Animal Facts

There's a four-legged security officer patrolling your airport and this canine is on a mission to find illegal fruits and veggies.

Rabbits and hares can be fluffy bundles of laziness or superbly rambunctious, but do they really go crazy in March?

By Bambi Turner

Don't let this fear keep you from using the porcelain throne! Snakes in toilets are extremely rare occurrences.

By Bambi Turner

Many marine and aquatic mammals can survive without breathing by slowing their heart rates and redirecting blood from their extremities to their brains, hearts and muscles.

By Jesslyn Shields

Called gynandromorphs, half male and half female animals are rare, but they do exist.

By Tara Yarlagadda

The iconic horses step tall to promote wind power, which creates 100 percent of the electricity used to make Budweiser beer.

By John Donovan

Miraculously, many animals are able to ride out some of Mother Nature's most powerful storms. But how?

By Mark Mancini

Not all animals have red blood flowing through their veins. Meet some our blue-blooded, green-blooded and, yes, transparent-blooded fellow creatures.

By Mark Mancini

Many of us admittedly keep our televisions on when we leave the house — for our dogs. But does Fido really watch the TV?

By John Perritano

Check your chicken's earlobes (yes!) to know what color eggs you'll get.

By Christopher Hassiotis

Animals leave their marks on the ecosystem in ways you probably never imagined.

By Mark Mancini

Connecticut new "Desmond's Law" is the first in the nation that appoints legal advocates in animal abuse cases.

By John Perritano

Mummified seals. Skeletal penguins. Massive whale bones. Antarctica is a weird and wonderful place.

By Christopher Hassiotis

Do non-human animals have equivalent categories to our A, B and O blood designations? Can animals donate blood?

By Jesslyn Shields

The Beagle Brigade is an important part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The dogs are trained to sniff out fruits, foods and plants in international passengers' luggage as they arrive in the airport terminals.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Whether through biology or behavior, nonhuman animals have to avoid sun damage just like we do.

By Jesslyn Shields

No, a tardigrade's not a type of time-traveling police box on "Doctor Who." It's an ancient water bear, of course!

By Oisin Curran

The toughest animal in the world has just released its first sex tape, and as with all things water bear, things get pretty freaky.

By Jesslyn Shields

A new tool helps visualize how a changing climate will force animal species to relocate.

By Jesslyn Shields

There's little we can imagine that Mother Nature hasn't already dreamed up in one of her fouler moods. Care to meet some creatures with frightful features?

By Nicholas Gerbis & Melanie Radzicki McManus

There's no way humans will outlive the tardigrade, but we might be able to steal some of its powers while we have the chance.

By Julia Layton

If you think there's one easy explanation behind this cute canine behavior, think again. There are several theories. But a new study has found a sweet reason for head tilting in dogs.

By Laurie L. Dove

Hate to say it, but some animals have jobs that are far more interesting — and more lucrative — than yours. Who are these lucky dogs?

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

The Hydra is a fearsome, tiny predator that stings and swallows its prey — through a mouth it had to rip its own skin to create. But how does it do that?

By Robert Lamb

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, said FDR, but he wasn't a biologist. Scientists examined what impact the fear of apex predators can have on an ecosystem.

By Jesslyn Shields