In southern Africa, certain hunter-gatherer communities called the San peoples, have traditionally been known to use deadly poison-tipped arrows to hunt big game like gazelles and giraffe. Now, in a…
Sitting on his verandah in Laikipia, northern Kenya, Dr. Dino Martins, 38, a Kenyan entomologist with experience with malaria, tick fever, liverfluke and other vector-borne diseases, talks about the need…
If you think your home is free of bugs, think again. A new study has found that arthropods -- a group of animals that have an external skeleton and jointed…
In the 1990s, researchers in India began noticing something strange in the skies. South Asian Gyps vultures, once numbering several millions, were dropping dead rapidly. In less than a decade, populations of…
Over the past two decades, populations of America’s iconic orange and black monarch butterflies have declined by more than 80 percent. Now, two environmental groups -- the The Center for…
A team of researchers has described 60 new species of dragonflies and damselflies from various parts of Africa, according to a recent study published in the journal Odonatologica. This is…
While the threat of extinction looms closer than ever for many species, 2015 was not all gloom. Scientists discovered thousands of new species this year, some seen and classified for the first…
Visitors to the tropics remember the bright colors. Take the blue-and-yellow macaw with its egg-yolk breast and turquoise back – “the usual gaudy colouring of the intertropical productions,” as Charles…
or several months until very recently, a gray pall of haze hung over Singapore, a result of uncontrolled wildfires and peatland hotspots in neighboring Indonesia. And as Anuj Jain from…
During a recently concluded study conducted over the last ten years, researchers from the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) working with the Madagascar Biodiversity Center (MBC) have discovered and described…
A recent study concludes that a new, overwintering population of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in the Southern U.S. is the direct result of ideal breeding conditions created by increased…
According to a comprehensive new study published in the journal Science, bumblebees are particularly vulnerable to climate change disruptions. Historical bumblebee ranges have shrunk on their extreme southern edge, while…
Cornfields in Iowa. Photo credit: David Gonthier. To protect natural ecosystems in the long term, some conservationists advocate "land sparing," in which farmers intensify agricultural practices to boost yields, theoretically…
A newly discovered beetle species, Cactopinus rhettbutleri, was named after mongabay.com's founder to fund the preservation of Ethiopian forests. Meg Lowman is on a mission to save northern Ethiopia's church…
A cinereous mourner nestling that resembled a toxic caterpillar in the Megalopygidae family of moths. Photo by: Santiago David Rivera. "Mama, I wanna be a toxic caterpillar," says the little…
When I was ten, I acquired my first dog. Rani was a Doberman Pinscher—tall, lean, and a huge pushover. She was wonderfully friendly, but sadly misunderstood her whole life, regularly…
Nepenthes rafflesiana, a large pitcher plant commonly found in swampy forests of Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Pitcher plants (Nepenthes species) have long captivated our fascination. Typically growing in…
A bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) covered in pollen. Photo by: P7r7/Creative Commons 3.0 Saving the world's pollinators may be a public health issue, according to recent research from Harvard and the…
Palm tree and termite mound: typical scenery in Okavango Delta in Botswana. Photo by Tiffany Roufs. Some termite species erect massive mounds that look like great temples springing up from…
Monarch butterfly population is second lowest on record The shrinking of the migrating monarch butterfly population. Image by: WWF. The world's migrating monarch butterfly population has bounced back slightly from…
First female Dakota skipper reared at the Minnesota Zoo. Photo by: Erik Runquist/Minnesota Zoo. This fall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added two little-known prairie butterflies to the Endangered…
In woodland and savannah areas, certain termite species play a critical environmental role due to the mounds they build. These mounds can be used as fertilizer to induce new ecosystems,…
Modern day expeditions face a collection dilemma as scientists consider ethics and endangerment A tray of Eriocnemis (a genus of hummingbird) specimens, Swedish Museum of Natural History - Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet,Stockholm,…
While unpleasant car exhaust makes us wrinkle our noses, such human-made fumes may pose serious problems to insects searching for nectar. Researchers recently revealed that background odors make finding flowers…
A female common earwig (Forficula auricularia) in defensive posture. The world's largest earwig has been declared extinct. Photo by: Public Domain. The world has lost a giant: this week the…
Bumblebees exposed to pesticides suffered adverse effects to their foraging behavior, according to a new study co-authored by Nigel Raine and Richard Gill in the journal Functional Ecology. Bumblebees (Bombus…
Ants appear more resilient to forest degradation than termites Scientists have long studied how birds, mammals, and amphibians respond to forest degradation, but what about the most abundant animals in…
Species declined 90 percent in 20 years Monarch butterflies were once a common sight throughout the North American heartland. In Mexico, where they overwinter, single trees would often be covered…
Aposphragisma brunomanseri goblin spider. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum of Berne Swiss researchers have honored the memory of a missing indigenous peoples activist by naming an undescribed species of…
Unknown orange butterfly in Sumatra. Scientists believe we are in the midst of a defaunation crisis, which is impacting animals, and ecological services, the world over. Photo by: Rhett A.…
