Simon Millar was leading his team of marine tour guides in a training exercise off the coast of Bermagui in New South Wales, Australia, when they spotted a commotion of splashing, churning water. They quickly realized what they were witnessing was an enormous “megapod” of humpback whales. Millar and his crew watched the whales circle
Kristine Grayson is an associate professor of biology at the University of Richmond. This story was originally featured on The Conversation. The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is a deceptively attractive metallic-green adult beetle with a red abdomen. But few people ever actually see the insect itself – just the trail of destruction it leaves behind under
Excerpted from The Social Lives of Animals by Ashley Ward. Copyright © 2022. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The leopard seal and a whole host of other large marine predators are drawn to the Southern Ocean to hunt. Whether directly or indirectly, what supports these animals is krill, small but superabundant
When humans listen to music, we hear a beat. It’s so self-evident, and so foundational to our lives, that it’s hard to imagine how rare that experience is in the animal kingdom. Because here’s the thing: a beat isn’t necessarily a tangible part of music, but a property of human experience, says Andrea Ravignani, who
Bald and golden eagles across North America are in danger from lead poisoning, a new analysis suggests. Researchers tracked levels of the deadly metal in more than 1,000 eagles from 38 US states, and found that “unexpectedly high” proportions of birds from the two species suffered from both chronic and recent poisoning. Almost half of
Bees are essentially vegetarian wasps. Around a hundred million years ago, we know, the common ancestor of all modern bees was a hunter. But over the last 80 million years, bees have become vegetarians. Most get everything they need from flowers: They sip nectar to make honey, lick up floral oils, and pack protein-rich pollen
Raising a child often takes some serious preparation. Future parents may have learned how to change a diaper during home economics or how to quell a baby’s screech with tips from their own mothers. In fact, parenting, much like cooking or writing, is a skill that can be taught or learned. Until recently, researchers didn’t
What’s cuter than a giant panda cub? A giant panda cub doing somersaults in the snow. A winter storm blanketed Washington D.C. and surrounding regions in up to 8.5 inches of snow on Monday, as wind gusts whipped at speeds of over 20 mph. The snow dump closed schools and government offices and even grounded
In November of 2020, a volunteer-run monarch butterfly count across California spotted less than 2,000 of the insects. It was the third consecutive winter they’d tallied less than 30,000 individuals—a worrying trend. But the same count this past Thanksgiving brought a glimmer of hope: Volunteers found 247,237 butterflies over 283 sites, a remarkable turnaround in
With a color palette brighter than a bag of Skittles, you’d think the rose-veiled fairy wrasse would have no trouble standing out. But in the teeming waters of the Indian Ocean, it’s easy for a fish to swim under the radar, even when it looks like it’s ultraviolet. For decades, the rose-veiled fairy wrasse was
