Wild Things
The weird and wonderful in the natural world
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Shipwreck provides window into Tudor-era cod fishing
In the 1500s, England was feeding its navy with fish caught far from home, a new study finds.
- Animals
How a seahorse dad is like a pregnant woman
Live birth has evolved at least 150 times in vertebrates, including in seahorses and humans. And there are some surprising similarities between the species.
- Animals
Rabbits leave a mark on soil long after they are gone
Twenty years after rabbits were removed from a sub-Antarctic island, soil fungus has yet to return to normal, a study finds.
- Animals
Some jellyfish sting deeper than others
A new study shows that some jellyfish have nematocysts that can sting deep into the skin. That may explain why their sting is so painful.
- Animals
Coral competitor becomes ally in fight against starfish
On the reef, algae compete with coral. But they may also protect coral from attacks by crown-of-thorns starfish, a new study finds.
- Animals
A world of mammal diversity has been lost because of humans
Humans have eradicated large mammal biodiversity in most regions of the globe, a new study finds.
- Plants
What fairy circles teach us about science
Science can’t yet tell us how fairy circles form, but that’s not a failure for science.
- Animals
A UFO would stress out a bear
Scientists need to know how animals, such as bears, react to the drones being used increasingly to study them.
- Animals
Cougars may provide a net benefit to humans
Cougars have disappeared from the eastern United States. If they returned, they’d kill deer, preventing many car crashes, scientists find.
- Animals
Gibbons have been disappearing from China for centuries
Gibbons are now found in only a small area of southwestern China. But they once thrived across much of the country, records show.
- Animals
Don’t let Cecil the lion distract from the big conservation challenges
Cecil the lion’s death rocketed across the news and social media. But there are bigger conservation challenges that need attention, too.
- Animals
How bears engineer Japanese forests
In Japanese forests, black bears climb trees, breaking limbs. Those gaps in the forest provide light to fruiting plants, a new study finds.
