Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 20, 2023

Bats with weirdly giant penis have sex for up to 12 hours in a way never seen in mammals before

Bats with disproportionately large penises that don't fit inside the females' vaginas are the only mammals known to have sex without penetration, scientists have discovered. Mammals usually mate via penetrative sex, but serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus) have evolved a different strategy. Instead of inserting their penis into the female's vagina,...

Feb 17, 2024

Honduran white bats: The fluffy little bats that roost together in leaf tents

Name: Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba) Where it lives: Lowland rainforests of Central America What it eats: Figs Why it is awesome: With fluffy white fur, a large yellow nose and ears, and weighing just 0.02 pound (9 grams), the Honduran white bat has got to be one of the...

Dec 6, 2004

DNA Study Yields New Subspecies of Tiger

Scientists announced late Monday the apparent discovery of a new tiger species. No new tigers were found. Rather, a DNA analysis found one subspecies ought to be considered as two. The finding could help researchers who work to protect the endangered animals. In 1900, some 100,000 wild tigers lived throughout...

Mar 31, 2005

Well-Known Tiger 'Olga' Presumed Killed by Poachers

The first wild Siberian tiger ever fitted with a radio collar was killed by poachers, officials believe. The 14-year-old tiger, Olga, has been missing since January. She is presumed to have been killed by poachers who destroyed her radio collar, according to a statement released Thursday by the Bronx Zoo-based...

Jul 7, 2006

Venture Capitalists Pledge $10 Million to Save Tigers

Saving big cats comes down to money. And now scientists have some. But they will be held accountable. Conservation-minded venture capitalists have pledged $10 million to support a scientific effort aimed at saving tigers. In a twist for science, specific results have been promised in what researchers are calling a...

Dec 15, 2006

Tigers Reproduce Like Rabbits But Barely Survive

Tiger populations in a national park in India are stable despite relentless poaching because the wild cats breed like rabbits. A nine-year study conducted in India's Nagarhole National Park found that an average of 23 percent of the park's tigers either moved away or died each year from natural causes...

Jul 5, 2007

Three-Legged Sumatran Tiger Photographed

A camera trap inside an Indonesian national park has photographed a three-legged Sumatran tiger that lost the lower half of its right front leg to escape a snare. Sumatran tigers are the most critically endangered tiger subspecies in the world, with fewer than 400 individuals left in the wild. A...

Jul 2, 2008

Tigers Vanish in Nepal

Officials are alarmed by a plunging tiger population in the Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal, a refuge that once boasted among the highest densities of this endangered species in the Eastern Himalayas. There were at least 20 tigers in the reserve in 2005 and now there are somewhere between six...

Oct 31, 2008

Sabertooth 'Tigers' Were Social Beasts

Leopards and tigers today are fairly solitary beasts, but the extinct sabertooth cat was likely a social animal that lived and hunted like today’s lions, a new study suggests. The sabertooth cat (Smilodon fatalis) is famous for its extremely long canine teeth, which reached up to seven inches in length...

Mar 17, 2009

New Software Helps Track Endangered Tigers

Tigers in the wild are now being rapidly identified, counted and tracked by conservation scientists who are creating 3-D models of the animals from photos snapped by remote cameras. Researchers currently calculate tiger populations by painstakingly reviewing hundreds of photos of animals caught by camera traps and then matching their...

Jul 27, 2009

Glimmer of Hope for Threatened Tigers

The wild tiger population is at a tipping point, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Tigers are experiencing a range collapse, occupying 40 per cent less habitat than just a decade ago, the group estimates. There may be as few as 1,300 tigers left in India, the species' stronghold. So...

Nov 30, 2009

Siberian Tiger Population Declines

The last remaining population of Siberian tigers has likely declined significantly due to increased poaching and habitat loss, according to a report released yesterday by the Siberian Tiger Monitoring Program, a collaboration between the U.S. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and several Russian organizations. The results will help inform Russian officials...

Aug 3, 2010

World's Largest Tiger Reserve Created

The world's largest area devoted to protecting tigers has been declared by the government of Myanmar. The entire Hukaung Valley in the Southeast Asian country will become a tiger sanctuary under the declaration, which officially protects an area the size of Vermont and is a major step forward for saving...

Sep 14, 2010

Last Stronghold of Endangered Tigers Identified

Scientists have identified the last strongholds for tigers — 42 sites scattered across Asia where the species' roughly 1,000 remaining breeding females could potentially restore populations of the endangered big cats. The number of wild tigers has never been lower. Fewer than 3,500 tigers remain in the wild, and they...

Nov 10, 2010

Grim Trade in Tiger Parts Still Strong Globally, Report Finds

They're found alive and dead, whole and in pieces, sometimes sawed completely in half, pieces of spine and torn muscle poking through bright fur. But typically, all that is recovered of the massive beasts are skin and piles of dried up bones, claws, teeth even tiger penises. The illicit trade...