Setting guidelines for human coexistence with carnivores usually falls to local community leaders. An expert explains why the federal government should step in.
Model of a thylacine at the Australian Museum.
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Reintroducing wolves can restore important ecological processes, but it can have unintended effects when smaller predators like coyotes are driven closer to people, a team of ecologists found.
Heavier than a modern lion, these big cats were fearsome predators.
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Researchers are analyzing the fossil cranium of a Smilodon fatalis that lived more than 13,000 years ago to learn more about the lifestyle of this iconic big cat.
One distinction between a snail and a slug: The snail has a shell.
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Developing countries suffer the most in the conflict between large carnivores and humans. We need better financial incentives for these communities to make sure these iconic predators are protected.
Collared leopard being released into North Ossetia, Russia in 2022.
Pavel Padalko
Polar bears and wolves may get the glory, but small predators like weasels, foxes and their cousins play outsized ecological roles. And many of these species are declining fast.
A species that is an “apex” predator in one environment won’t necessarily remain so in another.
Diegoalerus was probably around the size of a bobcat.
Erick Toussaint, San Diego Natural History Museum (licensed under CC by 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
African wild dogs are used to evading hyenas and lions. Genetic research suggests they are using the same strengths to get around human development as well.
The researchers found tooth shape varied, depending on the types of food a carnivore regularly bites into – in much the same way we choose a kitchen knife depending on what we’re cutting up.
Small but fierce: Grasshopper mice can eat prey that are toxic to other mice.
Lauren Koenig
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology, University of Venda, Researcher at IGDORE, and Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, Durham University