Creature

All that slithers, swims, flits, flies, grows and dies

Animals, plants, microbes, fungi and all life on Earth, from long-buried dinosaurs to newly emerging infections, often serve to instruct and amaze. We are interested in everything from the simplest physical structures to the most complex emergent behavior of life's many forms — from the extinct to the evolved and from the web of ecology to the promise of animal-inspired technology. 

The discovery raises hopes that chimps can adapt to threats such as climate change.
Joshua Learn, Contributor
Finding suggests "megapredators" may have been more common in Mesozoic Era than previously thought.
Charles Q. Choi, Contributor
For Asiatic lionesses, sex may be a way of protecting their cubs from murderous males.
Nala Rogers, Staff Writer
Alligator blood inhibits a key toxin in the venom of vipers such as rattlesnakes and copperheads.
Joshua Learn, Contributor
Study suggests parts of the animals' backs and legs fused together to form wings.
Charles Q. Choi, Contributor
The beetles apparently use their legs to speed up their trip through the frogs' entire digestive system.
Charles Q. Choi, Contributor
A month’s worth of cool science stories, summed up.
Alistair Jennings, Contributor
Scientists discover a new method of communication in Atlantic ghost crabs.
Karin Heineman, Executive Producer
Wormlike amphibians called caecilians may have evolved venomous teeth long before the first snakes crawled the Earth.
Charles Q. Choi, Contributor
A new song type originated in western Canada and then spread East, replacing the sparrows’ traditional song.
Nala Rogers, Staff Writer
Some evidence suggests that foxes may be trying to domesticate themselves.
Joel Shurkin, Contributor
Green spectrum light can actually damage plants.
Joshua Learn, Contributor