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Category: The Wild Life Blog
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The Secret Ingredient to the Perfect Beach Sand? Parrotfish Poop
Turns out, parrotfish poop is responsible for 70% of the sand in the white beaches of the Caribbean and Hawaii
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Wait, What Exactly is Fire?
Everyone’s got an opinion on the best way to build one (the secret is good airflow, by the way), but what exactly is fire?
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The Science Behind The Red Sun During Wildfires
A Red Sun seems otherworldly, but it can be explained by the very same fascinating physics that give us our blue skies on a normal afternoon.
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Can Porcupines Shoot Their Quills?
While it’s true you should keep your distance, is there any truth to the tale of a tenacious porcupine shooting their quills?
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Wigglin’ In The Rain: Why Do Worms Come Out When It Rains?
Why do worms come out when it rains? Unfortunately, we can’t ask the worms, but we have some pretty good ideas!
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Snake Kinetics: How Snakes Move
Whether surfing sandy dunes, diving deep, or racing over rock, snakes know how to get around—no legs required.
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Do Ticks Fall From Trees?
Ticks, for as small as they are, strike a disproportionate amount of fear and disgust into our hearts and minds. And nothing quite leads to misconception like fear.
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Do Penguins Have Knees?
There’s something about penguins, isn’t there? They evoke our curiosity, our affection—nay, our adoration—at levels that other members of the animal kingdom would be hard-pressed to compete with. Perhaps it’s their wobbly gait. Maybe it’s the stark contrast they have with the often otherworldly habitats in which we often mentally…
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How a Puffin Problem Led to the Creation of a Star Wars Icon
Star Wars is as much a product of human ingenuity as it is a space odyssey. Just look at how they solved the Puffin Problem.
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Did Ben and Jerry, the Blue Ducks Who Married, Really Cause an Extinction?
In a sense, this is a story of a story that never needed to be one.
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Gay Black Swan Đads Make the Best Parents
June is Pride Month, a time for celebrating love, the LGBTQ+ community, and its beautiful spectrum of identities, cultures, and experiences. What you may not know is this diversity in orientations, relationships, and expressions isn’t an exclusively human experience. Over 1,500 animal species engage in same-sex coupling and parenting. Even…
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Raccoon Problems
Raccoons and humans don’t always get along. There’s a reason for that, and a solution. Truth is, we’re more similar than you might think.
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Where the Earth Opened Up
Where the Water Reflects the Sky | Part One The depth of our history— humanity’s, life’s, earths, and that of the universe itself— is unfathomable. Yet that is where our series begins—deep time. Before you and I. Before everyone you’ve ever known, loved, or learned about. Before the pyramids, before…
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Wide-Eyed | Why Goats & Cuttlefish Have Weird Shaped Pupils
Who doesn’t love goats? Especially baby ones. Their gait, their bleat, their tiny horns. But there comes a time in any goat interaction I’ve had where we lock eyes and I’m struck with a mixture of curiosity and unease.
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Polar Bears & the Illusion of Color
Most would agree that Polar Bears are white, but there’s more to the story than things may appear.
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How Much Does the Sky Weigh?
It’s a question you may have never asked, or wondered about, but now I bet you’re wondering. As it turns out, it’s an unexpectedly loaded question, too!
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New Study Suggests the Dugong is ‘Functionally Extinct in China
According to a paper published on August 24th, 2022 in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the Dugong is now “functionally extinct” in China.
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Can Other Animals Get Sunburns?
When was the last time you saw a roseate rhinoceros, a bronzed bunting, or a peeling porcupine? Can other animals get sunburns?
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Sea Otters Have Secret Skin Pockets in Their Armpits
Yes, you read that right. Move over marsupials, you’re not the only mammals with skin pockets.
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Class S1E3 | The Demo Model (DEMOSPONGIAE)
Sometimes, things just work. In the case of sponges, there’s the Demo Model.
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Crocodiles Would Bankrupt the Tooth Fairy
Crocodiles go through an extraordinary amount of teeth in their lives, and the how and why are just as spectacular.
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This Pinocchio-Like Trait Means No Lyin’ Lions
As it turns out, Pinocchio’s nose isn’t the only one capable of revealing the truth. Want to know how old a lion is? The nose knows.
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What Animal has the Highest Blood Pressure?
Typically when we think of high blood pressure, we think of the negatives like high stress and a variety of high-risk health conditions. Yet for some in the animal kingdom, high blood pressure is a mere fact of life. So, what animal has the highest blood pressure?
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Why Do Hedgehogs Have Spikes?
Hedgehogs are easily one of the most unmistakable little critters out there, but how much do you know about them
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Wild Speeds | Earth’s Top 20 Fastest Animals
The average human can run 7 mph. How do we measure up against our cousins across the animal kingdom? Let’s explore the Earth’s top 20 fastest animals.
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How to be a Naturalist
What exactly is a naturalist? Who is a naturalist? What do they look like? You might have a certain type of person in mind. Maybe an old British guy in a stuffy room full of bugs in glass cases and preserved birds in drawers. Maybe your old British guy is…
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Join The Wild Life. Get Exclusive Gifts for a Year!
BRAND NEW! Support The Wild Life via patreon at either $10 or $20 per month and receive exclusive gifts every 3 months for a year as a part of our new Loyalty Program! www.patreon.com/thewildlife
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Class S1E2: The Art of Glass (Hexactinellids)
Aside from the obviously fascinating fact that these creatures have skeletons made of glass, what exactly are glass sponges?
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Bull Kelp
A couple of weeks back, I saw my first ever Bull Kelp at Huntington Beach! Technically, Bull Kelp is a broad name for a genus, Nereocystis, meaning mermaid’s-bladder in Greek. The thing about the genus is, it’s monotypic meaning it contains just one species: Nereocystis luetkeana. Depending on where you’re…
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Class S1E1: The Sponge Plunge
Life hasn’t always been here. In the brief time that it has on the cosmic timescale, it has definitely made its mark. For two billion years, life was stuck in an energetic canyon unable to get big and diversify, until two cells combined in a second genesis. In the two…