Animal News - Science and Zoology Articles

Jakapil Kanikukura, a new species of armored dinosaur from Argentina, weighed as much as a housecat and had a line of armored spikes going down its neck and back.

Small, prickly dinosaur discovered in South America reveals an unknown lineage

By Stephanie Pappas published 12 August 22

An armored dinosaur that weighed as much as a housecat has been discovered in South America. Though it resembles a primitive relative of ankylosaurus, it came from late in dinosaur history.

A close-up image of a jumping spider next to a dew drop.

Sweet dreams, spidey: Arachnids experience REM sleep, and may even dream

By Jennifer Nalewicki published 12 August 22

Spiders likely sleep and dream like humans do.

illustration shows t. rex skull with its true eye socket shape compared to skull with circular eye socket, which can hold a far larger eyeball

Not just tiny arms: T. rex also had super small eyes to accommodate its big bite

By Nicoletta Lanese published 11 August 22

T. rex may have evolved thin eye sockets to help handle its bite force.

Hatchling loggerhead sea turtles making their way to the ocean on Clam Pass Beach in Florida.

Most of Florida's newly-hatched sea turtles are female. Why?

By Patrick Pester published 10 August 22

Almost all sea turtle hatchlings are emerging from their eggs as females on some Florida beaches. What's going on?

A photo of the newly identified Bathynomus yucatanensis from a single, 10-inch-long (26 cm) specimen.

Creepy deep-sea 'vanilla Vader' woodlouse is 25 times bigger than a land louse

By Patrick Pester published 10 August 22

Scientists have identified a woodlouse relative — a 10-inch-long, creamy yellow critter called Bathynomus yucatanensis from deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gursky’s spectral tarsiers (Tarsius spectrumgurskyae) in Tangkoko National Park in Sulawesi, Indonesia sing morning duets, which scientists captured with autonomous devices and handheld digital recorders.

'Yoda' primates sing duets like opera stars

By Jamie Carter published 8 August 22

Scientists recorded the intricate songs of the small, leaping primates on an Indonesian island.

An image of the unnamed spaghetti worm from the newly released MBARI video.

Weird deep-sea worm looks like a luminous lump of spaghetti

By Harry Baker published 5 August 22

A new video released by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) shows off 2012 footage of an unnamed species of spaghetti worm.

Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) have carried out more than 50 attacks against people in the Japanese city of Yamaguchi (the macaques in the photo are not associated with the recent violence).

'Monkey gang' member executed in Japan as marauding macaques run amok

By Isobel Whitcomb published 4 August 22

A team of "specially commissioned hunters" tracked down and killed one member of a "monkey gang" responsible for more than 50 attacks in the Japanese city of Yamaguchi.

The shark looks like a Greenland shark but was released before a genetic sample could be collected.

Half-blind Greenland shark possibly spotted in the Caribbean, thousands of miles from its usual home

By Patrick Pester published 3 August 22

A strange shark caught off Belize in the Caribbean was likely a Greenland shark or Greenland shark hybrid, according to a new study.

Similar swarms have appeared in waters near Haifa before, in 2015 and in 2017.

Thousands of jellyfish swarm near Israel, mesmerizing images reveal

By Jamie Carter published 2 August 22

Cameras on drones recently captured aerial images of nomad jellyfish as they swarmed by the thousands in coastal waters near Israel.

A gummy squirrel was one of the weird creatures found in an abyss in the Pacific Ocean.

'Gummy squirrel' found in deep-sea abyss looks like a stretchy half-peeled banana

By Jennifer Nalewicki published 2 August 22

Scientists collected 55 creatures in a largely unexplored area of the Pacific Ocean, 39 could potentially be new species.

Lalieudorhynchus might have had a hippo-like lifestyle, spending much of its time in water.

Mammal ancestor looked like a chubby lizard with a tiny head and had a hippo-like lifestyle

By Jamie Carter published 1 August 22

Fossils found in France are from a previously unknown species of amphibian that belonged to a group of reptiles with mammal-like traits.

An artist's interpretation of the new species of European panda.

Europe’s last pandas were giant weaklings who couldn’t even eat bamboo

By Harry Baker published 31 July 22

Analysis of fossilized teeth that were rediscovered in museum archives in Bulgaria has revealed a new species of ancient panda that was likely the last of its kind in Europe.

An adult copperhead snake, often found camouflaged among leaf litter.

Copperhead snakes: Facts, bites & babies

By Jessie Szalay, Ben Biggs published 31 July 22

Reference Copperhead snakes are common in North America, and have the distinction of biting more people in the United States than any other snake.

Reference

Can turtles really breathe through their butts?

By Harry Baker published 31 July 22

Some freshwater turtles engage in a process akin to butt breathing.

A Turritopsis immortal jellyfish off the coast of Sarıgerme in Turkey.

The longest-living animals on Earth

By Patrick Pester published 30 July 22

The longest-living animals can survive for centuries and millennia, even pausing the aging process altogether. Here are the longest-living animals in the world.

DeepMind AI has discovered the structure of nearly every protein known to science

By Stephanie Pappas published 29 July 22

The DeepMind program AlphaFold has predicted the structures of almost all proteins known to science.

The unusual front fins of epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) help them do something no other shark species can do: walk on land.

'Walking sharks' caught on video, astound scientists

By Isobel Whitcomb published 29 July 22

On the remote Southern coast of Papua New Guinea, scientists encountered something amazing: a walking shark.

Over 60 million years ago, penguins abandoned flight for swimming. Here’s how.