Jacklin Kwan

Tonka bean trees survive lightning strikes — and use the powerful electric shocks to kill their competitors.

Scientists noticed the clicking sound after handling the rig sharks during routine behavioral experiments.

Scientists reveal a never-before-seen species of leopard-size apex predator that lived in lush forest 30 million years ago.

The giant isopod has been named Bathynomus vaderi due to its resemblance to Darth Vader's iconic helmet from "Star Wars."

Record-breaking Wolf 907F, the alpha of the Junction Butte pack, died after a confrontation with a rival pack at Yellowstone River on Christmas Day.

Henry the Nile crocodile will celebrate his 124th birthday at the Crocworld Conservation Centre in South Africa on Dec. 16.

A never-before-seen predatory crustacean that feeds on other smaller creatures in the hadal zone was discovered in the Atacama Trench at a depth of 25,900 feet.

The world's biggest coral — an organism made up of about a billion polyps — is about three times bigger than the previous record-holder and was discovered by chance during an expedition off the Solomon Islands.

Larvae of the Kenyan lesser mealworm found to feast on polystyrene then break it down in their guts.

Incredibly well preserved dinosaurs at China fossil site were thought to have been buried in huge volcanic eruptions, similar to the Mount Vesuvius that covered the city of Pompeii 2,000 years ago. But new research says this isn't how things happened.

Kamikaze termites in French Guiana carry highly volatile toxic "rucksacks" that are ready to be deployed in an instant, when the termite needs to defend its colony.

Female green and golden bell frogs in Australia will eat their male counterparts when the males' mating call displeases them.

Giant salamander-like predator that lived 40 million years before the first dinosaurs had huge fangs and sucked up prey with its weird head.

Florida ants perform amputations and clean wounds to prevent the spread of infection, scientists discover.

People had linked recent shark attacks in the Florida panhandle to orca activity in the Gulf. But a combination of dry weather and heat was the real driving force.

Giant, 47 million-year-old snake fossils pulled from mine in India may be the largest snake ever, potentially surpassing Titanoboa by around 15 feet.

Surprise discovery of 168-million-year-old pterosaur in rocks on Isle of Skye will help scientists narrow down major events in the evolution of these flying reptiles.

Gravid frog found in 100 million-year-old deposits in China is oldest fossil of its kind ever discovered.

Over 17,000 southern elephant seal pups were found dead on Argentina's Valdés Peninsula in a horrific mass die off attributed to the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.

Black footed cats are already a threatened species, and habitat fragmentation is now causing increased rates of interbreeding, placing them at higher risk of disease.

Fossils from Australia provide the first direct evidence that photosynthesis was happening at least 1.75 billion years ago.

The Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean is now at least 30% more acidic and 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it was 40 years ago — and climate change is to blame.

New buds are sprouting through the charred remains of California redwoods that burned in 2020, suggesting the trees are more resilient to wildfires than thought.

Black holes are some of the most powerful objects in the universe — and humans could devise ways to harness that power as an energy source, a new theoretical study claims.

Elephants appear to have evolved their long, grasping trunks as a result of climate change pressures on their ancestors millions of years ago.