The “Tasmanian tiger” was hunted to extinction based on its perceived size as a predator big enough to take sheep. But it seems this was just a tall tale, and the thylacine weighed just 16.7kg.
As seen in ‘Alien vs. Predator,’ Hollywood alien movies can be read as depicting Black people as monsters to be feared.
(20th Century Fox)
Anti-black violence exists against the backdrop of the political and cultural dehumanization of Black people. How did this happen and where do we go from here?
Algonquin wolves can be legally killed in many parts of Ontario.
(Helen E. Grose)
A recovery plan for the threatened Algonquin wolf should have been in place two years ago. Recent amendments to the Endangered Species Act mean the Algonquin wolf faces an uncertain future.
A boomslang eating a bullfrog.
Provided by author/ G Cusins
Social media has proved to be a helpful source of observations of snakes feeding. Knowing more about their diet is useful because it’s linked to their venom biochemistry.
Are cats really to blame for the worldwide loss of biodiversity?
Dzurag/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Framing cats as responsible for declines in biodiversity is based on faulty scientific logic and fails to account for the real culprit – human activity.
Some animals stay put after a bushfire and rebuild their populations from charred landscapes.
LUKAS COCH/AAP
Wildlife can smell and hear a fire coming, and have developed novel ways to evade it. But they must watch out for cunning predators rushing in for a feed.
Some predators, including red foxes, move into burnt areas after fires pass through.
Alexandre Roux/Flickr
Media coverage of sharks often exaggerates risks to people, but more than 500 shark species have never been known to attack humans, and there’s lots to learn about them.
Researchers pour a barrel of hagfish into a holding tank aboard a research vessel about 20 miles off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
AP/Steven Senne
Hagfish have been called the most disgusting creatures in the ocean. But what are they?
Artistic view of the evolution of elephants. From left to right, Moeritherium (30 million years old), Deinotherium (5 million years old) and a modern African elephant.
Alex Bernardini (Simplex Paléo) and Sophie Vrard (Creaphi).
A shift in climate, along with other environmental disruptions and the invasion of competitors and new predators all likely played an important role in reshaping ancient elephants’ brains.
Carnivorous bullfrog tadpoles don’t even spare their own.
Author supplied
Rewilding is gaining popularity around the world, as a means to restore ecosystems to their ancient state. But just like Vegemite, Australian rewilding projects need to have a unique flavour.
A survey of 32,000 samples of dingo droppings and stomach contents reveal that this predator’s appetite is as wide-ranging as Australia’s landscapes. But medium and large mammals are top of the menu.
Warning sign at a Cape Cod beach.
Carlos García-Quijano
The return of white sharks to Cape Cod, Massachusetts was a tourism success story – until a shark killed a swimmer. Can the Cape’s residents and visitors learn to share the ocean with these apex predators?
Watch out for these tiny tough guys.
Roy L. Caldwell, Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley (For use only with this article)