Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 29, 2022

Why are tigers orange?

The colors and patterns of an animal serve lots of different purposes — for instance, to help them stand out to mates or even to warn predators that they're toxic. But for ambush predators like tigers, the ability to remain invisible to their prey determines whether they catch dinner or...

Jan 29, 2022

Oklahoma wildlife dept. says mountain lions don't make good pets. The internet disagrees.

Pet mountain lions sound like an oxymoron, but after some funny tweeting by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, the state, it seems, is asking whether such ownership is really a bad idea. On Jan. 20, the government department tweeted a photo of a mountain lion lying in the snow...

Feb 25, 2022

Cheetahs: Earth's fastest land animals

Known as the fastest land animals, cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are members of the big cat family, which includes tigers, jaguars, lions, leopards, snow leopards and pumas. Their name comes from the Hindi word chita, which means spotted one, according to the book Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation (Elsevier, 2018). With aerodynamic...

May 25, 2022

20,000 years ago, two American cheetahs fought to the death in a Grand Canyon cave

Some 20,000 years ago in a cave in a cliff wall in the Grand Canyon, two American cheetahs battled tooth against claw. The victor is lost to history, but one of the big cats, a juvenile that was bitten through the spine, likely died where it fell on the cave...

May 31, 2022

Lions: Facts, behavior and news

Lions are the second-largest cats in the world, after tigers. Known as the king of beasts or king of the jungle, these regal felines once roamed Africa, Asia and Europe, but now only live in parts of Africa and India. Experts have long recognized two subspecies of lion, Panthera leo...

Jul 13, 2022

Snow Leopard Moms & Cubs Captured in First-Ever Video

The dens of two snow leopard mothers and their cubs have been located in Mongolia for the first time, with new, unprecedented video showing the mothers and their young inside the den, a conservation organization announced yesterday (July 12). Snow leopard dens are difficult to find because of the animals'...

Aug 24, 2022

Could extinct Tasmanian tigers be brought back from the dead?

Can an extinct species be brought back to life? Scientists are taking a giant leap in that direction by using gene-editing to resurrect the Tasmanian tiger, a carnivorous marsupial from Australia and the continent's only marsupial apex predator. It died out nearly a century ago, driven to extinction by human...

Sep 15, 2022

Can cats really see in the dark?

If you've ever lived with a cat, you know that they can be incredibly active at night, often sprinting up and down corridors — and over their owners' beds — without ever crashing into walls or doors. Given their ability to avoid collisions during these nocturnal exercise sessions, you may...

Sep 15, 2022

Cat brains are shrinking, and it's all humans' fault

Thousands of years of human dependence has shrunk your cat's brain, new research suggests. In a study published Jan. 26 in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers compared the cranial measurements (an indicator of brain size) of modern house cats with that of two of their closest wild ancestors,...

Sep 15, 2022

Why do cats meow?

Every day your cat walks into your office, looks at you indignantly and utters a despondent meooow. You may not speak cat, but her meaning is clear: You haven't fed me yet, you monster! House cats are unique in the way they use their voices to communicate with their human...

Sep 15, 2022

How do cats get their stripes?

Ever wonder how your favorite furry feline got its stripes? A new study of domestic cats has revealed which genes give felines their distinctive fur patterns and hints that the same genetics may grant wild cats, such as tigers and cheetahs, their characteristic coats. How cats get their stripes is...

Sep 15, 2022

Tigers: The world's largest cats

Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and are instantly recognizable thanks to their striking orange and black stripes. These apex predators are capable of taking down prey of all sizes, from rodents to elephant calves. Increasingly in recent decades, human activities such as poaching have pushed tigers...

Sep 15, 2022

Why do cats lick?

Cats are notorious for their allegedly aloof nature, but even a habitually frosty feline may occasionally swipe a human arm, leg or face with its textured tongue. So why might a cat lick you? Is it displaying affection, or does it just want a taste? Anyone who has ever observed...

Sep 15, 2022

Why do so many cats have white 'socks' on their paws?

If you see a house cat, the odds are high that it will have white paws, a look that many owners affectionately call socks. But socks are rarely seen in wildcats, the elusive and undomesticated cousin of the house cat, so why do so many pet cats sport furry white...

Sep 15, 2022

Why Do Cats Wiggle Their Butts Before They Pounce?

As many pet owners will attest, when their cat prepares to pounce, it does a little butt wiggle first. This butt-wiggling pounce lasts just a few moments as the feline crouches down low and wiggles its rear end before launching itself at its target … which is sometimes your feet...