Stand in awe of the small but mighty pumpkin toadlet. He might only be an inch long, but his skin is packed with some of the most potent toxins on Earth. Strutting proudly through the mulch, he lets out a series of high-pitched buzzes to let nearby females know that in this patch of damp, decomposing leaves, he is…
The life of a hermit crab is one of repetition. Find an abandoned snail shell. Live in it. Nom on some flecks of detritus. Grow bigger. Find a slightly bigger shell. Repeat all steps for the rest of your crustacean life. The most onerous part is continually upgrading the shell, a process that can get pretty intensely…
Floridians were spared the brunt of Hurricane Irma’s destructive power last week, when the storm instead took direct aim at some of the most pristine sections of the Everglades. Early reports from scientists suggest that these ecosystems saw serious damage, and could face a long road to recovery.
The Department of Homeland Security has moved to waive a stunning list of environmental regulations for the construction of Donald Trump’s stupid border wall. You know, the same one which depending on how lit the president happens to be at any given moment, he has promised would be between anywhere from 30 to 65 feet…
Ah, the simple pleasure of a perfectly stacked soda display or an impeccably organized closet. Who doesn’t feel at least a little reenergized after a bout of over-the-top arranging? Turns out, our squirrelly friends might feel the same way about neatly-organized nuts.
As Hurricane Irma rakes the west coast of Florida, all eyes are on the cities and human lives in the storm’s path. But Irma is also hammering the Florida Everglades, and the scientists familiar with this fragile ecosystem are concerned the storm could deliver a devastating blow.
Old sailor’s tales about the seas being so full of fish you could walk on them, or oysters the size of frisbees, tend to inspire skepticism today, and for good reason—most of us have very little direct experience with the oceans, except for the occasional news article about how we’ve screwed it up beyond repair. But…
Burying beetles (Nicrophorus) are hard to miss. The insects aren’t big, but most species are painted with vibrant, orange blotches on a glossy black background. According to new research, walking around dressed in their Halloween best may have a much more important function for the beetles than just looking like …
The American Pika (Ochonta princeps) is one of the few unproblematic faves we have left. These tiny animals roams the mountainous regions of the western United States, doing absolutely nothing wrong. Seriously, all these little floofs do is munch on wildflowers and grass—the images of which are mind-numbingly cute.…
Many animals endemic to islands have gone the proverbial “way of the dodo,” including, well, the dodo. Island species face some of the toughest climate and human-induced challenges, and some of them just don’t make it out alive. But new research shows how one strange creature—the Solenodon—was able to escape…
You may be familiar with the Big Buck Hunter bonus level where you pump a few dozen rounds into salmon flopping out of the river while grizzlies look on. This is not an especially good bonus level (I prefer the one with the basketballs or the electric eels), but it would be much worse if you needed to shoot…
Nature can be brutal as hell. The Circle of Life translates to a horrible place full of awful smells, corpses, murder, and plenty of unreasonably upsetting shit. Looking at pictures of nature, however, is a completely different story. It’s soothing. It’s nice. There’s not as much blood, generally.
Each year, our civilization pours around eight million tons of plastic into the ocean, a portion of which ends up in the bellies of fish, and by consequence, our dinner plates. New research suggests that at least one species of fish isn’t ingesting this plastic debris by chance—they’re actually attracted to the smell.
Humans are the ultimate predator. If you’re armed with the right tools there’s virtually nothing else that can beat you in a standoff (except maybe antibiotic resistant bacteria, but let’s forget about that). If you want to befriend the animal, though, it’s a whole different story.
A US company has sold nearly five tons of genetically-engineered Atlantic salmon fillets in Canada, marking the world’s first sale of GM fish for human consumption. Skeptics of the futuristic food are crying foul, citing ecological and health concerns, but government scientists say folks eating the modified fish have…
On Monday, the USDA brought us some much needed good news, when it reported data suggesting that honeybees might finally be bouncing back from colony collapse disorder. Today, a team of scientists countered with some seriously bummer pollinator news. A new study published in the journal Nature indicates that…
It looks like President Donald Trump might get his stupid wall after all. Last week, the House approved a $1.6 billion spending bill that funds the construction of a “contiguous and impassable wall” along the Mexican border, and just yesterday the Department of Homeland security issued an environmental waiver to…
252 million years ago, the Earth was in a really bad place. At the boundary of the Permian and Triassic periods, our biosphere experienced its most dramatic mass extinction event (so far), one so utterly complete that it has been solemnly termed the “Great Dying.” Precious little was spared, and it’s generally been…
In a world seemingly intent on destroying itself, the humble capybara is a wholesome good. The oversized friendship guinea pig is a reminder of what humanity could achieve if we stopped yelling at each other on the internet. That’s why this week on Animals Are Good, we’re celebrating the world’s largest—and…
Bears, they’re just like us. And I’m not referring to a subset of hairy humans, but to some furry critters in Wisconsin whose diets contain a staggering amount of junk food. Seriously!
