Wild Animals

Bugs can destroy crops and spread disease, but those little critters also pollinate our plants. These are just a few of the reasons they're important - and even cool! - to study.

By Erin Wright

Most of us would take to the seas a bit easier without any hammerheads, blacktips or bull sharks patrolling the waters below. The truth is, however, sharks help maintain a balanced ecosystem.

By Chris Opfer

When you handle deadly snakes for a living, caution is job one. When you handle snakes for God, it is not. Let's meet some folks in both worlds.

By Julia Layton

Bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. What differentiates the two?

By Debbie Swanson

Some bats are messing with their neighbor's sonar to throw them off the track of food.

By Debbie Swanson

We think we know all about spiders - they spin webs to trap prey; if they bite you, you might die. And if you find one in your house, you should set it free. But what if all these beliefs are a web of lies?

By Chris Opfer

Bats can spread deadly human diseases. Join Lauren as she interviews a virologist about the powerful immune systems of these fascinating creatures of the night.

When a friend decides to ignore their problems, you might liken them to an ostrich. But ostriches are much more likely to face a problem head-on than hide it in the sand.

By Bambi Turner

Worried about creepy-crawlies entering your mouth while you sleep? Relax, spiders have no interest in being eaten. In fact, there's no record of anyone swallowing a spider while sleeping.

By Bambi Turner

Afraid your formerly humble bonfire has grown a little out of control? Never fear: Your trusty rhinoceros firefighters brigade should be along to stomp it out at any moment. At least, that's the legend. But is there any truth to it?

By Kate Kershner

Cheetahs share so much DNA that they're practically clones of one another. But what does this mean for the future of the species?

By Bambi Turner

Monkeys share a lot in common with us, but are they just as superstitious? We know that have the ability to gamble, but is it deeper than just a game to them.

By Laurie L. Dove

As fans of George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series know all too well, a person encountering a dire wolf will likely end up in dire straits. But while these fearsome beasts make for great fiction, do they have any grounding in reality?

By Kate Kershner

Mating shouldn't be something you lose your head over, but tell that to the male praying mantis. This poor creature has long been the butt of countless procreation jokes, but does he even deserve this unfortunate reputation?

By Kate Kershner

You're not likely to ever get in a straight-up boxing match with another animal (kangaroos with boxing gloves aside). That said, it's probably a good idea to know whether a few efficient jabs to the schnoz can help you escape an irate animal.

By Kate Kershner

Ah, the duckbill platypus: the creature so strange it's said to be cobbled together from a bin of spare animal parts. With its odd appearance -- and even odder abilities -- it's no surprise the creature was once dismissed as an elaborate hoax.

By Kate Kershner

Nature can be a pretty cruel place. Out in the wild, it's either kill or be killed. But in the spirit of self-preservation, will a mama bird really abandon its young at the slightest sign of human interference? Let's check the facts.

By Kate Kershner

Beautiful, graceful, majestic: Such highfalutin words might seem befitting of a mermaid, but a manatee? Perhaps our humble friends deserve a bit more credit. After all, they are known to stoke the imagination of a lonely seafarer or two.

By Kate Kershner

Just how deceitful a creature is the sharp-toothed, swimming crocodile? Any more so than the other animals inhabiting our waters? They do cry, but it has nothing to do with insincerity.

By Kate Kershner

If a massive whale washed up on your beachfront, you'd think that the bulk of the problem would be ... well, its bulk. But if you were covered in decomposing whale guts, you'd think differently.

By Kate Kershner

Unless you've butchered an octopus, you might assume that it's as red-blooded as you are. And you'd be wrong. Why are octopuses the original blue bloods?

By Laurie L. Dove

The world is split between people who eat protein-packed insects on purpose and those who accidentally snack on them along with their packaged foods. But let's be honest: Bugs are far from the worst thing you've eaten in the past week.

By Alison Cooper

Do you think much about the lobster before you crack it open and dip it in butter? These humble animals have some very odd habits. For one thing, they pee out of their faces.

By Shanna Freeman

Spiders have been on Earth a whole lot longer than we have - 380 million years, to be precise - and number more than 38,000 separate species worldwide. See 10 of the most beautiful and scary of these arachnids.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Ah, the secrets of the sea. In this gallery, we'll introduce you to some of the more enigmatic animals that drift in the ocean, swim in the sea or shoot their intestines out of their anus in saltwater. Jump in.

By Kate Kershner