Wild Animals
Whether they crawl, fly, swim, slither, walk, run or pounce, wild animals rely on their instincts. Read about all kinds of wild animals, mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles and amphibians.
Golden Poison Dart Frog Eats Toxic Insects for Its Own Poison
Toad vs. Frog: Differences in Anatomy, Habitat and More
What's the Difference Between a Newt and Salamander?
The Most Dangerous Insect (and 13 Others to Avoid)
The Most Dangerous Wasp and 9 Other Stingers to Avoid
The Tsetse Fly, Blood Meals and African Sleeping Sickness
The World's Most Dangerous Bird and 9 Runners-up
The 3 Types of Ducks Every Birdwatcher Should Know
10 Types of Owls: From Tiny Screech-owls to Great Horned Owls
13 Most Dangerous Fish, Eels and Sharks
The Stonefish Hides in Plain Sight and Packs a Painful Sting
The Pufferfish Really Isn't Happy to See You
Why Grolar Bear Numbers Increase With Climate Change
The Most Dangerous Bear and 9 Others to Give a Wide Berth
The World's Most Dangerous Cat and 14 Other Fierce Felines
20 of the Most Dangerous Sea Creatures in the Deep Blue
8 Most Dangerous Jellyfish and 1 Stinging Imposter
Freshwater Snails: Helpful Carriers of Harmful Parasites
So, the American Alligator Can Climb Trees ... How Terrifying
Saw-scaled Viper: Opportunistic, Fast and Highly Venomous
Inland Taipan: Most Venomous Snake in the World
Learn More / Page 18
The Humboldt marten was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1996. Now it is threatened again.
Sea lice aren't actually lice - they're jellyfish - but they're no fun when they get in your bathing suit.
Breaking news: Dolphins and porpoises don't actually look very much alike.
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Once a week or so, sloths climb down from their trees and poop on the ground. It feels so good, they do a little dance. But this time of pleasure is also a time of peril.
By Alia Hoyt
What benefit does one bird get from copying another bird's calls?
By Mark Mancini
You can't tell a book by its cover, and you can't tell a squid by its Nosferatu getup.
Sea spiders don't do anything by the book, and researchers have just gotten to the bottom of how they breathe.
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Once you accept squirrels aren't going anywhere, you can apply a more creative approach to keeping the critters away from your prized tomatoes.
By Jamie Allen
It's easy to mistake a crow for a raven or vice versa. But the two birds are actually pretty different.
By Mark Mancini
Spontaneous sex reversal in chickens is pretty rare, but it does happen. Find out how Miss Lucille became Mr. Lucille.
By Alia Hoyt & Talon Homer
Think your bed is cleaner than a chimp's? Researchers at North Carolina State University set out to find the answer.
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Koala populations in Australia are in decline, in part due to the ravages of chlamydia, a sexually transmitted bacterial infection.
By Carrie Tatro
By incorporating algae into their bodies, these beautiful sea slugs become one of the few animals with the photosynthetic ability of a plant.
By Amanda Onion
Snails can't pick and choose their shells like hermit crabs can. In fact, eviction means death. So how do those hard shells form over snails?
By Mark Mancini
It pays to be brainy when you're a ring-tailed lemur.
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Most of the scientific attention to birdsong has been paid to the male of the species. But many female birds sing too - and scientists are starting to understand how important it is to study them as well.
By Alia Hoyt
The platypus may look a bit absurd and bizarre, but its milk might hold the secret to fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Nutria are jumbo-sized rodents that reproduce and eat at a jumbo-sized pace.
Urban coyotes have a fierce and formidable reputation as midnight predators, but coexistence with humans is possible.
By Carrie Tatro
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Does your parakeet understand the cardinal chirping outside its window? Can a pigeon's noises mean anything to a crow? Yes, it can.
By Mark Mancini
The Gulf corvina is the loudest fish on the planet, helping lead to its overfishing and endangerment.
Some people mistakenly believe that if chimps are socialized from an early age, they're not a threat to humans. But these five families found out the hard way that chimps will always be chimps.
Crocodiles are known to eat just about anything. But sharks? A scientific team found evidence that they've chowed down on those predators too.
By Mark Mancini
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It seems like flying cockroaches want to dive bomb your face. Are they aggressive? Defensive? Or maybe it's all just in your scared ape mind.
Why do squirrels exhibit behavior that can get them killed by cars? And how can you avoid them?
By Jamie Allen