Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 30, 2017

Awww! 12 Incredible Interspecies Moms in the Animal Kingdom

Different species? No problem (Image credit: Grigorita Ko/Shutterstock)Mother's Day is a time to celebrate the important role that moms play in the lives of their children. But human mothers aren't the only ones worth celebrating. There are plenty of hardworking mothers in the animal kingdom that also deserve recognition for...

Feb 28, 2017

Photos: Dinosaur Tracks Reveal Australia's 'Jurassic Park'

Jurassic Park (Image credit: Damian Kelly)In an effort to save their culture's history, the Goolarabooloo people of Australia called in a group of paleontologists to examine thousands of dinosaur footprints. The Goolarabooloo view the fossilized, three-toed track marks as evidence of a journey taken by one of people's creation beings....

Feb 28, 2017

'Sharknado' Down Under? Cyclone Debbie Deposits Shark on a Street

Forget about the Sharknado film series. A town in Australia experienced a real-life shark-cyclone of sorts when a shark washed up on the street after Cyclone Debbie hit the area, according to news reports. The tropical cyclone hit the Australian state of Queensland this week, with heavy rainfall causing flash...

Nov 30, 2018

Climate Change Is Making Sharks Right-Handed

The team of biologists from Macquarie University in Sydney knew from previous research that warming ocean temperatures alter the way fish grow and develop. The researchers wanted to find out whether these changes would also affect fish behavior — specifically, whether sharks raised in a tank warmed to projected end-of-century...

Nov 30, 2018

Here’s Why Scientists Are Poring Over Ancient Alpaca Poo

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Traces of 1,000-year-old poop in Peruvian soil could reveal the history of alpaca domestication in the region. Researchers analyzed sediments from cores extracted from lakes in southeastern Peru. They were looking for chemical fingerprints of compounds called sterols, which appear when cholesterol is broken down during digestion,...

Nov 30, 2018

10 Times Humans Were Total Morons Around Animals in 2018

Are we really the most intelligent species? (Image credit: Shutterstock)Judging by the way some people behave around animals, it's a wonder how humans have made it so long on this planet. From breaking into animal enclosures at zoos to thinking it's a good idea to hand-feed a shark, there are...

Nov 30, 2018

10 Times Animals Behaved Oddly in 2018

Oddball animals of 2018 (Image credit: Shutterstock)Scientists have been studying the animal kingdom for hundreds of years, and while many mysteries remain, it's pretty clear that animal behavior is consistently inconsistent, and occasionally, just plain weird. From a sexually frustrated dolphin to a duck with 76 ducklings in tow, here...

Oct 31, 2018

How Do Squirrels Remember Where They Buried Their Nuts?

Few things symbolize the onset of fall quite so well as the sight of a squirrel scampering around a park, industriously burying nuts. As the weather cools and the leaves turn, squirrels engage in this frantic behavior to prepare for the upcoming shortages of wintertime. But have you ever wondered...

Oct 31, 2018

Divers Surprised by Gorgeous 'Feather Boa' of the Sea. And the Video Is Glorious.

The resulting film shows a floating feather boa of the sea, properly known as a pyrosome. The 26-foot-long (8 meters) tube is not a single creature, according to The Washington Post, but rather a colony of tiny creatures called tunicates. I've always wanted to see one, videographer Steve Hathaway told...

Oct 31, 2018

How Did That Big Cow Get So Huge?

The internet literally had a cow yesterday when news of a giant steer in Australia spread across the interwebs like a fire set by a cow kicking over a lantern. The famous steer (a male cattle that's been neutered) is named Knickers. He's 7 years old, weighs more than 3,000...

Sep 30, 2018

Corked Tiger Wine? Enter to Win This Book on Wildlife Smuggling

Have you ever sailed on a rickety boat with a poacher as he checks his traps for wild pangolins and otters in Vietnam? Or, have you interviewed a businessman at a busy restaurant to learn why he uses ground-up rhino horn? Rachel Nuwer has, and she's detailed her adventurous travels...

Sep 30, 2018

Adorable Newborn Sea Monster from the Dinosaur Age Discovered in Kansas

About 85 million years ago, when a vast sea covered Kansas, a wee, little sea monster died almost immediately after it was born. Despite its short life, this newborn, which head to tail, was as long as André the Giant was tall (well, it was tiny compared to its parents)...

Sep 30, 2018

Dinosaur-Era Super-Piranha Terrorized Jurassic Seas

A piranha-like fish with a mouth full of pointy teeth (some even jutting down from the roof of its mouth) once swam the Jurassic seas, ripping flesh or even fins from the bodies of other aquatic creatures. That was 152 million years ago, a new study of a fossil of...

Sep 30, 2018

Exquisitely Preserved Lungs from 120 Million Years Ago Stun Scientists Studying Early Bird

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ancient organs rarely fossilize, so paleontologists were stunned to find the incredibly well-preserved remains of a lung that belonged to bird from the dinosaur age. Initially, scientists were excited to describe the specimen of Archaeorhynchus spathula, a bird that lived about 120 million years ago, because its...

Sep 30, 2018

Bats: Fuzzy Flying Mammals

As the only mammal that can fly, there's no doubt that bats are exceptional creatures. Common misconceptions and fears about bats have led many people to regard these nocturnal flyers as nothing more than frightening disease carriers, but bats are crucial for a healthy environment. Bats disperse seeds, eat loads...