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ScienceBiologyGoogle Hiked Through Tanzania To Show You Where The Chimps Live
Earlier this month, we brought you panoramic views of the Liwa Desert near Abu Dhabi, thanks to a Google Street View camera mounted on the back of a camel. Today we’re taking you deep into the forests of Tanzania, where Google has brought you images of Gombe National Park, home of Jane Goodall’s chimpanzees. The … Continued
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ScienceBiologyVirgin Birth Discovered In The World’s Largest Snake
When a mommy snake loves a daddy snake very much, sometimes they make a baby snake. At least, that’s what you’ve been taught. But a twenty-foot two-hundred pound female reticulated python didn’t follow the rules, giving birth to six offspring with no help from a male. At the Louisville Zoo, the monster python laid more … Continued
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ScienceBiologyMeet the “Snot Otter,” North America’s Biggest Salamander
If you’ve splashed around in the creeks of Appalachia, you may have been close to the largest salamander in North America, the Eastern hellbender, but you probably wouldn’t have known it. Learn about this magnificent critter in a short documentary produced by Freshwaters Illustrated and the US Forest Service. Eastern hellbenders, also called “snot otters” … Continued
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ScienceBiologyThe Art on These Endangered Species Stamps Is Incredible
Since 1993, the United Nations has worked to increase global awareness of endangered species through a special set of commemorative postal stamps released each year. This year’s set was released today, and features an array of 12 beautifully drawn endangered marine animals. The US stamps include: Hippocampus denise (Denise’s pygmy seahorse) Rhincodon typus (Whale shark) … Continued
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ScienceBiologyPregnant Sloth Gets a C-Section, A First For Her Species
As founder of Sloth Institute Costa Rica, Sam Trull is a busy woman. But when a pregnant sloth fell out of a tree, her commitment to rehabilitating wildlife reached new levels. The animal got an emergency C-section, perhaps the first ever for a sloth. The newly re-designed BBC Earth reports what happened on September 27 … Continued
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ScienceHealth
Pick Up Your Dog’s Poo. It’s Important for Public Health!
You’re supposed to pick up after your dog. You know this. Everybody does. But it’s late and you’re tired and Fido just left a particularly nasty looking pile. Nobody’s looking. Just leave it there. What’s the worst that can happen? Infection with a zoonotic disease, that’s what. At least, that’s according to US Environmental Protection … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Listen to Discussions with Animal Experts Each Week on The Wild Life
Monday is upon us once again … but thanks to The Wild Life, a new podcast hosted by io9 Animals Editor Jason G. Goldman and sponsored by Earth Touch, the most dreaded day of the week is about to get a little more interesting! On each episode of The Wild Life, I’ll be sitting down … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Holy Crap What Is This Writhing Deep Sea Creature?
Just what exactly is this strange deep sea creature? Before releasing it back into the sea, Facebook user Jr Saim uploaded this video. Can you tell what it is? Turns out its a really big Basket star, a member of a group of echinoderms called Brittle stars. Don’t be confused though. Brittle stars, which are … Continued
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ScienceBiology6 Real-Life Blood Sucking Animals More Terrifying than Dracula
Dracula is probably best known for drinking blood. But while Dracula might be mostly fictional, the animals that drink blood are very real. Here are six of the world’s finest hematophages. 1. Mosquitoes Let’s start by getting the obvious one out of the way first. Mosquitoes just suck (get it?). They’re the deadliest creatures on … Continued
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ScienceBiologyHappy World Octopus Day!
Wait, I thought every day was octopus day. Oh well. An eight-armed hug for everyone! My favorite species is the Giant Pacific Octopus. Learn more about them in this video from the National Aquarium. Then, celebrate the day by reading all about the most tentacular of marine critters. Which octopus species is your favorite? Let … Continued
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ScienceBiologyGoogle Strapped a Camera To a Camel To Put The Desert on Street View
How do you map a desert when it’s not exactly the best place to drive one of Google’s Street View cars? Camel-cam, that’s how. Perhaps you’ve seen one of the Google Street View cars, driving around your neighborhood with a device called a “Trekker” on top of it, with a camera inside snapping away. Google … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Which Makes Goldfish Learn Faster: Vodka or Bourbon?
If you want to understand how different types of alcohol affect learning, ask a goldfish. That’s what one Harvard Medical School researcher did in 1969, when he had them swim around in vodka and bourbon. Goldfish turn out to be an excellent model species for studying the effects of alcohol. That’s because their blood alcohol … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Drought Forces Lions Into Desperate Hunt
There aren’t many predators that can kill a fully grown elephant, but a juvenile elephant is a different story. When they’re young, lions can take down an elephant if they need to. And it isn’t a pretty sight. In general, the big cats snap the necks of their prey or choke them to death before … Continued
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ScienceBiology
One Weird Trick for Controlling the Spread of Invasive Plants
You might assume, by virtue of being called the “common reed,” that it’s a common element of Eastern United States marshes. And you’d be right. But the common reed is an invader from the Old World, and it must be stamped out. Kill it with fire, etc. Okay, the truth is that most ecologists have … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Half of Our Planet’s Wildlife Is Gone. Here’s Why.
“In less than two human generations, population sizes of vertebrate species have dropped by half.” That’s the startling conclusion offered by the World Wildlife Foundation, as they release their biennial “Living Planet Report.” But what does that mean? Every couple years, the WWF assesses the status of 10,380 representative populations of 3,038 mammal, birds, reptiles, … Continued
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ScienceBiologyWatch A Hyena Climb Inside a Buffalo Carcass And Play Peek-a-Boo
When hyenas and lions get into a shouting match over a buffalo carcass, it’s a loud, raucous scene. One hyena apparently had enough of the shouting so it decided to climb inside of the warm, wet, meaty carcass, where the buffalo’s tasty muscles no doubt provided an acoustic barrier. The main thing we learn from … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Seal Beach Has Decided to Solve Its Coyote Problem By Killing Them
It’s always sad when a beloved family pet becomes dinner for local wildlife, but is trapping and killing wildlife the answer? One Southern California community thinks so. In Seal Beach, a coastal community in Orange County south of Los Angeles, people are tired of losing their pets to coyotes. So the City Council agreed at … Continued
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ScienceBiologyA Sea Lion Joins Divers In A Shark Cage — And Has To Be Helped Out
Shark cages are meant to keep you in and wildlife out. But it seems as if one sea lion didn’t quite get that message. All it took was a little nudge from a diver to help the wayward pinniped find its way out of the cage and back into the sea. Despite the video’s title, … Continued
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ScienceBiologyWhipsnade Zoo Has A Baby Elephant With The Tiniest Little Trunk
After a 22 month long gestation period, an elephant at the ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in England gave birth to the most adorable baby boy ever. The gestation period is so long, in part, so that the infant can do things like walk around on its own almost as soon as its born. The birth, according … Continued
Jason G. Goldman
Jason G. Goldman's posts