Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 21, 2024

Watch bright red blood-sucking parasite feast on gulper eel in rare, deep-sea footage

Rare deep-sea footage captures a blood-sucking parasite latched onto the body of a ghoulish gulper eel. In the video, the eel swims close to the camera before revealing a bright-red parasite protruding from its back with two string-like structures dragging behind it. Researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute spotted the...

Feb 22, 2024

'Mind-blowing' deep sea expedition uncovers more than 100 new species and a gigantic underwater mountain

A deep-sea expedition off the coast of Chile has uncovered a treasure trove of scientific wonders, including more than 100 previously unknown marine species and a handful of never-before-seen underwater mountains — the largest of which is around four times the size of the world's tallest building. Incredible photos and...

Feb 23, 2024

What are tardigrades and why are they nearly indestructible?

Tardigrades, often called water bears or moss piglets, are near-microscopic aquatic animals with plump, segmented bodies and flattened heads. They have eight legs, each tipped with four to eight claws or digits, and somewhat resemble the hookah-smoking caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. Though tardigrades are disarmingly cute, they are also...

Feb 25, 2024

Can animals really smell fear in humans?

It has long been debated whether animals can smell fear in humans. Unfortunately, answering this age-old question isn't as simple as pulling Fluffy or Fido aside and asking them what they're sensing. So what does the research say? Can animals actually smell fear? To get to the root of this...

Mar 1, 2024

Secrets of giant Antarctic sea spiders and their tiny eggs revealed after 140 years

Scientists have finally resolved a 140-year-old mystery about how giant Antarctic sea spiders look after their eggs. Unlike other sea spiders that carry their eggs around until they hatch, the giant Antarctic sea spider (Colossendeis megalonyx) attach their thousands of tiny eggs to the rocky seafloor, a new study finds....

Mar 2, 2024

Shoebill: The human-sized African bird that eats baby crocodiles and kills its siblings

Name: Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) Where it lives: Marshes and swamps in East Africa What it eats: Fish and reptiles Why it's awesome: This menacing and prehistoric-looking bird can grow up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall – and is equipped with a sharp-edged, 1-foot-long (0.3 meter) bill — the third-largest...

Mar 8, 2024

Chernobyl worms appear unaffected by radiation from world's worst nuclear disaster

Tiny worms in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) in Ukraine are thriving despite being in an area marked by high levels of radiation, and scientists think their resilience could provide insights for cancer research in humans. Researchers traveled to the CEZ and collected microscopic worms of the species Oscheius tipulae....

Mar 12, 2024

Technicolor 'living magic carpet' deep-sea worm discovered near methane seep off Costa Rica

Scientists have discovered a new species of rosy-colored deep-sea worm 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The worm, named Pectinereis strickrotti, is a type of ragworm, or Nereididae. It was first spotted by researchers in 2009, as they explored a methane seep found at a...

Mar 12, 2024

Striking virtual 3D scans reveal animals' innards — including the last meal of a hognose snake

Incredible 3D images of over 13,000 vertebrates — representing half of the world's described genera — have been created as part of a project to make museum specimens available to all. From spine-tailed mice (Acomys species) to rare rim rock crowned snakes (Tantilla oolitica), natural collections from museums around the...

Mar 18, 2024

Worm-like creature squirts 'milk' from its butt to feed its young in 1st-of-its-kind video

In incredible new footage, a worm-like creature feeds its babies with a milk-like substance similar to what mammals give their newborns. It is the first time this behavior has been documented in caecilians. In the first-of-its-kind video, a female Brazilian ringed caecilian (Siphonops annulatus), an egg-laying amphibian, produces a transparent...

Mar 9, 2022

Man caught at Mexican border allegedly had more than 50 reptiles stuffed into his clothing

U.S. border officers have caught an accused wildlife smuggler allegedly attempting to cross from Mexico to the United States with more than 50 reptiles concealed in his clothing, just one day after he had been charged with trafficking up to 1,700 animals into the U.S. The man, a U.S. citizen,...

Jul 15, 2022

Crocodiles: Facts and photos of some of the toothiest reptiles

Crocodiles are large reptiles found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. They are members of the order Crocodilia, which also includes caimans, gharials and alligators. There are 13 crocodile species, and they range in size. The smallest, the dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis), grows to about 5.6...

Oct 5, 2022

Tiny Triassic critter provides new insight into the evolution of 1st flying reptiles

More than a century ago, researchers unearthed the remains of a tiny, ancient reptile from inside a swath of sandstone in northeastern Scotland. Most of its skeleton was long gone, but scientists recently reconstructed the animal for the first time, identifying it as a reptilian predecessor of pterosaurs — the...

Oct 14, 2022

New Species of Ancient Flying Reptile Discovered

An ancient reptile with a 9-foot wingspan was soaring over the sea in what is now North Texas some 95 million years ago when – plop – it fell into the water and died. That paleo-death tale comes from a fossilized jaw that was discovered embedded in soft, powdery shale...

Apr 20, 2023

Gigantic, 13-foot crocodile found with its head torn off on Australian beach

An idyllic beach in Australia turned into a nightmare scene earlier this week, when locals discovered an enormous, beheaded crocodile rotting in the sand. Some residents think the mutilation could have been an act of vengeance following a recent spate of crocodile attacks against humans along the Queensland coast between...