A wild otter was caught on film on Nagasaki Prefecture's Tsushima Island in February, marking the first sighting of the mammal in Japan in 38 years, a University of the Ryukyus team said Thursday. It is not known whether the observed otter was a Japanese ...
For nearly 3 billion years, the evolution of life on Earth remained mostly stalled at the single-cell stage, yielding a watery world teeming with bacteria. But then the melting some 650 million years ago of Snowball Earth — when oceans at the equator were frozen ...
The natural beauty of flowers has inspired artists for centuries, but for American nature photographer Terri Weifenbach, flowers have given rise to reflection on the cycle of life. In the spring of 2015, a garden near the slopes of Mount Fuji at Izu Photo Museum ...
No efforts should be spared in stopping the spread of fire ants in Japan.
A small dull-green sponge discovered in dark, icy waters of the Pacific off Alaska could be the first effective weapon against pancreatic cancer, researchers said Wednesday. Pancreatic cancer, with particularly aggressive tumors, is notoriously difficult to treat. "One would never have imagined, looking at this sponge, ...
The sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is unfolding more quickly than feared, scientists have warned. More than 30 percent of animals with a backbone — fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals — are declining in both range and population, according to the first ...
A radio station's broadcast underwater in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary on Saturday attracted about 400 divers and snorkelers who listened to music and announcements advocating reef preservation. The Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival at Looe Key Reef, part of the world's third-largest living ...
UNESCO on Friday declared the Hoh Xil nature reserve in China's Qinghai Province a natural heritage site in a controversial decision challenged by pro-Tibet activists. The Hoh Xil nature reserve, located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is home to over 200 animal species. More than 20 ...
The orangutan population on the island of Borneo has shrunk by a quarter in the last decade, researchers said Friday, urging a rethink of strategies to protect the critically-endangered great ape. The first-ever analysis of long-term orangutan population trends revealed a worrying decline, they said. An ...
Tyrannosaurus rex had scales, not feathers, a study Wednesday said, rescuing the dinosaur's reputation as a fearsome killer with a rough-and-tough hide. Recent research has claimed to provide evidence for feathers in ancestors of T. rex, and suggested the iconic carnivore may itself have sported ...
Featuring slime and suction, a kiss from a tubelip wrasse — a colorful reef fish — is no one's idea of romance. But it is perfectly suited for eating a hazardous diet using one of the animal kingdom's most unique feeding strategies. Scientists on Monday ...
The United Nations cultural heritage body, UNESCO, urged Australia on Saturday to accelerate efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef, saying long-term targets to improve its health are unlikely to be met. Progress toward achieving water quality targets has been slow, and Australia is at ...
