Wild Things
The weird and wonderful in the natural world
- Animals
A tale of wolves, moose and missing ice
Wolves have persisted on Lake Superior’s Isle Royale for decades, keeping moose in check, but climate change may doom the balance between the two species.
- Animals
Birds have clever solution for a cuckoo conundrum
Superb fairy wrens teach their incubating babies a password, and they become better teachers when they hear cuckoos are around.
- Animals
What animal is the world’s best rock climber?
Lots of animals manage to scale vertical heights, and each has their own way of accomplishing the feat.
- Animals
Some birds adapt to Chernobyl’s radiation
Some birds seem to fare well in and near the Chernobyl exclusion zone, but overall the nuclear disaster has been bad news for the region’s bird populations.
- Plants
South American vine is a masterful mimic
The vine Boquila trifoliolata changes the shape of its leaves to match its host and avoid getting eaten.
- Animals
A guide to the world’s biggest flightless birds
A rhea on the loose in England has prompted warnings about approaching the bird. From ostriches to cassowaries, here’s your guide to friendly and unfriendly big birds.
- Animals
Secrets of a sailfish attack
The large, long-nosed sailfish use their rostrums more like a sword than a spear to attack prey.
- Life
Cheetahs, but not wild dogs, manage to live with lions
One conservation tenet says that cheetahs can’t survive when lions are around, but it’s wild dogs that disappeared in one lion-dense area of the Serengeti.
- Animals
Little thylacine had a big bite
A reconstruction of the skull of a thylacine, an extinct, fox-sized Australian marsupial, reveals that the animal could have eaten prey much larger than itself.
- Animals
How a chimp goes mattress hunting
Chimpanzees prefer firm beds made of ironwood, a new study finds.
- Oceans
The surprising life of a piece of sunken wood
Timber and trees that wash out to sea and sink to the bottom of the ocean hold a diverse community of organisms.
- Animals
Lionfish grow wary after culling
Efforts to control invasive lionfish could make them more difficult to catch.
