Bobi's owner said the dog had lived a record-breaking 31 years and 165 days old when he died in October 2023. But a review by Guinness World Records found that evidence of his age was inconclusive.
In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping raised hopes his country would start sending pandas to the U.S. again after he and President Joe Biden convened in Northern California.
Christopher Ward was taken to a hospital shortly after being bitten by one of his two pet Gila monsters on Feb. 12. He was soon placed on life support and died Friday, Lakewood police said Tuesday.
Cougars are solitary animals rarely seen in the wild, but on Saturday, five people were attacked by one on a trail in Washington. No one died, but at least one of the cyclists was hospitalized.
Lately, paleoecologist Audrey Rowe has been a bit preoccupied with a girl named Elma. That's because Elma is ... a woolly mammoth. And 14,000 years ago, when Elma was alive, her habitat in interior Alaska was rapidly changing. The Ice Age was coming to a close and human hunters were starting early settlements. Which leads to an intriguing question: Who, or what, killed her? In the search for answers, Audrey traces Elma's life and journey through — get this — a single tusk. Today, she shares her insights on what the mammoth extinction from thousands of years ago can teach us about megafauna extinctions today with guest host Nate Rott.
Thoughts on other ancient animal stories we should tell? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might make a future episode about it!
Every year, billions of animals across the globe embark on journeys. They fly, crawl, walk or slither – often across thousands of miles of land or water – to find better food, more agreeable weather or a place to breed. Think monarch butterflies, penguins, wild Pacific salmon. These species are crucial to the world as we know it. But until this week, there has never been an official assessment of the world's migratory animals.
So today on the show, correspondent Nate Rott shares the first-ever report on state of the world's migratory animals – the threats facing them and what can be done to help.
Are you afraid of needles or shots? Send us a voice memo with your story at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear about it for an upcoming episode.
In a Valentine's Day exclusive report, NPR has learned there is currently a gay anteater couple at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C.But this couple is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to queerness in the animal world – it's been documented in hundreds of species. We spoke with wildlife ecologist Christine Wilkinson of the "Queer is Natural" TikTok series to uncover the wildest, queerest animals of the bunch.
Questions, comments or thoughts on queer animal love? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might feature it on a future episode!
Recreational fishermen and conservation groups worry overfishing for menhaden threatens the Chesapeake Bay. Industry says current data doesn't support shutting down the more than century-old fishery.
Social media was recently taken aback watching as alligators in freezing weather appeared to go into a deep sleep to stay alive. They're not alone. Iguanas and hummingbirds do it too.
In a landmark U.N. study, researchers found nearly half of the world's threatened migratory species have declining populations. More than a fifth of the assessed animals face extinction.
At least, that's what a group of researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University thinks. The team recently published a study in the journal Experimental Biology suggesting that Amphiphrion ocellaris, or clown anemonefish, may be counting. Specifically, the authors think the fish may be looking at the number of vertical white stripes on each other as well as other anemonefish as a way to identify their own species. Not only that — the researchers think that the fish are noticing the minutiae of other anemonefish's looks because of some fishy marine geopolitics.
Questions, comments or thoughts on another marine sea creature you want to hear us cover? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might feature it on a future episode!
California sea otter populations have rebounded in recent decades. New research finds that by feasting on shore crabs, these otters are helping to protect their coastal marsh habitat against erosion.
Octopuses are seen as smart and solitary. A seafood company plans to farm them commercially. Octopus garden? Sure. Octopus farm? No way, say the animal's advocates.
