Land mammal news, features and articles

Our lands are laden with mammals of all shapes and sizes, from the smallest shrews and moles to ginormous hippos and elephants. Live Science provides you with all the biggest land mammal research, with our expert team of writers and editors bringing the latest news, features and articles about land mammals, such as cannibal monkeys, mini kangaroos and jaguar bromances.
Latest about Land Mammals
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'We didn't know they were going to be this cute': Scientists unveil genetically engineered 'woolly mice'
By Sascha Pare Published
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Why do cats make a weird face after smelling something?
By Clarissa Brincat Published
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Watch polar bear cubs emerge from their winter den for 1st time on Svalbard
By Sascha Pare Published
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Reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone helped entire ecosystem thrive, 20-year study finds
By Olivia Ferrari Published
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Dogs may have domesticated themselves because they really liked snacks, model suggests
By Olivia Ferrari Published
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See heartbreaking photos of 'bumpy' giraffe in South Africa with viral disease rarely seen in these tall animals
By Elise Poore Published
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Why do cats have 'toe beans'?
By Marilyn Perkins Published
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Bats
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Vampire bats have a really strange way of getting energy, scientists discover after putting them on treadmills
By Elise Poore Published
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Hammer-headed bat: The African megabat that looks like a gargoyle and holds honking pageants
By Sascha Pare Published
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Honduran white bats: The fluffy little bats that roost together in leaf tents
By Megan Shersby Published
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Bats with weirdly giant penis have sex for up to 12 hours in a way never seen in mammals before
By Sascha Pare Published
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52 million-year-old bat skeleton is the oldest ever found and belongs to a never-before-seen species
By Sascha Pare Published
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Scientists unlocked the secrets to bats' heavy metal growls
By Elizabeth Rayne Published
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Bats tell predators to 'buzz off' — literally
By Nicoletta Lanese Published
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Vampire bats' 'missing' genes may help them survive on all-blood diet
By Nicoletta Lanese Published
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Bats are superheroes of the night. Their superpowers could help us protect them.
By Cori Lausen Published
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Bears
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Watch polar bear cubs emerge from their winter den for 1st time on Svalbard
By Sascha Pare Published
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Polar bears are getting horrific injuries and huge 'ice balls' on their paws because of climate change, researchers say
By Sascha Pare Published
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Bleak photo of polar bear with plastic in its jaws in the remote Arctic shows pollution's 'pervasive grip'
By Hannah Osborne Published
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Sun bear: The little carnivores that look so similar to humans they've been mistaken for people wearing costumes
By Lydia Smith Published
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Polar bear sleeping on tiny iceberg drifting in Arctic sea captured in heartbreaking photo
By Sascha Pare Published
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Bigfoot? Sasquatch? Nope, it's probably just a black bear — unless you live in Florida
By Patrick Pester Published
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Extinct 'hypercarnivorous' California grizzly bears were actually mostly vegetarian before Europeans showed up
By Sascha Pare Published
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'This is unlikely to be an isolated event': 1st polar bear death from bird flu spells trouble for species
By Hannah Osborne Published
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Half-asleep bears are wandering around Siberia because it's too hot to hibernate
By Sascha Pare Published
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Cats
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Why do cats make a weird face after smelling something?
By Clarissa Brincat Published
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Why do cats have 'toe beans'?
By Marilyn Perkins Published
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Giant Florida panther captured by wildlife officials is heaviest on record
By Sascha Pare Published
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How do cats get their spots?
By Ashley P. Taylor Published
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Do cats communicate with their tails?
By Clarissa Brincat Published
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Mountain lions in Los Angeles are becoming nocturnal to avoid humans
By Patrick Pester Published
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Cats are better at word association than human babies are, study finds
By Victoria Atkinson Published
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New DNA findings shed light on Tsavo's infamous man-eating lions
By Elise Poore Published
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Why do cats 'chatter'?
By Victoria Atkinson Published
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Dogs
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Dogs may have domesticated themselves because they really liked snacks, model suggests
By Olivia Ferrari Published
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Smarter dogs have smaller brains, surprising study reveals
By Olivia Ferrari Published
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We finally know why dogs shake when they're wet
By Stephanie Pappas Published
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Why do dogs' paws smell like Fritos?
