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. black and white image of a Paratuposa placentis beetle
    Animals

    These tiny beetles fly fast thanks to wing bristles and a weird, wide stroke

    Minuscule featherwing beetles have evolved a unique way of flying that lets them match the speed of beetles three times as big.

  2. fossilized skeletons of four kungas lying side by side
    Animals

    Part donkey, part wild ass, the kunga is the oldest known hybrid bred by humans

    Syria’s 4,500-year-old kungas were donkey-wild ass hybrids, genetic analysis reveals, so the earliest known example of humans crossing animal species.

  3. image of three Jonah’s icefish around two circular nests
    Animals

    The largest group of nesting fish ever found lives beneath Antarctic ice

    Researchers stumbled upon a fish breeding colony of unprecedented size, spanning a territory slightly larger than Baltimore.

  4. image of a blastoid sphere with blue and pink hues
    Health & Medicine

    ‘Blastoids’ made of stem cells offer a new way to study fertility

    Newly created “blastoids” could help with research on nonhormonal contraceptives and fertility treatments.

  5. image of a Richard’s pipit amid grass
    Life

    Some songbirds now migrate east to west. Climate change may play a role

    In recent decades, more Richard's pipits are wintering in Europe than before. It may signal the establishment of a totally new migration route.

  6. image of a Stenolemus bituberus assassin bug
    Animals

    Assassin bugs tap spiders to distract them before a lethal strike

    Some assassin bugs stroke their antennae on spiders when within striking distance, possibly imitating touches that spiders experience near their kin.

  7. elephants
    Animals

    Tuskless elephants became common as an evolutionary response to poachers

    After poachers tore through a Mozambican elephant population, tuskless females tripled in number as humans altered the species’s evolutionary trajectory.

  8. four barnacles on the surface of a crab carapace
    Animals

    Barnacles are famed for not budging. But one species roams its sea turtle hosts

    Once settled and glued to the substrate, adult barnacles stay put. But turtle barnacles upend this trend, sliding slowly across their reptilian rides.

  9. a jaguar swimming in water
    Animals

    Huge numbers of fish-eating jaguars prowl Brazil’s wetlands

    Jaguars in the northern Pantanal ecosystem primarily feed on fish and caiman, living at densities previously unknown for the species.

  10. a leaf-cutting ant, with sharp mandibles visible
    Animals

    How metal-infused jaws give some ants an exceptionally sharp bite

    Some small animals make cuts, tears and punctures that they couldn’t otherwise do using body parts reinforced with metals such as zinc and manganese.

  11. flames and smoke billow from trees in the Amazon
    Life

    Fires may have affected up to 85 percent of threatened Amazon species

    Since 2001, fires in the Amazon have impacted up to about 190,000 square kilometers — roughly the size of Washington state.

  12. male greater double-collared sunbird
    Animals

    Sunbirds’ dazzling feathers are hot, in both senses of the word

    Iridescent feathers reflect vivid colors. But they also become scorching hot in the sunlight, a study finds.