Wildlife Conservation

New clues from ancient caves reveal when the giant ape vanished and what ultimately doomed it.

Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest ape ever known, has long been a prehistoric mystery. We have teeth, a few jawbones, and a nagging question: how could an animal that massive simply vanish?

A study published in Nature tackled it by dating fossil teeth and the cave sediments around them from a network of caves in southern China. Using several modern dating techniques, the team pinned down the extinction window and compared it with signs of shifting habitats.

The picture that emerges is a slow squeeze, not a sudden disaster: climate-driven forest changes that left a huge, highly specialized ape with too few good options.

Read more

Animals show neurological and behavioral signs of pain, even if they can’t describe it like humans.

If you’ve ever wondered whether animals feel pain the way humans do, you’re not alone. The question sits at the center of science, ethics, food systems, and how people relate to other living beings, and it has become more urgent as research advances.

For years, the debate was framed as a simple yes or no. Today, scientists approach it differently, studying nervous systems, behavior, learning, and physiology to understand what pain means across species.

The result is a more complex picture that challenges assumptions without making sweeping claims. This gallery walks through what the evidence actually shows, how scientists study pain, and why the answer matters right now.

Read more

Acting quickly can make the difference between a close call and a sudden loss.

Large birds of prey rarely see pets as targets, but when they do, it can happen fast. Hawks and eagles are powerful, opportunistic hunters that can mistake small dogs, cats, or backyard animals for prey, especially in open yards.

These encounters are uncommon, yet reports tend to cluster in certain seasons and locations. When they happen, homeowners are often caught off guard, unsure whether the threat is real or how serious it might be.

Knowing the warning signs and responding immediately can reduce risk. Small changes in how pets are supervised outdoors can help prevent a rare sighting from turning into a dangerous encounter.

Read more

Veterinarians say these changes are often misunderstood but deeply meaningful to attentive owners.

Many dog owners say they sense something has changed before they ever hear difficult news from a veterinarian. As dogs near the end of life, subtle shifts in behavior, routines, and connection often appear first.

These changes aren’t mystical, but they aren’t random either. Veterinarians say aging dogs and those with serious illness frequently show recognizable patterns as their bodies slow down.

Understanding these signs can help owners respond with patience, comfort, and presence during an emotional time. While every dog is different, certain behaviors tend to appear again and again in a dog’s final stage of life.

Read more

Low light, active animals, and human instincts collide most often in this narrow window of time.

Across much of North America, dusk is when wildlife activity peaks and human visibility drops. Deer, coyotes, bears, and other animals begin moving as temperatures cool and light fades, often bringing them closer to roads, trails, and neighborhoods.

Encounters during this narrow window can feel sudden and disorienting, especially when instincts take over. The risk isn’t just the animal itself, but how people react when visibility is poor and timing feels compressed.

Many serious incidents happen not because wildlife behaves aggressively, but because humans misread the moment. Understanding what changes at dusk, and adjusting behavior accordingly, can reduce dangerous outcomes for both people and animals.

Read more

It looks like fear, but something else may be triggering the reaction.

Videos of cats leaping into the air after spotting a cucumber have racked up millions of views, turning a simple vegetable into an internet punchline. The reactions look dramatic, even comical, and are often framed as proof that cats are inexplicably terrified of cucumbers.

But animal behavior experts say the truth is far less random and far more revealing. These moments tap into how cats perceive sudden changes in their environment, how their instincts evolved, and why surprise matters more than the object itself.

Click through and find out what’s really happening when a cat encounters a cucumber—and why the viral trend misunderstands feline behavior.

Read more

These instinctive reactions can escalate danger and make a bad situation much worse.

Discovering a snake inside your home can be shocking, even if you live in an area where snakes are common. Most of these encounters happen by accident, when a snake wanders in seeking shelter, warmth, or prey.

The danger often comes from how people react in those first moments. Wildlife experts say injuries usually happen when homeowners panic, misjudge the situation, or try to handle the snake themselves.

Knowing what not to do is critical—but so is understanding the calm, practical steps that should follow once the immediate risk is under control.

Read more

Fear leaves behind clues your dog can detect, and scientists are only beginning to understand what happens next.

Dogs have an extraordinary ability to detect subtle changes in the people around them, often reacting before humans are even aware something has shifted. Fear is one of the most powerful examples.

When a person feels afraid, their body chemistry changes in ways that are invisible to other humans but highly noticeable to dogs. What looks like intuition or emotional awareness is increasingly understood as a biological process driven by scent.

Fear doesn’t stay internal. It alters sweat, hormones, and scent in measurable ways, and dogs respond to those signals almost immediately.

Click through to learn how fear moves from the human nervous system into the air, and how dogs detect, interpret, and react to it.

Read more

Scientists say squirrels use multiple cues to track food they hid long ago.

Every fall, squirrels seem to turn neighborhoods, parks, and forests into storage facilities, burying nuts in the ground for months at a time. To human eyes, the process can look chaotic, as if the animals are hiding food at random and hoping for the best.

Yet when winter arrives, many squirrels manage to recover a surprising number of those buried nuts, even after snow has fallen or landscapes have changed. Scientists have spent years studying how squirrels pull this off.

Research shows that their success comes from a mix of strong memory, environmental awareness, smell, and even social strategy.

Click through to find out how squirrels find their hidden food and what limits their accuracy.

Read more

Some daytime encounters carry quiet warning signs that aren’t obvious at first glance.

Foxes are often associated with quiet nighttime movement, so seeing one approach a person during the day can feel surprising or even unsettling. While daytime fox sightings are not automatically dangerous, wildlife biologists say certain behaviors deserve attention.

Changes in habitat, food availability, illness, or human encroachment can all influence how foxes behave around people. Understanding what a daytime approach may signal helps people respond appropriately without panic.

Click through to learn why these encounters happen and how to protect yourself when a fox comes unusually close.

Read more