By Jennifer Nalewicki Published
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Dogs can smell their humans' stress, and it makes them sad
By Sara Novak Published
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Why do dogs look like their owners?
By Ashley Hamer Published
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'Puppy eyes' didn't evolve just for humans, study of wild dogs finds
By Joanna Thompson Published
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Why do dogs sniff each other's butts?
By Clarissa Brincat Published
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Genetic quirk in 25% of Labrador retrievers can lead to overeating, obesity
By Jennifer Nalewicki Published
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Elephants
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Elephants: Facts about Earth's largest living land animals
By Marilyn Perkins Last updated
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Elephants say 'hello' to friends by flapping their ears and making little rumbly noises
By Meg Duff Published
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'Most of Gorongosa's large animals had died': How an African paradise for nature recovered from the ravages of war
By Alexander McNamara Published
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'They are very well aware of their agency': Elephant calf burial ritual discovered in India
By Hannah Osborne Published
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Watch a rare pink albino elephant baby playing by a waterhole in adorable footage
By Elise Poore Published
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Scientists may have finally figured out how elephants got their incredible trunks
By Jacklin Kwan Published
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'It's really quite remarkable': An interview with elephant expert Ross MacPhee about the giant pachyderms
By Laura Geggel Published
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Dwarf elephants and shedding mammoths shine at NYC's 'Secret World of Elephants'
By Laura Geggel Published
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Elephants give each other names — the 1st non-human animals to do so, study claims
By Richard Pallardy Published
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Giraffes
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Severely injured giraffe with 'very twisted' zigzag neck spotted in South Africa
By Harry Baker Published
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'World's rarest' giraffe born without spots at Tennessee zoo
By Jennifer Nalewicki Published
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Endangered Masai giraffes may be inbreeding themselves to extinction
By Ethan Freedman Published
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Giraffe sex is even weirder than we thought, and it involves pee
By Tom Metcalfe Published
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Short-necked giraffe relative discovered in China. It used its helmet head to bash rivals.
By Nicoletta Lanese Published
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Mom & baby giraffe trapped on a sinking island rescued in months-long operation
By Mindy Weisberger Published
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Adorable dwarf giraffes spotted for the first time
By Rachael Rettner Published
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Lightning killed 2 giraffes in South Africa: Were they doomed by their height?
By Mindy Weisberger Published
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Two of the last white giraffes on Earth were slaughtered by poachers
By Brandon Specktor Published
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Monkeys
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'Devil monkeys' are attacking people in Thailand, Japan and India. Here's why.
By Tracie McKinney Published
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Meet 'Retro': The 1st ever cloned rhesus monkey to survive more than a day
By Sascha Pare Published
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Human elbows and shoulders evolved as 'brakes' for climbing ape ancestors
By Jennifer Nalewicki Published
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Male monkeys on tiny island have way more sex with each other than females, scientists discover
By Carissa Wong Published
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Zoo monkey eats her baby's corpse after carrying it around for days
By Harry Baker Published
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Primates have been masturbating for at least 40 million years
By Hannah Osborne Published
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Three chimps shot dead and four remain on the loose after mysterious zoo escape
By Ben Turner Published
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Chimps are naturally violent, study suggests
By Laura Geggel Last updated
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Wild chimps and gorillas can form social bonds that last for decades
By Chris Young Last updated
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Pandas
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Qinling panda: The shrunken pandas that diverged 300,000 years ago and sometimes come out brown
By Lydia Smith Published
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World's oldest male panda dies at 35 after weeks of 'deteriorating health'
By Brandon Specktor Published
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Giant pandas have winter poop parties, rolling around in horse manure
By Mindy Weisberger Published
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1st-ever footage of giant pandas mating in the wild is not 'cute and cuddly'
By Mindy Weisberger Published
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Some Pandas Use Their Head to Climb. Others Just ... Can't. And It's So Unbearably Cute.
By Kimberly Hickok Published
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Giant Panda Babies Are Born 'Undercooked' and No One Knows Why
By Rafi Letzter Published
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Albino Panda Spotted in the Wild for the First Time
By Laura Geggel Published
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Farewell, Basi: World's Oldest Captive Panda Dies at 37
By Sarah B. Puschmann Published
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Why Are Pandas Black and White?
By Laura Geggel Published
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