Ten thousand mink got loose in Ohio

In 1948, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game used leftover parachutes from World War II to airdrop 76 beavers into the Frank Church Wilderness as part of a relocation project.

A large number of Bigfoot sighting claims come from southeastern Ohio

Historians debunk four famous Bigfoot sighting claims, with locals living near forested areas claiming to have been visited by the hairy, mythical creature. One family in 1978 claimed to see Bigfoot—until further investigation revealed they potentially even killed their pet German shepherd for the hoax.

A Georgia town holds an annual New Year's Eve possum drop

The town of 3,200 residents in the northwestern corner of the state began the quirky event—which lowers a taxidermied possum dangling in the center of a Times Square-esque ball—in the mid-1990s. In 2024, it ranked eighth USA Today’s list of the best New Year’s Eve drops.

In Yellowstone National Park, gray wolves act as keystone predators by controlling elk and deer populations, which had previously overgrazed and disrupted river systems that supported many more mammal, fish, and avian species.

Biologists believe over 5,000 coyotes inhabit LA as of 2025

Panic and fear of coyotes spread in the 1980s after the first recorded instance of a human killed by the animal in American history, but LA and Chicago residents today are learning to live alongside the animal. Research shows that coyotes can even benefit urban ecosystems by helping to control populations of geese and deer, and by improving songbird survival through preying on cats.

Florida: the invasive pythons capital of the world

As invasive pythons choke the life out of South Florida, it’s down to a loose-knit group of thrill-seeking bounty hunters to get rid of them.

A pod of orcas takes down a yacht

The pod rammed the boat’s rudder for about 45 minutes. Authorities were able to get crew members to land safely, but their yacht was irreparably damaged. Check out the story and photos here.

Some invasive species can provide benefits to ecosystems over time

In the 1990s, round gobies were introduced into the Great Lakes, rapidly spreading and competing with local sculpin and logperch. However, Lake Erie watersnakes, which were on the endangered species list, shifted their diet to be almost entirely made up of the plentiful round gobies, contributing to their loss of endangered status in 2011.

Supertoxic rat poisons are wreaking havoc on unintended targets, including predator birds, mammals, amphibians, crustaceans, and insects.

The bison with mystery origins on California's Santa Catalina Island

Bison roam the 75 square-mile channel island of Santa Catalina about 25 miles south of Los Angeles in the Pacific. It's not clear exactly how they got there, but one theory says 14 of them were dropped off as part of a Hollywood film production. Generally beloved by the locals and vacationers, their numbers ballooned to nearly 600 but dwindled amid resource scarcity. What now? See the state of conservation efforts here.

How scientists know invasive nutria were likely introduced to California by humans

Although native to South America, DNA testing of the semiaquatic rodents showed they are closely related to a population in Oregon, suggesting they were deliberately transported into the state. First identified in the San Joaquin Valley in 2017, the distance, terrain, and lack of nutria between the two regions has allowed researchers to rule out natural migration.

No one is tracking the total number of animals used for research across US labs, though partial data without any rodents puts the 2024 count above 775,000 animals, including some 40,000 dogs and 100,000 primates.

Farm animals help maintain the grounds at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport

Since 2013, a herd of goats, sheep, and a donkey have grazed on the scrub vegetation at the airport. In the process, they also help keep out animals that can be dangerous for pilots, like coyotes.

Mapping Michigan's shipwrecks

For centuries, the Great Lakes have provided vital access to the Midwest from the Atlantic Ocean, allowing the establishment of key trading outposts and ultimately the growth of major cities in the region. An estimated 6,000 vessels were lost on the Great Lakes with approximately 1,500 of these ships located in Michigan waters. Explore the deadly legacy of the region with resources pulled together by the Michigan History Center.

Able to hold their breath for up to 15 minutes, beavers are considered keystone species via their construction of dams and formation of wetlands, which serve as homes and food sources for fish, birds, insects, and other animals.

In 1971, a $35 ferret helped clean the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Lacking cleaning robots, Fermilab scientists purchased a ferret named Felicia when metal slivers obstructing accelerated particles were identified. They trained her to run strings through vacuum tubes more than 90 meters long, and cleanser-dipped swabs were then tied to the strings and pulled through to remove the debris.

