1+ day, 5+ min ago   (316+ words) Here's why predators have a seemingly low success rate at hunting and killing their prey Predators tend to be bigger, faster and more powerful than the prey they hunt, yet across much of the animal kingdom, most attacks fail. Even…...

1+ day, 4+ hour ago   (639+ words) This frog survives winter by spending it frozen solid - literally The only amphibian to live north of the Arctic Circle, the wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) has an amazing ability to undergo freezing and thawing to survive cold winters. As you…...

1+ day, 7+ hour ago   (505+ words) Meet the animal kingdom’s true giants – record-breakers in height on land and in the sea Defining “tallest” gets complicated when you leave dry land. While animals like giraffes and elephants are measured by how high they stand, marine species such…...

2+ day, 37+ min ago   (176+ words) Quite often, in a case of ‘polar confusion’, people envision polar bears rubbing shoulders with penguins in some unspecified icy waste. And with sea-ice cover in the Arctic Ocean at record lows, some wits might suggest transplanting starving bears to…...

3+ day, 19+ hour ago   (907+ words) These deep-sea fish are known for their iconic lure which tempts prey close to their ferocious mouths so they can trap them in a cage of terrifying teeth This creature goes by several different names: Johnson’s abyssal seadevil, humpback anglerfish…...

4+ day, 5+ hour ago   (538+ words) Wild pygmy raccoons have been filmed making and playing with pint-sized, papier-mâché footballs. The entrancing behaviour may be a rare example of wild animals making objects simply for fun. Pygmy raccoons (Procyon pygmaeus) are found only on the Mexican island…...

4+ day, 10+ hour ago   (282+ words) Is the wildlife really more deadly 'down under'? Helen Pilcher takes a look at why Australia has so many dangerous animals Australia has a reputation for being full of deadly wildlife – and with good reason. The vast antipodean island is…...

4+ day, 19+ hour ago   (472+ words) Mantis shrimp spend most of their lives in their burrows, only leaving home to hunt and mate Brent Durand/ Getty Images Mantis shrimp may look like a hybrid of a praying mantis (at the front) and a shrimp (at the…...

5+ day, 7+ hour ago   (750+ words) The shape-shifting gulper eel is one of the ocean's strangest and most fascinating creatures. The gulper eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) is a strange-looking deep-sea fish with a mouth that can balloon to huge sizes to gobble down prey. Discovered in 1882, these…...

5+ day, 8+ hour ago   (263+ words) With bone-shattering swipes and scythe-like snaps, these are the most formidable, lethal tails in the animal kingdom While teeth and claws usually steal the spotlight, many animals are armed with an additional weapon: the tail. Capable of catching prey, smashing…...