Ecology

Size matters: Elephants and whales are the only two animals that show up from space when tracked using “commercially available” resolutions. Satellite images have been used to prevent poaching, as well as to keep track of creatures that manage to be as elusive as they are enormous.

Here’s Why Forests Should Matter to All of Us

Today is International Day of Forests, a global celebration of the importance of trees in our everyday lives. You’re a techie who spends all day in front of your computer and you haven’t cracked a window recently? Forests still matter, a lot. This year’s theme, “Forests and Climate Change,” is intended to raise awareness of…

How To Avoid The Horrible Things That Happen When You Give Ducks Bread

Step 1: Stop feeding them bread. Photo by Porsupah Ree via flickr | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Are you feeding the ducks at your local pond pieces of stale bread? You might be contributing to their untimely demise, not to mention the deterioration of local ecosystems. That doesn’t mean you need to stop feeding ducks –…

Watch What A Pack Of Hyenas Can Do To A Buffalo Carcass in 13 Hours

When an old buffalo died near Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, camp rangers decided to train a camera trap on the carcass. This is what it saw. It’s pretty impressive the way the meat just recedes down the buffalo’s back. It’s like watching a sweater unravel, or kernels disappear from a cob of corn: Up…

Top Predators May Be the Most Important Animals on Earth

Humans have always had a complicated relationship with other predators. Grizzly bears, crocodiles, great white sharks—these are among our planet’s most awe-inspiring creatures. Still, we’d never want these deadly animals in our backyards. But new scientific evidence suggests that we need them far more than we realized. Whatever your personal feelings about Earth’s most powerful…

Yes, This Is A Photo Of A Weasel ‘Riding’ A Woodpecker In Flight

Pretty much what it says on the tin, folks. Although, the weasel is not so much riding the bird as it is, probably, trying to kill and eat it. In any case, the photo is amazing. And while we’re no photo-manipulation experts, we’re inclined to say it’s real. Photographer Martin Le-May told ITV News he…

As Sea Ice Shrinks, Polar Bears Are Moving Farther North

Every summer, more sea ice melts, leaving polar bears with less territory for hunting. New genetic analysis reveals that recent generations of polar bears are migrating north to the Canadian archipelagos, a region where sea ice more reliably survives the warm summer months. Top image: Young female polar bear on an ice floe in northeaster…

After Thousands of Years, Earth’s Frozen Life Forms Are Waking Up

What’s happening in Siberia’s thawing permafrost and Greenland’s melting glaciers sounds borderline supernatural. Ancient viruses, bacteria, plants, and even animals have been cryogenically frozen there for millennia—and now, they are waking up. Image: Pixabay Cryofreezing is best known for its appearances in science fiction, but self-styled “resurrection ecologists” are now showing the world just how…

There’s A Right Way To Exterminate A Species

We shake our head when we see histories of animals driven to extinction. Why would people so callously kill off an entire species? Then sometimes, we discover there’s a invasive, damaging species damaging the ecosystem, and we realize something needs to be done. But can there be a safe way to render something extinct? The…

Webcomic Explains How Pythons Invaded Florida—And Why They’re A Problem

Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia, but in the last 40 years, they’ve invaded the Florida Everglades, where their population has exploded. This short comic explains how Burmese pythons got there in the first place — and how it’s wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. Cartoonist journalist Andy Warner‘s latest piece at Medium’s The Nib…

Here’s What It Looks Like When 300 Manatees Gather In One Acre

Last week, 300 manatees gathered in Three Sisters Springs on the Crystal River in Florida, enjoying the safety and warmth of the sanctuary. Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge officials closed off the area to human visitors, but shared a few photos from the manatee meetup. Photo Credit: Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Approximately 600…

The Ocean’s “Dead Zones” Could Be Getting A Lot Worse

There are over 400 coastal dead zones around the world, regions so poor in dissolved oxygen that marine life can’t survive during the summer months. And it looks like these dead zones will be getting worse in the next few decades — in terms of both size and number. Dead zones are closely associated with…

The Place Where Bridges Are Grown Instead of Built

Do you know where the most sustainable foot bridges are? No, not in Germany, Costa Rica or the Nordic states, which are the greenest countries according to the GGEI (Global Green Economy Index) 2014, but in the Meghalaya state of northeastern India. We’ll tell you why. These suspension bridges are built with a form of…

Majestic Animals That Could Go Extinct This Century

Could you imagine the world without tigers or African elephants in the wild? These are just two of the many animals that could go extinct in the while within the next hundred years, thanks in part to habitat loss, hunting, fishing, and disease. 1. Tigers – We have lost 97% of wild tigers in just…

California Would Need A Ridiculous Amount Of Rain To End Its Drought​

California has been having a bit of a rainy season lately, so much so that some people are asking if we’re finally coming to the end of its three-year long drought. The answer is almost certainly not. Here’s the numbers on how much water California would need to see the drought’s end — and, fair…

It’s Survival Of The Most Useful When Protecting Species

Consensus is growing that we are steering towards a sixth mass extinction event. There are calls for increased efforts to stop the accelerating loss of plants and animals. But do we really need to protect all species from global extinction? Top image: Coral reefs are like an underwater metropolis – and function in similar ways.…

A Haunting Animated Documentary About Rediscovery Of An Extinct Insect

Dryococelus australis, known as the Lord Howe Island stick insect or tree lobster was thought to be extinct by 1920, but in 2001, a small population of the species was rediscovered. This fantastic animated documentary traces that rediscovery and the species and the attempts to bring it back from the brink of extinction. Sticky was…

What Would Happen If All The Earth’s Microbes Suddenly Disappeared?

It’s generally agreed that life on this planet would not be possible if it weren’t for microbes. In a fascinating thought experiment, a pair of biologists scrutinized this assumption to find out. As their paper makes clear, a microbe-free world would be a strange place, indeed. Top image: Nutrient rich waters off Patagonia in South…

This Interactive Map Shows The World’s Ecosystems In Freakish Detail

The U.S. Geological Survey and Esri have created a zoomable map that lets you explore all of the world’s ecological land units down to an astounding 820 foot (250 meter) resolution. Check it out and tell us about your “ecological land unit.” The interactive map breaks down the world’s surface features into cells, or ecological…

Why Are Killer Whales Suddenly Hunting Humpbacks?

Not for nothing are Orcas called Killer whales, but reports of their hunting the “great” whales (baleen & sperm whales) have been rare, and there is little consensus as to the importance of such predation. But new evidence suggests that Humpback whale calves are a regular snack for the black and white killers. At one…