Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2022

'Merciless' sea monster with broken teeth prowled the seas 66 million years ago

A giant mosasaur with teeth like a killer whale ruled the oceans around Morocco towards the end of the Cretaceous period, a new study finds. The extinct predator, named Thalassotitan atrox, grew to about 30 to 33 feet (9 to 10 meters) long and likely fed on any other marine...

Jun 30, 2022

It's raining anchovies in San Francisco

It's raining fish in San Francisco, and locals are finding anchovies in unlikely places around the Bay Area, including sidewalks, driveways, rooftops and bus stops. Experts believe the fishy precipitation is the result of a surge in coastal anchovy populations, SF Gate reported. Earlier this month, the Otolith Geochemistry and...

Jun 30, 2022

Three people gored by bison in a month at Yellowstone National Park. Why do these attacks happen?

Three people have been gored by bison in a single month at Yellowstone National Park, with the two most recent attacks coming just two days apart. Park officials warned visitors to be respectful of the enormous beasts' personal space, as approaching too close can provoke bison to charge. The most...

Jun 30, 2022

Scientists dismiss Coyote Peterson's 'large primate skull' discovery as fake

A large primate skull was allegedly found in British Columbia by American YouTuber Coyote Peterson, according to social media posts he shared on Thursday (July 7). In those posts, Peterson wrote that he had hid the discovery for several weeks from government officials and any others who might try to...

Apr 30, 2022

Nuzzling T. rexes and grappling sauropods: Dinosaurs on 'Prehistoric Planet' will astonish you

What would happen if you put Sir David Attenborough and a specialist team of wildlife filmmakers in a time machine and set the dial to 66 million years ago — to the end of the Cretaceous period and the final days of the dinosaurs? An upcoming documentary series aims to...

Mar 31, 2022

Dingoes are part domestic dog, part wolf (sort of)

Dingoes are Australia's largest land predator, but their evolutionary history has been shrouded in mystery and debated for decades. Now, a new study finds that they are genetically somewhere between a wolf and a modern domestic dog. Researchers sequenced the genome of a pure dingo puppy that was discovered alive...

Jan 31, 2022

Facts about donkeys

Donkeys, also called burros and asses, are found throughout the world. They are members of the Equidae family, which also includes horses and zebras. They look a lot like their equine cousins, but have long, floppy ears and tend to be stockier than horses or zebras. How big are donkeys?There...

Jan 31, 2022

Facts about hippos

Hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius) are large, round, water-loving animals that are native to Africa. The word hippopotamus comes from the Greek word for water horse or river horse, although hippos and horses aren't closely related. The closest living relatives to hippos are pigs, whales and dolphins, according to the San Diego...

Jan 31, 2022

Are there any giant animals humans haven't discovered yet?

In 2020, researchers saw for the first time what may be the longest animal ever. The creature, spotted in a deep-sea canyon off Australia, was a roughly 150-foot-long (45 meters) siphonophore. Each member of this group of species is made up of lots of smaller animals called zooids, which connect...

Dec 31, 2021

Wild video shows goldfish 'driving' a water-filled car in weird experiment

Fish may not need bicycles, but they seem to like cars. A supremely weird new video shows a goldfish driving a water-filled, motorized car from one end of a room to another, bobbing and weaving to avoid obstacles along the way. Scientists performed the odd experiment to better understand how...

Dec 31, 2021

Did The Rock buy Stan, the most expensive Tyrannosaurus rex on record?

Did The Rock really buy Stan, one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimens on record, which sold for a record $31.8 million in October 2020 to an unknown buyer? Rumors swirled online this week after actor and XFL owner Dwayne The Rock Johnson appeared on NFL and ESPN's ManningCast...

Nov 30, 2023

10 times animals did weird things in 2023

Animals can often be unpredictable and surprise us with their unusual behavior, but some newsworthy critters take this even further, leaving scientists and the public completely baffled. While the weird behaviors on this list are a testament to the complex brains of our furry, finned and fork-tongued friends, there's also...

Nov 30, 2023

Living fossils: 12 creatures that look the same now as they did millions of years ago

A living fossil is a species that hasn’t evolved significantly for millions of years and closely resembles ancestors found in the fossil record. Charles Darwin coined the term living fossil in 1859 to describe living species that still looked like their ancestors from millions of years ago and were often...

Oct 31, 2023

'[He] attempted to study fertilization in frogs by fitting the males with tiny trousers': The science of sperm in the 1700s

In the excerpt below taken from Beautiful Experiments: An Illustrated History of Experimental Science (The University of Chicago Press, 2023), Philip Ball dives into the 17th and 18th century experiments that sought to figure out the answer to a fundamental question: What induces eggs to develop? From microscopic observations of...

Aug 31, 2023

Watch bear and wolf attack moose mom and calf at same time in rare, remarkable footage

A moose cow and its calf were recently attacked by a bear and a wolf at the same time in what looks almost like a coordinated strike, remarkable Alaskan footage shows. The footage lasts just a few seconds but showcases some of the dramatic behaviors and interactions that occur in...