Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2020

Albatrosses: Facts about the biggest flying birds

Albatrosses are big, majestic birds that can be found soaring above most of the world’s oceans. These frequent fliers are known for spending months in the air without touching down, as well as having some unique mating arrangements. However, thanks to harmful fishing techniques and predation by invasive species, albatrosses...

Jun 30, 2020

Ruthless Australian 'assassin flies' named for Thor, Deadpool — and Stan Lee

Quick: Think of the most heroic animal on Earth. If you said the fly — that notoriously annoying insect that eats garbage, breeds in dung and transmits disease all over the world — then you are on the same page as the Australian biology community. Researchers at Australia's federal science...

May 31, 2020

Mysterious scars on Hawaiian shark could be sign of giant squid attack

A rare, multispecies brawl unfolded recently in the deep ocean off the coast of Hawaii. In one corner, an oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) — a 7-foot-long (2.1 meters) predator capable of diving up to 1,000 feet (300 m) below the surface in pursuit of prey. In the other corner…...

Apr 30, 2020

Dogs are being trained to sniff out COVID-19 in humans

Scientists are training dogs to identify COVID-19 by following their noses. A new program at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is putting noses to the grindstone for disease detection. Researchers are working with dogs to see if the canines' superior sniffers can help with early...

Apr 30, 2020

Ancient 'shapeshifting vampire demon' anchovy had saber tooth and fangs

Scientists have discovered the remains of two ancient fish that sported fanged teeth on their lower jaws and a huge, single saber tooth on the top. These now-extinct fish are so weird, there's no other known fish — living or dead — that look like them. The fishes' teeth are...

Jan 31, 2020

5 reasons hyenas like Harley Quinn's 'Bruce' are amazing

D.C. Comics' manic pixie criminal Harley Quinn gets it: Hyenas are delightful. In the movie Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020, Warner Bros. Pictures), Ms. Quinn (Margot Robbie) acquires some new partners in crime, including a large and very intimidating hyena that she bestows...

Jan 31, 2020

Madagascar's bizarre aye-aye has 6 fingers on each hand, scientists discover

The aye-aye is one of nature's most fascinatingly bizarre creatures. Native to Madagascar, this lemur is the largest nocturnal primate in the world and has unique features that set it apart. It has bat‐like ears that allow it to echo-locate and rodent-like ever-growing incisors — both unique among primates. It...

Dec 31, 2019

Dying Fish Revealed Congo Is World's Deepest River

SAN FRANCISCO — A mysterious case of dying fish in the lower Congo River helped scientists discover that this body is the deepest river on the planet. It's also a place where raging rapids, powerful currents and even submerged waterfalls divide the water, much as mountain ranges can separate habitats...

Dec 31, 2019

Nutria: The invasive, unusually large rodents

Nutria, also known as coypu, are large rodents that live in areas with lots of freshwater. Despite sometimes being called swamp rats, nutria are not rats. These mammals are native to South America and were introduced into the United States between 1899 and 1930 through the fur industry, according to...

Nov 30, 2021

55-foot-long Triassic sea monster discovered in Nevada

A sea monster that lived during the early dinosaur age is so unexpectedly colossal, it reveals that its kind grew to gigantic sizes extremely quickly, evolutionarily speaking at least. The discovery suggests that such ichthyosaurs — a group of fish-shaped marine reptiles that inhabited the dinosaur-era seas — grew to...

Oct 31, 2021

Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

Zebras are iconic for their distinctive coats, but have you ever wondered whether zebras are white with black stripes or black with white stripes? The stunning black-and-white coloration of the zebra's hide stands out in stark contrast with the dry, brown-and-green, treeless grasslands and savannah woodlands of their home territories...

Sep 30, 2021

Tardigrade trapped in amber is a never-before-seen species

Scientists discovered an incredibly rare fossil suspended in 16 million-year-old amber: a never-before-seen species of tardigrade, a pudgy, aquatic critter that rarely crops up in the fossil record. Modern-day tardigrades, also known as water bears or moss piglets, can be found in just about any environment with liquid water, from...

Sep 30, 2021

Michigan boy finds 'dragon's tooth' that belonged to a mastodon

A boy in Michigan was recently hiking with his family when he stepped into a creek and stumbled over something rocky that resembled a tooth. At first, he thought it belonged to a dinosaur, but paleontologists later found that the massive molar came from a mastodon. Julian Gagnon, age 6,...

Sep 30, 2021

'Explosive' photo captures 'otherworldly beauty' of spawning fish during a full moon

A striking photo capturing the explosive creation of life of spawning groupers beat more than 50,000 other photographs to win the grand prize at the 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The underwater image, called Creation, shows camouflage groupers (Epinephelus polyphekadion), a species vulnerable to extinction, emerging from a...

Aug 31, 2021

Who will buy 'Big John,' the biggest triceratops ever found?

An enormous triceratops nicknamed Big John is expected to fetch big bucks on the auction block in France, in October. The skeleton, which is more than 66 million years old and is approximately 60% complete, is the largest triceratops ever found. It measures about 26 feet (8 meters) long; the...