Before modern sanitation, New York City let pigs roam the streets to eat its garbage

In the early 1820s, an estimated 20,000 hogs roamed Manhattan's streets, feeding on trash that the city lacked a system to collect. Pigs were eventually banned at the urging of wealthy residents, who feared they would deter tourists and drive down property values.

One Canadian town operates a polar bear jail

The town of Churchill has a population of 850 humans and just as many polar bears. In an effort to prevent hungry bears from breaking into homes or attacking residents, the town began imprisoning them for 30-day stints.

Polar bears find refuge in an abandoned Russian village

Russia's Wrangel Island hosts one of the world’s largest seasonal gatherings of polar bears. Hundreds of females come ashore to den and raise cubs, often entering abandoned homes for protection. See videos and pictures of the endangered species mingling on the island.

The Chernobyl exclusion zone has become a unique wildlife refuge

Within the area—roughly the size of Yosemite National Park—animals such as wolves, bears, and feral dogs descended from the pets left behind have gradually adapted to low-level radiation. Eastern tree frogs in the area have darker skin than usual, which may have helped protect them from ionizing radiation.

Watch how wild animals are projected into a mall

Centered around a dynamic, ever-changing watering hole, the experience allows you to meet a diverse range of animals from Africa to the Arctic as they graze, drink, and interact with the environment around them.

A dive into some of the country's stranger Thanksgivings

How did a raccoon intended for the Thanksgiving dinner table end up a beloved presidential pet? History teacher Sharon McMahon's podcast "Here's Where It Gets Interesting" takes an episode to delve into some of the more unusual Thanksgivings at the White House, including the Great Cranberry Scare of 1959 and the story of Calvin Coolidge and his "first raccoon," Rebecca.

Mammals gradually expanded in size and diversity after the dinosaur extinction

After an asteroid impact caused a mass extinction event 66 million years ago, small mammals were among the few surviving species. With fewer predators, mammals steadily grew larger as new habitats emerged.

The Amazon molly is an all-female organism that has been cloning itself for 100,000 years without accumulating harmful mutations.

Calvin Coolidge had many animals—including a White House raccoon

Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge adopted a raccoon named Rebecca, initially intended for Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, she became a beloved pet, roaming the White House lawn with a handmade collar reading "White House Raccoon."

River dolphins manhandle an unlucky anaconda

The natural world around us is endlessly inspiring, and fascinating, and often very odd too: like when researchers snapped a photo of Bolivian river dolphins swimming around with a Beni anaconda snake in their mouths, for example.

As part of the up to 15 pounds of seafood they consume daily, sea otters eat urchins that feed on kelp forests—sources of shelter and food to over 800 species—thereby making the marine mammal a keystone species.

Land use changes in Connecticut may have helped to enable Lyme's leap into humans

Forest clearing and fragmentation, alongside suburban development, may have contributed to the emergence of Lyme disease in humans in the 1970s. Those changes brought mice, carriers of the disease, into greater contact with people. Climate change is also facilitating Lyme's spread as tick populations survive milder winters and move northward.

Genetic engineering mice is one idea to reduce Lyme disease transmission

Wild white-footed mice are the main carriers of Lyme. A research team is hoping to genetically engineer mice, using CRISPR, to make the animals immune to Lyme. They're proposing a field trial where they would insert a gene with an antibody to Lyme infection to break the disease transmission cycle on a private island and then try it in Nantucket if that goes well. Simply killing the mice isn't an option because it would upend food webs. Unlike traditional vaccines, this "heritable immunization" would pass from one generation of mice to the next.

Feral and free-ranging cats rank among the most harmful invasive species

Transported across the planet by humans, cats can now be found in many environments and are estimated to kill about 2 billion birds each year in the US. Studies suggest cats have contributed to the extinction of at least 63 species worldwide.

How the California wildfires are impacting wildlife

The deadly 2025 Eaton and Palisades Fires in California have devastated neighborhoods, forested canyons and chaparral—a type of shrubland. In addition to taking dozens of human lives and displacing thousands, the fires destroyed countless habitats and displaced many species. See the unfortunate effects of the flames on wildlife populations, including birds, snakes, wildcats, and fish.

