elephant in captivity

The Elephant in Captivity

snakes

A Long Drink of Water

For thirsty sea snakes, the ocean can be a desert.

Meet the Alloparents

Shared child care may be the secret of human evolutionary success.

Aelurodon ferox pack pursues a three-toed horse

How Dogs Came to Run the World

During the past 40 million years, three great lineages arose in the dog family.

Bird biomechanics 2

On Swift Wings

What airplane designers could learn from the shape-changing wings of birds

shrew 1

No Taming the Shrew

Good thing for us it’s small, because this predator gives no quarter to its quarry.

Lethal Fuzz slide show

Lethal Fuzz

Toxic hairs enable some caterpillars to venture forth in conspicuous processions.

Winning by a Neck

Some trees succeed in life by offering giraffes a meal of flowers.

The Case of the Vanishing Caterpillar

A butterfly larva’s fate depends on who finds it first—its ant friends or ant foes.

The Crowninshield Elephant

The surprising story of Old Bet, the first elephant ever to be brought to America

Recent Stories

The way they live, the food they eat, and the effect on us

A true but unlikely tale

Story and Photographs by William Rowan

Increasing day length on the early Earth boosted oxygen released by photosynthetic cyanobacteria.

Genomic evidence shows that Denisovans and modern humans may have overlapped in Wallacea.