Lonesome George was the last surviving member of his species and a conservation icon. When the tortoise died, taxidermist George Dante set out to preserve his body, and his legacy.
In the past decade, the number of bear-related calls Florida wildlife officials have received has increased by 400 percent. To stop the rise in bear population, officials have agreed to start hunting.
Birders especially know that Cuba harbors hundreds of rarely seen, little-studied species. As the island nation opens to more U.S. visitors, scientists hope "green Cuba" can survive increased tourism.
Drones aren't the only airborne worry in Europe this week. An aggressive owl is terrorizing the Dutch town of Purmerend. Hormones, perhaps? Or maybe it's just hungry.
Eyelashes keep dust out and fend off drying breezes, a study finds. To do that they need to be a very precise length. Extra-long fake eyelashes hurt more than they help.
Shifts in climate in the Middle Ages likely drove bubonic plague bacteria from gerbils in Asia to people in Europe, research now suggests. Rats don't deserve all the blame.
Tiny patches of Tanzanian farmland contain more rats than do nearby forests. These rats are more likely to carry the bacteria that cause the plague in humans.
A new study published in Science looked at thousands of marine animals over a 540-million-year evolutionary span. Their conclusion: Most of them got larger.
Humiliation, fear and unpredictability all turn up the volume on pain, research shows. And meditation can turn down pain's intensity, according to scientists who are starting to figure out why.
Savory fish are a staple for penguins, but the poor birds lack the ability to taste the umami flavor of their meals. One hypothesis? The genes at play got frozen out of commission.
In 2014, ornithologists documented record numbers of snowy owls wintering unusually far south. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Talkin' Birds host Ray Brown about this year's numbers.
Once depleted by decades of overfishing, rockfish have rebounded. But it's hard to tell this conservation and fishery management success story if purveyors continue to misidentify the tasty fish.
Lawmakers also introduced a bill to strengthen laws protecting farm animals used in research. Both moves come out of a New York Times investigation of animal suffering at a federal research center.
Two Super Bowl ads appeared to feature a screaming goat. In fact, one of them was a sheep. A goat and sheep guru explains why it's hard to tell the difference — and what makes 'em scream.
This week, the City of Fountain Fire Department in Colorado repurposed some firefighting tools for a chillier job: rescuing cows that had fallen through a half-foot of ice into freezing pond water.
The animal had suffered burns to his paws in the blaze that swept through the Adelaide area earlier this month. After a full recovery, he has been released back into the wild.
A Pew Research Center study shows that the two groups disagree most strongly on the safety of GM foods, the use of animals in research, climate change and human evolution.
A proposed U.S.-Asia trade pact calls for incorporating the issue wildlife trafficking. The goal is to slow the poaching of endangered animals such as elephants, tigers and rhinos.
Beef processors continue to block efforts to bring back Zilmax, a drug that makes cattle put on weight faster. Is it because they're concerned about animal welfare, or beef exports?
