Baby elephants frolicked in an ancient 'nursery,' fossil footprints show By Mindy Weisberger Over 100,000 years ago, extinct relatives of modern elephants lived in matriarchal groups, according to preserved trackways in southwestern Spain.
'Flying dragon' fossil found preserved inside a rock in the Chilean desert By Ben Turner Further analysis could point to the animal being a completely new species.
Bizarre tail on little dinosaur-age bird was literally a drag By Laura Geggel An extraordinary 120-million-year-old fossil bird from China reveals that the animal had a sexy but vaguely impractical tail.
Slaughter of more than 1,400 dolphins in the Faroe Islands sparks condemnation worldwide By Joanna Thompson Hunters in the Faroe Islands ambushed and slaughtered a super-pod of more than 1,400 white-sided dolphins on Sunday (Sept. 12), leading to worldwide outcry.
Kids discover giant penguin’s fossil skeleton in New Zealand By Mindy Weisberger A newly described extinct giant penguin from New Zealand has unusually long legs and a long, slender beak, and it dates to a time when much of the region was underwater.
Human remains found inside 500-pound alligator. How common are alligator attacks? By Yasemin Saplakoglu An enormous alligator is suspected of killing a man in Louisiana, according to news reports.
Giant squid: The real-life ocean Kraken By Patrick Pester Giant squid are mysterious deep-sea predators that are rarely seen by humans.
Why do primates carry around dead infants? By Mindy Weisberger In a new analysis, researchers compared hundreds of such cases across primate species.
99 million-year-old spider mummies reveal moms cared for teeny spiderlings By Laura Geggel Four chunks of amber containing Cretaceous-age spiders reveal that mothers cared for spiderlings.
Bizarre pig-faced shark found dead in the Mediterranean Sea. Is it real? By Brandon Specktor Italian naval officers found a dead angular roughshark (also known as the pig fish) in the waters near Elba.
Facts about tardigrades By Alina Bradford, Mindy Weisberger Tardigrades, often called water bears or moss piglets, are near-microscopic animals that are almost indestructible and can even survive in outer space.
The weirdest creatures to wash ashore By Victoria Williams A roundup of the 11 most bizarre creatures found washed up on the shore in the last decade, from sea potatoes to penis fish.
Why don't poisonous animals die from their own toxins? By JoAnna Wendel Some animals, such as poison dart frogs, carry enough toxic chemicals to kill multiple adult humans, but they've evolved tricks to avoid poisoning themselves.
Milkweed butterflies tear open caterpillars and drink them alive By Mindy Weisberger These ghastly meals provide male butterflies with chemicals that they use to produce mating pheromones, which female butterflies find irresistible.
Elusive angel shark shows off its ninja ambush skills in rare underwater footage By Brandon Specktor Researchers caught rare footage of a juvenile angel shark swimming off the UK coast, offering hope that the critically endangered species is still breeding.
An 18-foot-long sea monster ruled the ancient ocean that once covered Kansas By Mindy Weisberger A newly described species of mosasaur, an extinct marine reptile, swam through Cretaceous seas 80 million years ago and had a slender snout like a crocodile's.
Tyrannosaurs bit each other's faces in dino fight clubs By Laura Geggel Tyrannosaurs around the age of sexual maturity often bit each other's faces, likely to win prizes.
How do cats get their stripes? By Nicoletta Lanese Several key genes dictate whether a house cat will have stripes, spots or neither.
Stunning colorized footage provides a glimpse of the last known Tasmanian tiger By Mindy Weisberger Thylacines, once widespread in Australia, have been extinct for nearly a century, but newly colorized footage provides a glimpse of what they looked like in life.
