Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2018

There Are More 'Pet' Tigers Than There Are in the Wild. How Did That Happen?

Thousands more tigers may be living in private captivity or as exotic pets in the United States alone than there are anywhere in the wild, based on shocking estimates from a number of conservation organizations, Smithsonian recently reported. Estimates of the U.S. pet-tiger population range from 5,000 to 7,000, according...

May 31, 2018

T. Rex Couldn't Stick Out Its Tongue

T. rex may have been a highly successful predator, but it would have been terrible at licking stamps, lollipops or popsicles, thanks to a tongue that was likely fixed to the bottom of its mouth. A new study calls into question artists’ renditions of T. rex and other dinosaurs that...

May 31, 2018

Someone Just Killed One of the Last Remaining Jaguars in the US

One of just three jaguars known to be living in the U.S. was recently killed by poachers. Experts identified the jaguar's pelt in a recent photo and say it is Yo'oko, a male jaguar (Panthera onca) that was known to roam the Huachuca Mountains in southern Arizona, the Arizona Daily...

Apr 30, 2018

Meet the Ocean Creatures that Use Mucous Nets to Catch Their Food

All animals must eat to survive. If you've heard the term grazer before, it may bring to mind familiar farm animals, such as cows or sheep munching on pastureland. But the ocean has its own suite of grazers, with very different — even bizarre — body forms and feeding techniques....

Apr 30, 2018

This Huge, Ancient Whale Would Have Ripped You to Shreds

This ancient, gummy whale is breaking all the rules. The weird marine beast, called Llanocetus denticrenatus, lived about 34 million years ago. It was big. It was an early ancestor of modern humpbacks and blue whales. And (this is the maverick, rule-breaking bit for a whale of its type) it...

Apr 30, 2018

Tardigrades Apparently Do Huge Poops

Here are some things that are true about tardigrades: They're tiny, measuring between 0.05 millimeters to 1.2 mm (0.002 to 0.05 inches) long, right on the edge of visible. They're not one species, but a whole phylum of animals. (A phylum is a broad category; There are just 32 phyla...

Apr 30, 2018

These Two Angry, Yelling Lynx Are Probably Fighting About Sex

Two lynx face off on the side of a road in Ontario. RNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH, says one. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHNHHNHAAAHHH, says the other. YYYYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHSSSSS, they say in unison, tapping their foreheads together before suddenly darting apart. This fight, captured on video by passerby Edward Trist and shared on Twitter by the website Globalnews.ca, is...

Mar 31, 2018

This Creepy Fish Packs 'Switchblades' in Its Face and Could Kill You with Its Venom

If you invite the venomous, armored stonefish to a party, know this: It's going to bring not one, but two switchblades — and it can't check them at the door, because these weapons are embedded in its skull. Scientists recently discovered these switchblades, or lachrymal sabers, in a group of...

Mar 31, 2018

'Alice in Wonderland' Dodo Was Murdered in Cold Blood

Dodos went extinct more than 300 years ago, but scientists are only now opening up a cold case after learning that one of the birds — the prized dodo specimen that likely inspired author Lewis Carroll to create a dodo character in the 1865 book Alice in Wonderland — was...

Feb 28, 2018

Why Aren't There Any Supersize Whales?

Whales are giant beasts, but why aren't even larger, supersize whales swimming around? The answer has to do with food, according to a new study that found that it would be basically impossible for an ocean-bound creature to eat enough food to support a body bigger than a whale. At...

Jan 31, 2018

Does All That Headbanging Leave a Mark on Woodpeckers' Brains?

Scientists may have just pecked new holes in the widely held idea that woodpeckers' brains suffer no ill effects from the considerable force generated by their high-speed pecking. A new study — the first to examine the birds' brains — shows that woodpecker brains are not immune to these repeated...

Dec 31, 2017

Frozen Sharks Washing Up on Cape Cod

As the Arctic blast continues to roil the Eastern Seaboard with gusty winds and frigid temperatures, at least four thresher sharks have been found frozen off the coast of Cape Cod. Is Old Man Winter to blame? Probably not, as the sharks likely died not from hypothermia but from stranding...

Dec 31, 2017

Making the Case ― Again ― for Saving Imperiled Species (Op-Ed)

David Steen received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Auburn University and is now a Research Ecologist at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. Steen has published dozens of scientific papers about wildlife ecology and conservation biology and is also an award-winning science communicator known for his wide-ranging...

Nov 30, 2019

The 9 Best Blobs of 2019

When scientists discover a round, lumpy object that they can't totally explain, they have a special name for it: A blob. Blobs come in all shapes and sizes. Some are as small as cells, others as big as galaxies. Some blobs live underwater, others deep in space or far below...

Nov 30, 2019

The 10 Strangest Animal Stories of 2019

A wild, wild world Ants that eat ants, cockatoos that head-bang, and clams that eat their way through stone — one thing's for sure, the animal kingdom can be really wild. This year, scientists stumbled upon all sorts of creatures performing bizarre and mesmerizing behaviors. Here are 10 of the...