19+ hour, 37+ min ago   (1008+ words) Seattle coyotes live at nine times the density of Washington's wild lands, with fewer predators, fewer hunters, and far more to eat. Coyotes tend to avoid people. Yet they live far closer together in Seattle than in the wild country…...

2+ day, 15+ hour ago   (574+ words) A 22% drop in butterfly populations from 2000 to 2020 signals a troubling, widespread decline across the broader pollinator community. Scientists count butterflies more thoroughly than any other insect, which makes them an early-warning system for the health of other animal species that…...

3+ day, 7+ hour ago   (1306+ words) Sixteen Asian elephants in Thailand gave up a trunk habit as soon as it stopped working, the first evidence of self-control in the species. Put a piece of fruit where an elephant can see it and smell it, and the…...

3+ day, 10+ hour ago   (1057+ words) Periodical cicadas have failed to return to many recovered forests, and new research suggests natural recolonization could take centuries. Periodical cicadas spend more than a decade underground before pushing out of the ground by the trillions, covering the trees for…...

3+ day, 13+ hour ago   (777+ words) Trees protect wild animals from extreme heat and cold by keeping temperatures inside their cavities more stable than outside. Deep inside the trunk of an old tree, temperatures can remain surprisingly stable, even when the world outside is baking or…...

6+ day, 7+ hour ago   (984+ words) Satellite tracking shows yellow-morph green turtles can remain around the Galápagos for months while moving between nearby islands. Green turtles are known to travel hundreds to thousands of miles across large parts of the ocean to find food and reach…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (1067+ words) Snake embryos develop in remarkably consistent clockwise spirals, and their slower-growing gut may explain how the unusual shape forms. Inside a freshly laid snake egg, the embryo is already wound like a corkscrew. Nearly every one of those spirals turns…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (1073+ words) Analysis of dodo bird skulls has helped scientists understand how they observed and interacted with the world before their extinction. Call someone a dodo and nobody asks what you mean. The bird showed little fear of the people who landed…...