Posts by Stephanie Rogers

Nature’s hardest workers

It’s a tough old world out there for the honeybee, which exhausts itself for 60 hours a week to produce just a thimbleful of honey. Indeed, you’d be surprised how hard some members of the animal kingdom have to work just to survive, and they’re not exactly taking sick days or going on holiday between … Continued

Deadly discoveries: 8 of the world’s most ecologically devastating inventions

They have kept us warm, prevented malaria, improved sanitation and extended the shelf life of our food, but some of humankind’s most celebrated inventions are also responsible for millions of deaths, catastrophic environmental contamination and the hastening of global warming. In fact, one supposedly safe discovery even indirectly led to the demise of its inventor. … Continued

Pretty poison: 6 of nature’s deadliest assassins

Pick up the wrong seashell on the ocean floor or accidentally brush up against an expertly camouflaged caterpillar and, unfortunately, you’ll be dead within minutes. Beautiful bright yellow frogs measuring just a few centimetres long pack enough poison in their skin to kill 10 adult humans, and one species of ordinary-looking bugs ‘kisses’ its human … Continued

The 6 kung fu kings of the animal kingdom

Even if you’re a martial arts master yourself there are creatures in the animal kingdom you could never hope to beat in a sparring match. From kangaroos that balance on their tails to weaponize both legs at once, to birds that can slice you open with a single flick of their legs—these six species have … Continued

Ghost cat: The Eastern Cougar no longer needs protection because it’s officially extinct

In some parts of the Eastern U.S. saying you spotted a cougar is something akin to claiming a Bigfoot sighting. The big cats once roamed a significant swathe of territory stretching from Canada to South Carolina, but – over the decades – their numbers have plummeted. It’s now been almost 80 years since one was … Continued

Mirror test: Wild jungle animals fascinated by their own reflection

A massive silverback gorilla hurls itself at a mirror left in the middle of the Gabon jungle, perhaps judging his own reflection to be a challenging opponent. Meanwhile elsewhere, chimpanzees stretch, scratch and groom themselves in front of another mirrored glass, lining up around it in an orderly fashion as if waiting for a performance … Continued

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Global population of seabirds has dropped almost 70% since 1950

A dramatic loss of at least 230 million seabirds over the past 60 years may represent a ‘canary in the coal mine’ with regards to marine ecosystems as a whole, a recent study reports. Research compiled on a sizable sample population from all of the world’s ecosystems found that seabird numbers plummeted by an astonishing 70% … Continued

Plastic pirates: Rubbish in the ocean ferrying invasive species to Britain

Invasive species are hitching rides to foreign coasts on the backs of our discarded rubbish, say experts at the National Museum Wales. These ‘plastic pirates’ can include bivalves like mussels that have journeyed all the way from south-east coast of the US to the shores of Britain, and are subsequently attempting to outcompete native species … Continued

Surprising sweet tooth: Carnivores caught drinking flower nectar

Known for its fierce fighting skills, the meat-eating mongoose is one of the last animals you’d expect to find chugging sugary nectar out of flower blossoms. But a surprising new study monitoring how mammals interact with the flowers of the sugarbush plant in South Africa’s shrubland caught these carnivorous creatures red-handed, sticking their noses into … Continued