Wildlife

It's that time of year – and my personal favorite corner of science to look back on – when we recap the many fascinating discoveries in the plant and animal kingdom in 2025. Orcas have again made news, but no luxury yachts were hurt in the process.

In recent months, AI-generated wildlife clips have flooded social media, merging real animal behavior with playful fabrications but scientists warn that these digital deepfakes can distort people’s sense of what the natural world looks like.

Inside the Exclusion Zone surrounding the Chornobyl nuclear plant, thousands of animals now roam freely. Among them are the stray dogs – around 900 descendants of the pets left behind, living in the shadow of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

An ambitious plan to generate sequence genomes for 1.85 million species on our planet is underway. It's a major undertaking that'll dramatically enhance our understanding of biology, and inform conservation efforts. Thankfully, AI is lending a hand.

Life-sized papier-mâché birds are popping up in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, and they're quite a sight. By this we mean a sight you wouldn't want to see on a night hike. But there's more to these greater sage-grouse models than meets the eye.

Unless you're a nut, cute little squirrels pose little threat – but they could have a surprising murderous streak. After watching squirrels in California for 12 years, scientists have seen them actively hunt and kill small rodents this past summer.

Researchers have found compelling evidence to confirm that a specific pod of clever killer whiles in the Gulf of California has developed an astonishing new skill: hunting enormous whale sharks by attacking their undersides.

Most of us are familiar with the vest-clad beagle that hunts for illegal fruits and plants in the travelers' luggage at airports. Now, a species of giant pouched rat has been trained to fulfill a similar role in finding illegal wildlife products.

There are so many ways to say hello. People wave, bow, shake hands, hug, kiss, fist bump, say “hi” or any combo. But there’s one greeting from nature that we sure hope doesn’t catch on, as a new study finds that elephants often greet chums with a dump.

The sex life of a tiny Australian marsupial known as an antechinus is already pretty bizarre. But now its mating season has gotten even stranger – and darker – thanks to the introduction of cannibalism, as observed by field researchers.

Genitalia in the animal kingdom is rarely dull, from penis 'sword' fighting flatworms, to echidnas with four-headed phalluses. Let us introduce a new odd member contender: a beetle with an appendage that looks like you could crack open a beer with it.

With spines like a hedgehog, feet like a mole and snout like an anteater, this bizarre animal is hard to miss. Yet it has been missing, presumed extinct since 1961 – that was until it had the audacity to saunter past a well-placed research camera.