastern chimpanzee juvenile male 'Gimli' aged 8 years playing with his brother 'Gizmo' aged 3 years. Image taken in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, June 2012.

Do all animals go through adolescence?

By Amanda Heidt published

All species experience the bodily changes of puberty, but the social lessons that define the shift from childhood to adulthood are more nuanced.

View from above of a happy tabby cat kneading its paws on a soft white blanket.

Why do cats knead?

By Charles Q. Choi published

If a cat kneads on your lap, it's likely because it feels safe around you. But why do they knead in the first place?

a beluga whale with a strap around its neck surfacing from the water, and an asteroid with the sun and earth in the background

Science news this week: A quasi-moon and a lonely spy whale

By Alexander McNamara published

June 3, 2023: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news over the past few days, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

A diagram of the new marsupial species body outline with fossils superimposed on top

Quarter-ton marsupial that ambled across Australia 3.5 million years ago was 'unlike anything alive today'

By Harry Baker published

The newly described extinct species is closely related to the largest marsupial to ever roam the Earth.

We see six people in a rocky area with excavated fossils on the ground and covered in plaster blocks.

Nearly 6 million-year-old 'elephant graveyard' unearthed in Florida

By Kiley Price published

Paleontologists have uncovered a graveyard of ancient elephant relatives.

Beluga whale in harness

Suspected Russian spy whale is looking for love in all the wrong places

By Harry Baker published

A beluga whale that was discovered wearing a suspicious harness in 2019 is on the move in search of other belugas. But it's heading in the wrong direction.

A geckos head covered in white and gray scales with an eye of the same color surrounded by and orange ring.

This psychedelic-eyed gecko isn't what we thought it was

By Harry Baker published

The bright-eyed reptiles were identified as a new species after a genetic analysis of other geckos revealed they were separate from another closely related species.

Fish pecking at a dead sea urchin in the Gulf of Aqaba.

Mystery pathogen is stripping sea urchins of their flesh and turning them to skeletons — and it's spreading fast

By Ben Turner published

A mysterious epidemic that began in the Mediterranean at the start of the year looks set to wipe out all of the Mediterranean and Red Sea’s urchins, and possibly their coral reefs too.

Here we see an orange/red crab with a pale yellow underbelly with its two claws raised in the air. It is on a sandy beach.

Why do animals keep evolving into crabs?

By Laurel Hamers published

Crabby bodies are so evolutionarily favorable, they've evolved at least five different times. So why does this process, known as carcinization, keep happening?

Two chicken feet, one with feathers and one with scales.

Scientists changed scales on chicken feet to feathers by tweaking a single gene

By Jennifer Nalewicki published

By targeting a single gene, scientists successfully turned chickens’ feet from scaly to feathery.

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