Before you sit down with us to learn all about platypuses, join us for a glimpse Behind the SCiENcES with Dr Gilad Bino. Dr Bino is passionate about conservation and science. He seeks to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis by understanding the underlying processes that shape biodiversity at multiple spatial and temporal scales to inform [...]
This is one of my favorite shots I’ve ever managed to capture. I snapped this in 2015 at one of my all-time favorite parks, @brazosbendstatepark near Houston, TX. It sorta looks like she’s lunging forward, but in reality, she was sitting in a quickly flowing stream with her mouth open against the flow, presumably to catch fish [...]
Admittedly, this photo isn't from any time recently. I took this during the summer of 2014 at Springbrook Nature Center in Fridley, MN. It was while I was working for a nonprofit organization called Tree Trust building a 180-foot swamp foot boardwalk with local high school students. It was also my first time seeing one [...]
Get to know Brogan Brogan is a Master’s Student working in the Wildlife Habitat & Population Analysis Lab at Virginia Tech She’s also the one behind #SundayScientistShoutout on Twitter which she does every week for scientists or STEM activists from underrepresented groups. Follow Brogan @Brogan_Holcombe or look up her #bearseyeview for awesome bear videos! GET [...]
In this episode, Devon sits down with Carnivore Ecologist Dr Mariela Gantchoff to talk about What defines carnivoresHow their population sizes compare with those of their preyHow carnivores impact their ecosystem and what would their ecosystems look like without their presence, specifically bears and cougarsBasic biology, diet, and behavior Impacts on populationsHow there behavior in biology [...]
Meet this week’s guest before the episode airs! She is an ecologist at the intersection of theoretical and applied ecology, currently working on landscape and quantitative ecology in relation to the conservation and management of terrestrial wildlife. A lot of her current research involves working to understand wildlife use of natural and developed landscapes, range [...]
Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization Sign up for our Newsletter! Become a Member-Supporter Follow us on all of our platforms If you've ever seen a documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, you've almost surely seen the Birds of Paradise. They are a favorite of his, and many others around the world for their [...]
Professor Marcus Byrne teaches us about the fantastical and unexpected world of dung beetles, their ecological importance, their connections to human culture and history, and how this lowly creature finds its way home by looking to the stars.
Order| Lepidoptera Species| Lycomorpha pholus Uh-ah, you know what it is—the Black-and-Yellow Lichen Moth! “Wait, black and yellow? They’re clearly orange-er, right?” Who knows what they were thinking. One thing’s for sure though, mimicry is their flex. As caterpillars, when they spend most of their time munching on a symbiotic snack of lichen, they texturally [...]
Order| Columbiformes While it may come as a shock, the Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) is indeed a Pigeon. It’s also the closest living relative of the now extinct Dodo bird! These birds are named for an island chain of the coast of India where many of them live, though they can be found all the [...]
Red Panda Order| Carnivora Family| Ailuridae Red Panda's, like the Giant Panda, eat mostly bamboo (and are impossibly adoreable). But here's the thing, they aren't pandas. They're actually more closely related to skunks and raccoons, and make up their own subfamily alongside skunks, raccoons, and weasels. Much like the Eau de Popcorn smelling Binturong, the [...]
When most people think of Australia, their mind conjures up images of a Mad Maxian landscape—brick red sand blemished with gray-green freckles of saltbrush. Standing tall in a rigid defiance, the occasional gum or eucalyptus serves as safe haven for koalas and kookaburras under a big hard sun. Maybe they think of the Great Barrier [...]
This past weekend as I sat below an old oak tree while drinking my morning cup of coffee and looking out on a glassy Lake Darling in Alexandria, Minnesota, something fell from the sky and landed at my feet. Small and curled up like a slightly puff green and yellow sour gummy worm. It's face [...]
This #SundayFishSketch comes from Ichthyologist, Rene Martin. Visit her shop on InPrint to see more of her artwork or to order prints! Meet the Freshwater Elephantfish Mormyridae Mormyridae is an African family of 200 or so species in the biological order Osteoglossiformes. Oddly enough, but fitting in line with the peculiar and weirdly specific nature of systematics, [...]
In the skies across Minnesota (and much of the eastern US and southeastern Canada, for that matter), roams a fierce and agile predator, capable of taking down prey you would never imagine---and some many wouldn't dare to try at themselves. Hagenius brevistylus, is a clubtail dragonfly known as the Dragonhunter, and is one of nearly [...]
It's #ThursdayBirdsday! This week, it's time to bust some myths, bow down in awe, and learn something new about the big birds that look like emus. (Rhyming was the only reason for that last bit and I don't regret it.) You’re probably wondering why the ostrich in the main image seems so shocked. Well, then [...]
A few days back while at the park with my son, we were sitting beneath a shady cedar tree watching a family of Canada Geese graze in the grass when, from above, came a familiar summer song--- po-ta-to chip, po-ta-to chip.
It's #FossilFriday, and you know what that means---fossils. Big surprise, right? This week, with an unoriginal but begging to be used titular parody on the classic Star Trek episode 'The Trouble with Tribbles"---we're talking trilobites. Here is my trilobite. It was a gift from my brother (podcast co-host) he picked up at a rock convention. [...]
It's #BirdThurs here at #TheWildLife. This week, learn how to tell the difference between a Down and Hairy Woodpecker!
In the mid-season finale, Devon and Richard talk to Lucas Brotz, research associate at the Marine Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia and a Cnidaria Scientist for Quantitative Aquatics, to discuss how a creature without a brain dominates the worlds oceans, and the many ways they impact our lives.
This is merely a sample of the wonders of Ravens and Crows.
It's #TWLHikingClub Tuesday! To continue our series on often less appreciated critters, this week we are talking about the always adorable, and sometimes vicious, shrew.
The theme for this week's #SundayFishSketch was fish that don't look like fish, which is most definitely the case with almost all larval marine fish.
It's #TWLHikingClub Tuesday| Today, we're kicking off a new series on appreciating the little things---from urban wildlife to the oh so common Mallard.
#SundayFishSketch| Meet the Tripodfish, a deep sea dwelling hermaphrodite that, well, looks like a tripod---designed by Tim Burton.
It's Sunday, which means #SundayFishSketch ! This week, learn about the stunning, newly discovered, deepwater basslet Lipogramma idabeli #SciArt
It's Sunday, which means #SundayFishSketch . This week, travel back to the time of dinosaurs to discover the Xiphactinus. #SciArt
The banded sculpin (Cottus carolinae) is a mottled brown freshwater fish with dark vertical bands native to swift moving streams of the eastern United States where they dine on insects, various larvae, and occasionally, though sparingly, on other smaller fish or crustaceans.
Halloween may already be near its end, but if you're having trouble getting in the ghoulish spirit ahead of trick or treating or the witching hour, check out these 19 creepy critters and monster themed animals to help you be more David S Pumpkins and less David S No-Fun-kins. Instead of the normal explanatory captions, I'm opting for as little detail as possible. After all, the unknown is most terrifying of all!
If there is any fish that lives up to its name it's the Goliath Tigerfish---a truly gigantic African predator with razor sharp teeth. The largest on record weighed over 150 pounds at nearly five feet in length. For perspective, that's two German Shepard's stacked on top of each other, or a welterweight fighter---and a fighter they certainly are.
