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The first asynchronous roboflapper, built at the size of an actual insect. Photo: Courtesy of Nick Gravish.

Robotic insect reveals evolutionary secrets of the fastest flapping fliers

Eli Ramos 5 Dec 2023
Getting plant species on the Red List often leads to greater habitat protections and conservation funding. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Nearly half of the world’s flowering plants face the threat of extinction, study says

Joseph Howlett 4 Dec 2023
Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine (Coendou roosmalenorum) Photo credit: M.G.M. van Roosmalen

Scientists unearth secrets of the world’s smallest porcupine species

Andrea Tamayo 30 Nov 2023
Two Dutch flycatchers nestle in the palm of a researcher’s hands. Photo credit: Koosje Lamers.

Ecologists help migratory birds adapt to climate change

Gillian Dohrn 30 Nov 2023
An African wedgefish (Rhynchobatus luebberti) landed by artisanal fishermen and sold in Songolo (Critically Endangered, IUCN Red List). Credit: Godefroy De Bruyne

Congo’s waters are hotspot for endangered sharks & rays, reveals data from artisanal fishers

Molly Herring 28 Nov 2023
Firefighter fighting a battle against a veld-fire at Ashton Bay, Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa in March 2017. Photo credit: Steven Terblanch

Do tree-planting projects on grasslands increase fire risk?

Alix Soliman 28 Nov 2023
Llamas moving through the harsh post-glacial landscape below the Uruashraju glacier. Photo credit: Anaïs Zimmer

Llama herding helps community in Peru recover from a melting glacier

Sierra Bouchér 27 Nov 2023
North Atlantic orcas are threatened by persistent organic pollutants that build up in their favorite prey, marine mammals. Photo by Nitesh Jain / Unsplash

North Atlantic orcas reveal the troubling persistence of toxic ocean pollutants

Kristel Tjandra 27 Nov 2023
A house sparrow (Passer domesticus) perched on a black metal fence in the city. Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash.

Discriminatory U.S. housing policies still affect bird sightings 90 years later

Chiara Villanueva 27 Nov 2023
Bornean orangutans are threatened by habitat loss and individual killings. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Killings of Bornean orangutans could lead to their extinction

Madeline Reinsel 24 Nov 2023
Blue-winged mountain tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus). Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Bright, unique colors can put tropical songbirds at greater risk

Anna Marie Yanny 15 Dec 2022
Wildfires spark up throughout the summer and early fall in the western United States. (Image by David Mark from Pixabay)

Wildfires are climbing up the snowiest mountains of the western U.S.

Isabel Swafford 14 Dec 2022
A Djouroutou chimpanzee cracks open a panda nut on a wooden anvil. Photo credit: Liran Samuni, Taï Chimpanzee Project

Chimpanzee nut cracking leaves telltale marks on stones, providing clues to human evolution

Kate Hull 13 Dec 2022
Red ants forming chains.

How many ants live on Earth? At least 20 quadrillion, scientists say

Shannon Banks 12 Dec 2022
Two natterjack toads (Epidalea calamita) in mating position. Image courtesy of Christoph Bühler.

If you build it, the amphibians will come: Swiss researchers show new ponds boost species at risk

Elissa Welle 9 Dec 2022
A sea butterfly (Limacina helicina) whose shell has been weakened by ocean acidification. (NOAA Photo Library, CC-BY-2.0)

Melting ice created the perfect storm for a rapidly acidifying Arctic Ocean

Luis Melecio-Zambrano 7 Dec 2022
Although Bitcoin is a virtual currency, some collectors trade metal coins with codes for amounts of Bitcoin printed on them, not unlike a gift certificate. Photo by Dmitry Demidko on Unsplash.

Climate damage from Bitcoin mining grew more than 125 times worse in just five years

Sean Cummings 5 Dec 2022
Evergreen huckleberry, a traditional and ceremonial food for the Karuk Tribe. Image courtesy of Rosewoman on Flickr

Indigenous knowledge guides the conservation of culturally important plants

Roxanne Hoorn 5 Dec 2022
A Humboldt’s woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha) explores the forest floor in Colombia. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Some tree-dwelling primates may adapt more easily to life on the ground, massive study shows

Elise Overgaard 2 Dec 2022
The spectral tarsier is a close relative of the western tarsier. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Extinction not only threatens primates—their parasites are in danger, too

McKenzie Prillaman 1 Dec 2021
Climate change challenges southern right whale survival. Following strong El Niño events a high proportion of females were missing from their breeding sites. After one year of gestation followed by another year of lactation, reproductive females are vulnerable to a reduced availability of krill, and they may potentially fail to fully recover. Photo by Nicolás Lewin

El Niño takes a toll on southern right whales in the Atlantic Ocean

Brian Phan 1 Dec 2021
Image courtesy of Rixster II

Potty-trained cows? Teaching cattle where to urinate could help reduce greenhouse gases

Emily Moskal 30 Nov 2021
Large tiger sharks overwinter in the Bahamas and migrate thousands of kilometers into open ocean in the summer, but they remain in the Atlantic. Photo credit: © Christopher Vaughan-Jones

Geneticists have identified new groups of tiger sharks to protect

Graycen Wheeler 30 Nov 2021
Researchers found hermit crabs scuttling across some of the study’s 240 plots. Photo credit: Sebastian Steibl

Insects and other invertebrates on tropical islands face challenges as development and tourism expand

Brittney J. Miller 29 Nov 2021
A white-necked jacobin with the brightly colored feather patterns typical of males. Photo by Irene Mendez Cruz.

Some hummingbird females display male coloring to avoid being harassed

Megan Kalomiris 23 Nov 2021
Jaguar in a river in Mexico. Photo credit: Gerardo Ceballos

Jaguars in Mexico are growing in number, a promising sign that national conservation strategies are working

Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright 22 Nov 2021

“Earthshine” from the Moon shows our planet is dimming, intensifying global warming

Zack Savitsky 18 Nov 2021
A black bear family cautiously attempting a road crossing. Photo by Bridget Donaldson, Virginia Transportation Research Council.

Carnivores avoid rush hour by taking to roads at night

Elyse DeFranco 17 Nov 2021
Worker bees cluster on the honeycomb to eat and deposit nectar. Photo by Jude Coleman

Honey bees find food more easily in cities, thanks to abundant urban gardens

Jude Coleman 15 Nov 2021
Degraded forests are highly susceptible to fires set by ranchers and farmers. This August 2019 is burning into degraded forest from a recently cleared area. Image © Fábio Nascimento.

Lasers reveal steep decline in ecosystem function of degraded Amazon forests

Tess Joosse 16 Dec 2020
Pangolin bust, Medan, Indonesia, April 2015. Over 4000 frozen, 97 live and 77 kg of scale where confiscated during a WCS and national police bust of a wildlife trade. Photo: Paul Hilton for WCS

In China, public support grows to rein in the wildlife trade in the wake of the pandemic

Emily Harwitz 9 Dec 2020
Palm Jumeriah, an artificial island, off the coast of Dubai. Photo credit: Zoom.Earth / Maxar Technologies

Humanity’s construction footprint in the seas amounts to 32,000 square kilometers

Allison Gasparini 4 Dec 2020

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