zoology

Getting it wrong can harm the very creatures that scientists are trying to protect.

The father-and-son duo Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka crafted thousands of scientifically accurate models of plants and sea creatures as teaching aids. 

The father-and-son duo, the last generations of a long line of renowned glassworkers, crafted thousands of realistic models of plants and sea creatures.

Forced to respond to a climate that’s changing faster than it ever has, it remains unclear whether species’ adaptations can keep pace.

The ocean’s surface harbors an ecosystem of colorful, understudied life, ranging from protists and cnidarians to insects.

The sea surface is home to a diverse group of animals adapted to life in the open ocean, but increasingly, they’re sharing that space with plastic debris.

A high-quality reference genome for this vulnerable feline may help scientists understand why they’re so prone to transitional cell carcinoma in captivity.

Researchers visualize the snake clitoris in detail for the first time, finding evidence that the organ may be evolutionarily important for snake sex.

New insights into the functionality of nonhuman sound may help us conserve nature and protect ourselves from excessive noise.

Researchers race to find ecological data kept on outdated media or in dusty backroom boxes—before they’re lost forever.

A decade-long, multicontinent study suggests that acoustic defense strategies are more common among moths than previously imagined.

The molting fluid of ant pupae functions as “metabolic currency” in the ant colony and may have enabled the evolution of eusociality. 

Bats that experience food shortages due to climate change and habitat loss end up roosting in urban settings, where they shed more of the deadly Hendra virus. 

In a chapter on cats, author Bethany Brookshire explores the thorny issue of felines that live freely.

In Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains, I explore what it is that makes an animal a pest—and it has nothing to do with their behavior, but rather our own desires and beliefs about the natural world.

The ability to activate different sets of genes has likely helped the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis spread widely in amphibians, resulting in global population declines. 

This image took 4th place at the 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.

Meet the grasshopper that has reproduced asexually for a quarter of a million years—without acquiring undue numbers of harmful mutations.

For too long, some scientists have acted like Gollums of the ivory tower, guarding precious study sites, model organisms, and even entire fields of inquiry.

Finding a creature in the wild that had been considered long gone brings hope—and quite a bit of uncertainty.