Articles published in April 2025
Everything about the perentie: size, habitat, diet, tripod stance, venomous bite, Aboriginal cultural significance, and the strange facts that make Varanus giganteus the largest lizard in Australia and the fourth-largest on Earth.
Everything about the marine iguana: the only sea-going lizard on Earth, found solely in the Galapagos - diving to 30 m, sneezing salt, and shrinking its skeleton during El Nino.
Complete guide to the crested gecko: size, rainforest habitat, diet, eyelash crests, inability to regrow the tail, New Caledonia endemism, captive colour morphs, and the strange facts that make Correlophus ciliatus one of the most popular pet geckos after its 1994 rediscovery.
Everything about the glass frog: Centrolenidae family biology, the transparent belly skin that reveals a beating heart and visible organs, the 2022 red blood cell pooling discovery, canopy life, male egg guarding, and the conservation threats facing rainforest glass frogs.
Everything about the Nile crocodile: size, habitat, diet, bite force, cooperative hunting, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Crocodylus niloticus Africa's apex freshwater predator.
Everything about Jackson's chameleon: three-horned males, live birth, East African mountain habitat, Hawaiian invasion, colour change, diet, and the strange facts that make Trioceros jacksonii one of the most recognisable lizards on Earth.
Everything about the sperm whale: size, habitat, diet, deep diving, echolocation, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Physeter macrocephalus the largest toothed predator and deepest diving mammal on Earth.
Everything about the tiger shark: size, habitat, diet, teeth, migration, reproduction, attacks on humans, conservation, and the strange facts that make Galeocerdo cuvier the ocean's most indiscriminate predator.
Everything about the loggerhead sea turtle: size, powerful jaw, global range, magnetic navigation, natal homing, reproduction, threats, and the strange facts that make Caretta caretta the largest hard-shelled sea turtle on Earth.
Everything about the Atlantic torpedo ray: size, habitat, 220 volt electric shock, hunting behaviour, reproduction, ancient medical use, and the strange facts that make Torpedo nobiliana one of the most electrifying fish in the ocean.
Everything about the blue-ringed octopus: size, habitat, tetrodotoxin venom, iridescent warning pulse, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Hapalochlaena lunulata one of the most venomous marine animals on Earth.
Everything about the moon jellyfish: size, habitat, anatomy, filter feeding, reproduction, blooms, and the strange facts that make Aurelia aurita one of the most studied jellyfish on Earth.
Everything about the electric eel: taxonomy, habitat, diet, electric discharge, the 860-volt record, species split, anatomy, reproduction, and the strange facts that make Electrophorus the most electric animal on Earth.
Everything about the vampire squid: habitat, detritus diet, bioluminescent defence, anatomy, reproduction, and the strange facts that make Vampyroteuthis infernalis a living relic of the deep sea.
Complete guide to the Atlantic horseshoe crab: 450-million-year evolutionary history, copper-based blue blood used for vaccine safety testing, ten eyes, synchronous moon spawning, and conservation status of Limulus polyphemus.
Everything about elkhorn coral: size, habitat, wave-resistant branching, reproduction, White Band Disease, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, the 2023 Florida heatwave, and the restoration programs trying to save Acropora palmata from extinction.
Everything about the wild boar: size, habitat, diet, tusks, intelligence, 16 subspecies, the US feral hog crisis, and the strange facts that make Sus scrofa one of the most successful mammals on Earth.
Everything about the North American porcupine: 30,000 self-antibiotic quills, tree-climbing habits, salt cravings, habitat, diet, reproduction, and why Erethizon dorsatum is the continent's second-largest rodent.
Everything about the orangutan: the three species, size, rainforest habitat, tool use, solitary life, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Pongo the planet's largest arboreal mammal.
Everything about the koala: size, eucalyptus diet, 22-hour sleep, downward-opening pouch, human-like fingerprints, chlamydia crisis, bushfire impact, and the strange biology that makes Phascolarctos cinereus one of Australia's most threatened marsupials.
Everything about the walrus: size, tusks, whiskers, piston-suction feeding, Arctic habitat, mass haul-outs, subspecies, lifespan, conservation, and the strange facts that make Odobenus rosmarus the most recognisable pinniped on Earth.
Everything about the African forest elephant: taxonomy, rainforest habitat, straight tusks, slow reproduction, keystone seed dispersal, and why Loxodonta cyclotis is now Critically Endangered.
Everything about the African wild dog: pack structure, 80-90% hunt success, sneeze voting, cooperative breeding, habitat, and the strange facts that make Lycaon pictus Africa's most efficient predator.
Everything about the jaguar: size, range, diet, hunting, reproduction, melanism, conservation, and the strange facts that make Panthera onca the apex predator of the Americas.
Everything about the sun bear: size, habitat, diet, climbing behaviour, chest patch, tongue, reproduction, and the strange facts that make Helarctos malayanus the world's smallest bear.
Everything about the Mexican free-tailed bat: size, habitat, flight speed, diet, echolocation, migration, mega-colonies, and the strange facts that make Tadarida brasiliensis the fastest bat in level flight.
Everything about the magnetic termite: north-south mound alignment, solar thermoregulation, colony structure, diet, Litchfield National Park tourism, and the strange facts that make Amitermes meridionalis the living compasses of northern Australia.
Everything about the wolf spider: size, eyes, hunting behaviour, reproduction, habitat, and the strange facts that make the family Lycosidae one of the most successful cursorial hunters on Earth.
Complete reference on the Arizona bark scorpion: the only medically significant scorpion in the United States, its venom, the Anascorp antivenom, its urban spread through Phoenix, UV fluorescence, and the grasshopper mouse that eats it alive.
Everything about the death's-head hawkmoth: the only squeaking moth, the skull markings, honey-raiding behaviour, and the biology that made Acherontia atropos a cultural icon.
