First big species audit finds coral extinction risks severely under-reported

Mites that were thought to be parasites to their host wasps turn out to be bodyguards, attacking intruders.

With a lifespan of just five months, the chameleon Furcifer labordi leads a briefer life than any other land-dwelling vertebrate.

The 60th meeting of the International Whaling Commission defers voting on deadlocked issues

Nonnative earthworms are deliberately burying ragweed seeds, enhancing the weed’s growth, researchers report.

Scientists take a new look at what drives female damselflies to look like males.

A new study shows that playful 2-year-old chimpanzees may be particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases — some caught from humans.

Female chimps tend toward silent sex when the other girls could overhear.

Chinook salmon, dwindling in the United States, go wild in South America.

Scientists have revealed new details about the genes — and the goo — that enable luminescent bacteria to colonize their symbiotic marine partner.

Wasp attack creates undead caterpillars that protect wasp young

Unsuspected genetic diversity found in asexual animals.

Believe it or not, science has barely begun to fathom the peacock’s tail. Subtle as a pink tuxedo, one might think. Big flashy thing. Peahens love it. What’s not to understand. Roslyn Dakin, though, has plenty of questions. There’s the matter of choreography. Already this year she has left Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, to visit peacocks (the birds) in Los Angeles and New York. She has spent weeks collecting feathers and watching males fan out their finery before the ladies. “The males do all sorts of strange footwork,” she says. With their tails a wall of shi...

A parasite threatens efforts to protect China's endangered icon.