A Missouri farmer sold $140M worth of fake organic feed

Randy Constant sold nonorganic feed to other farmers, who fed it to their animals, which were then sold as organic meat. The scheme began sometime in the mid-2000s and ended after a tip, likely from one of Constant’s competitors, to the US Department of Agriculture. Constant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but died by suicide before serving time.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Washington systematically introduced and popularized mule breeding in the United States

Known as "the father of the American Mule," Washington imported a prized Spanish donkey and bred it with a female horse at Mount Vernon. He promoted mules as stronger, more efficient farm animals, helping spread their use across the South and transforming American agriculture.

Powassan virus, a rare tick-borne disease named after the Canadian town where it was discovered in 1958, is on the rise in the northeastern United States, and it kills roughly 10% to 15% of patients with symptomatic disease.

In recent years, orcas have begun sinking boats and other orcas are following in their footsteps

For just over five years, killer whales have been ramming (and occasionally sinking) expensive yachts, sailboats, and fishing boats in waters near European coasts. Scientists believe these incidents are the result of play rather than aggressive attacks.

How goldfish cause significant environmental damage when released

Researchers have found that goldfish cause "regime shifts" in habitats as they search for food in places like lake beds, kicking up sediment that muddies the water and disrupts small invertebrates. They can also outcompete native species to further destabilize existing food webs.

London pet detectives set out to prove a spate of cat killings is the work of a serial killer

With dozens of felines turning up dead around London, a pair of pet detectives set out to prove it was the work of a serial killer.

Cincinnati has its own Oktoberfest tradition: the running of the weiners

A unique aspect of Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, in Cincinnati, Ohio, is its dachshund race. Costumed wiener dogs race down a short track for Oktoberfest glory (and treats).

Leprosy has been detected in British red squirrels

The animals have been infected with both strains of the bacterium that cause leprosy. Researchers have found that squirrels living in different parts of the UK were infected with different species of the disease-causing bacteria. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Possible globster sighted on the Oregon coast.

A man riding an ATV on the Oregon coast comes across a “sea monster", which is actually likely a decaying carcass of shark or whale.

The ‘humongous fungus’ may be the largest organism on Earth at more than 2,300 acres

Discovered in 1988, when it was only covering 400 acres, this massive colony of Armillaria ostoyae, based in Oregon, has taken hold among the tree roots of the Malheur National Forest. It consists of a vast network of unique long black filaments of fungal tissue called rhizomorphs that grow under the soil and infect tree roots, nourishing the fungus but killing the trees. Researchers believe this fungal growth dates back more than 8,000 years and currently weighs approximately 35,000 tons.

Lewis and Clark identified 122 animal species new to science.

During a trophic cascade, the disappearance of a keystone species, which plays an indispensable role in ecosystems, triggers a domino effect within food webs that disrupts the populations of many more species.

What revisiting a 1979 experiment reveals about ecosystem recovery after deep-sea mining

A 2023 study co-led by the National Oceanography Centre and the Natural History Museum, London, found that tracks made by the mining vehicle remained largely unchanged since 1979. Small animals, such as amoeba-like xenophyophore, were seen in the cleared areas, but sightings of larger animals known to live in the region were much rarer. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades and the spotted lanternfly—native to Asia and now found throughout the US—are among the invasive species accidentally introduced and spread by humans.

Mosquito-borne illnesses have killed two captive orcas at SeaWorld since they became water park attractions.

Billions of flies are being dropped from the sky

The US is dropping billions of sterile flies to stop a deadly parasite. Screwworm maggots eat animals alive, so scientists are collapsing the population by ensuring females can’t reproduce.

The first draft of the classic American novel 'Of Mice and Men' was torn to shreds by John Steinbeck's dog.

At one point in the 20th century, more than a million Americans had pet monkeys

This choice to domesticate monkeys proved to be trickier than expected, and thus isn't a very appealing option for humans. Monkeys breed more slowly than other animals, while also being susceptible to diseases and challenging to contain.