Jake Buehler

Jake Buehler is a freelance science writer, covering natural history, wildlife conservation and Earth's splendid biodiversity, from salamanders to sequoias. He has a master's degree in zoology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

All Stories by Jake Buehler

  1. A juvenile bigclaw snapping shrimp in a lab dish next to a ruler
    Animals

    The fastest claw in the sea belongs to young snapping shrimp

    When juveniles snap their claws shut to create imploding bubbles, they create the fastest accelerating underwater movements of any reusable body part.

  2. A cluster of greater horseshoe bats hanging upside down in a cave
    Life

    Mammals that live in groups may live longer, longevity research suggests

    An analysis of nearly 1,000 mammal species reveals that the evolution of mammals’ social lives and life spans could be linked.

  3. photo of an African penguin standing on a rock and bowing its head
    Life

    Birds that dive may be at greater risk of extinction

    For birds, a diving lifestyle seems irreversible, evolutionarily speaking. The inflexibility possibly increases diving birds’ chances of going extinct.

  4. a wild red jungle fowl, which looks like a colorful rooster, standing in a forest
    Animals

    Chicken DNA is replacing the genetics of their ancestral jungle fowl

    Up to half of modern jungle fowl genes have been inherited from domesticated chickens. That could threaten the wild birds’ long-term survival.

  5. A photo of a female common death adder on a bed of leaves
    Animals

    Scientists thought snakes didn’t have clitorises. They were wrong

    Snakes were long thought to be the only reptile group to lack clitorises. But new findings suggest the sex organs are present after all.

  6. Two heavily armored dinosaurs swing long tail clubs at one another, crossing against the sunset on a strangely barren landscape
    Paleontology

    Armored dinos may have used their tail clubs to bludgeon each other

    Broken and healed spikes on Zuul's flanks are consistent with the armored beast receiving a mighty blow from the tail club of another ankylosaur.

  7. three gray wolves standing in the snow
    Life

    A parasite makes wolves more likely to become pack leaders

    In Yellowstone National Park, gray wolves infected with Toxoplasma gondii make riskier decisions, making them more likely to split off from the pack.

  8. A close up photo of a squirrel glider sitting on a tree branch and looking at the camera
    Animals

    Long considered loners, many marsupials may have complex social lives

    Some marsupials may be more sociable than previously thought, opening the door to a possible deep legacy of social organization systems in mammals

  9. Fishers pull in a large Atlantic bluefin tuna from choppy seas
    Oceans

    Sharks face rising odds of extinction even as other big fish populations recover

    Over the last 70 years, large ocean fishes like tuna and marlin have been recovering from overfishing. But sharks continue to decline toward extinction.

  10. A close up photo of a mosquito drawing blood from a human
    Health & Medicine

    A major malaria outbreak in Ethiopia came from an invasive Asian mosquito

    Malaria may become a much bigger problem in Africa’s cities if the invasive mosquito continues to spread.

  11. Illustration of Dakota, a 12-meter-long duck-billed dinosaur and the fossilized scaly skin from its foot.
    Paleontology

    Dinosaur ‘mummies’ may not be rare flukes after all

    Bite marks on a fossilized dinosaur upend the idea that exquisite skin preservation must result from a carcass's immediate smothering under sediment.

  12. A brimstone moth caterpillar, extremely effectively camouflaged as a twig
    Life

    Not all camouflage is equal. Here are prey animals’ best options

    When prey masquerade as innocuous objects in the environment, they slow detection from predators by nearly 300 percent.