Wild Animals

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.

By Jesslyn Shields & Ada Tseng

Sea spiders don't do anything by the book, and researchers have just gotten to the bottom of how they breathe.

By Jesslyn Shields & Ada Tseng

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.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

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.

By Jesslyn Shields

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.

By Jesslyn Shields

Nutria are jumbo-sized rodents that reproduce and eat at a jumbo-sized pace.

By Jesslyn Shields

Urban coyotes have a fierce and formidable reputation as midnight predators, but coexistence with humans is possible.

By Carrie Tatro

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.

By Jesslyn Shields

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.

By Nathan Chandler

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

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.

By Jesslyn Shields

Why do squirrels exhibit behavior that can get them killed by cars? And how can you avoid them?

By Jamie Allen

The first new rat species found in the Solomon Islands in 80 years has been uncovered. But due to deforestation of its habitat, very few may still exist.

By Jesslyn Shields

Don't think you have much in common with a jellyfish? What researchers just discovered may surprise you.

By Laurie L. Dove

Fall is in full swing and that means squirrels are busy hoarding nuts for winter. So how do they remember where they buried them? Research suggests they use mnemonic strategies.

By Jamie Allen