NEWSWORTHY
A living member of a species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina. An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina giant tortoise, ...
Why do zebras have stripes? Because they make bad landing strips for flies
Scientists are providing new evidence to answer the long-standing question about why zebras have stripes. It appears stripes make terrible landing strips, bamboozling the fierce blood-sucking flies that try to feast on zebras and carry deadly diseases. Researchers on Wednesday described experiments demonstrating that horse ...
Japanese researchers extend life span of flies, offering hope for slowing aging in humans
Japanese researchers pin down a way to activate autophagy, a key metabolic function in cells, leading to a slower aging process and longer life span in a nonhuman study.
The real 'Jaws': Great white shark's genetic secrets revealed
The great white shark, one of the most fearsome predators in the world's oceans in both fact and fiction, is a formidable creature — right down to its genes. Scientists on Monday said they have decoded the genome of Earth's largest predatory fish, detecting numerous ...
Cat caught up a tree: California firefighters rescue cougar perched on branch above house
Firefighters have rescued a very big cat — a mountain lion — from a tree outside a home in the Southern California desert. The homeowner called authorities Saturday after spotting the animal near the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains. San Bernardino County firefighters found the ...
Colorado runner recounts killing mountain lion in 'fight for survival'
A Colorado trail runner who survived a mountain lion attack by suffocating the animal said on Thursday that the encounter, which has made him the stuff of legend, was "a fight for survival." "One of the thoughts that I was having was, 'Well, this would ...
A relatively complete skeleton of a long-necked, long-tailed plant-eater excavated from a rocky cliff above a Tanzanian river is providing insight into the early evolution of a dinosaur group that later included Earth's largest-ever land animals. Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of fossils of ...
Elusive 'black panther' sighted in Kenya for the first time in a century
Whispers of sightings of the elusive black leopard have long swirled around central Kenya, and scientists have now confirmed its presence there with a series of rare images taken by camera traps. The images were captured by researchers from the San Diego Zoo who have ...
Wisdom, at 68 the world's oldest known wild bird, hatches chick on Midway Atoll
The oldest known wild bird in the world has become a mother again at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. wildlife officials said. The Laysan albatross named Wisdom hatched a chick earlier this month at the remote atoll northwest of Hawaii, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported ...
Polar bears descend on Russian Arctic town, leaving locals both delighted and wary
Russian wildlife specialists are heading for an Arctic archipelago to try to resolve a situation that has both terrified and delighted the locals: the polar bears that moved into a populated area. It's not the first time that polar bears have come to Novaya Zemlya, ...
Russian Arctic archipelago sounds alarm over aggressive polar bears
A Russian Arctic archipelago on Saturday declared an emergency over an "invasion" of dozens of aggressive polar bears that have entered homes and public buildings. The northeastern Novaya Zemlya archipelago, which has a population of around 3,000, has appealed for help to tackle "a mass ...
