Wild Things

The weird and wonderful in the natural world

  1. Animals

    Unknown species hide among Texas cave crickets

    A study of population structure among a genus of cave crickets reveals that new species are waiting to be discovered.

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  2. Animals

    Spider diet goes way beyond insects

    Veggie-eating spiders have been found on every continent except Antarctica, a new study notes.

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  3. Animals

    Snake fungal disease spreading in eastern United States

    A decade after snake fungal disease was first discovered, it has now been found in its 16th U.S. state.

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  4. Animals

    Tiny hummingbirds can fly a long, long way

    Some ruby-throated hummingbirds may be capable of flying more than 2,000 kilometers without stopping, scientists calculate.

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  5. Animals

    Parasites help brine shrimp survive toxic waters

    When brine shrimp are infected with tapeworms, the tiny aquatic organisms survive better in warm waters and in those laced with toxic arsenic.

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  6. Animals

    How killing wolves to protect livestock may backfire

    Lone wolves are more likely to prey on goats and other livestock than are wolves living in packs, a new study finds.

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  7. Oceans

    Protected coral reefs may not be the ones that need protection

    A new study finds that more than half of the world’s coral reefs site within a half-hour of a human settlement. But those that are protected tend to be far away.

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  8. Animals

    Tiger protection in Thailand produces results

    Despite good efforts, the goal of doubling the global tiger population by 2022 looks impossible.

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  9. Animals

    Invasive toads will probably overrun Madagascar

    A new report finds that eradicating invasive Asian toads before they overtake all of Madagascar is “not currently feasible.”

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  10. Animals

    Without a ban on trade in old ivory, elephant killing continues

    Samuel Wasser has been working to track down where poached ivory comes from. But to stop the killing, he says, a ban on the ivory trade is necessary.

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  11. Animals

    Slow-moving nurse sharks have a metabolism to match

    The nurse shark has the slowest metabolism of any shark measured so far, a new study finds.

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  12. Animals

    Africa’s poison arrow beetles are key in traditional hunting method

    In the Kalahari of Namibia, some San people still hunt with a traditional method — arrows laced with poison taken from beetle larvae.

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