Wild Animals

Bees get a lot of credit for pollinating important food crops, but they get a lot of secret help from their nocturnal friends, the moths.

By Jesslyn Shields

The elephant hawk moth is breathtakingly beautiful as an adult, but as a baby ... not so much.

By Jesslyn Shields

Born pregnant? You bet. It's a survival instinct but could also explain how these garden pests spread like wildfire.

By Mark Mancini

This exotic bird could seriously injure or kill a person or a dog in an instant with its deadly claws.

By Wendy Bowman

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, the colorful little fish with the craaaaazy long name, is Hawaii's state fish, but it wasn't always.

By Jesslyn Shields

The basking shark, an endangered species, may look like a fearsome predator, but is actually a filter-feeder, gathering zooplankton and other tiny animals, such as shrimp, in bulk as it roams the seas with a wide open mouth.

By Mark Mancini

Piranhas are some of the most feared fish in the world, but is their reputation for ferocity a bit overblown?

By Jesslyn Shields

This master of camouflage can count, gender-bend and also use a hidden weapon to outsmart its enemies.

By Alia Hoyt

The anteater has one of the strangest-looking noses in the animal kingdom, a truly fabulous hairdo and a tongue that reaches places never meant to see the light of day.

By Wendy Bowman

The deadly Asian giant hornet, the largest hornet in the world, was spotted in the U.S. for the first time in late 2019. You'll want to stay far away from this creature. Its nickname? The "murder hornet."

By Jesslyn Shields

While yaks share the bovine family tree with cows, they're a different species altogether. And, unlike cow dung, yak poop doesn't stink.

By Katie Carman

A new species of green pit viper found in India has been named after the founder of Harry Potter's Slytherin house.

By Patty Rasmussen

Mayflies have the shortest adult life span of any animal, but swarms of them can still be seen on weather radar.

By Jesslyn Shields

Some cicadas are annual breeders and some show up loudly about every 17 years, but all cicadas produce a "song" that can reach 120 decibels — very close to a level that can damage human ear drums.

By Robert Valdes

Bird mobs are not roving gangs of thug birds. But they are bands of birds coming together to harass bigger predators. And the behavior is loud and raucous.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

What lives in water, has no gills, scales or fins and is not a fish? Yep, a starfish — which is why marine biologists have renamed these creatures sea stars.

By Wendy Bowman

Wondering what's going on in the animal world while you're all cooped up under quarantine? Check out these webcams and get a virtual glimpse into how the animals live.

By Carrie Dennis

Known in some circles as a 'musk hog' or 'skunk pig,' the javelina's good looks may be in the eye of the beholder, but there's a lot more to this beauty than meets the eye.

By Wendy Bowman

When a half-full plate of dinner sits before you and your overstuffed tummy, have you ever been told your eyes are too big for your stomach? The pelican's got a similar problem.

By Shanna Freeman

Work by volunteers and nonprofit organizations, such as butterfly waystations and increased education efforts, has turned around long-term population decline for some butterfly species.

By Laurie L. Dove

They both have prehistoric looking shells and squatty legs, but how are they different?

By Jesslyn Shields

Fruit flies are annoying, but we also owe them a huge debt of scientific gratitude.

By Jesslyn Shields

A bright pink manta ray named Inspector Clouseau is causing a splash on the runway of the Great Barrier Reef.

By Jesslyn Shields

Locusts are just mild-mannered grasshoppers until they swarm up and become monstrous. In parts of the world, locust plagues are becoming a way of life.

By Jesslyn Shields

Proactive sluggishness, along with the ability to squeeze into tight spaces, keeps these slugs safe from predators like birds, toads and, well, fires.

By Katie Carman