Articles published in February 2025
Everything about the central bearded dragon: size, Australian desert habitat, the throat-puffing beard display, arm-waving submission signals, temperature-driven sex reversal, captive morphs, and the strange facts that make Pogona vitticeps the world's most popular pet lizard.
Complete guide to the Madagascar giant day gecko: brilliant green coloration, diurnal activity, fruit and nectar diet, sticky toe pads, the GEICO Gecko mascot origin, CITES pet trade pressure, and the strange facts that make Phelsuma grandis the most recognisable day-active gecko on Earth.
Everything about the goliath frog: the largest living frog species, its fast-flowing river habitat in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, the 2019 discovery of stone nest construction, the silent biology of a vocal-sac-less giant, and the conservation crisis facing Conraua goliath.
Everything about the gharial: size, habitat, the bulbous ghara nose, 110+ needle teeth, belly-slide locomotion, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Gavialis gangeticus the most specialised crocodilian alive.
Everything about Parson's chameleon: size, habitat, diet, reproduction, the 4-5 year juvenile stage, and the strange facts that make Calumma parsonii the largest and longest-lived chameleon on Earth.
Everything about the beluga whale: size, habitat, vocalisations, flexible neck, hybrids, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Delphinapterus leucas the canary of the sea.
Everything about the bull shark: size, freshwater tolerance, river penetration, diet, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Carcharhinus leucas the only shark that swims thousands of kilometres up rivers.
Everything about the olive ridley sea turtle: size, habitat, the arribada mass nesting phenomenon, Ostional egg harvest, conservation, and the strange facts that make Lepidochelys olivacea the most abundant sea turtle on Earth.
Everything about the spotted eagle ray: size, habitat, leaping behaviour, shell-crushing diet, reproduction, and the strange facts that make Aetobatus narinari one of the Atlantic's most distinctive rays.
Everything about the common octopus: size, habitat, diet, intelligence, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Octopus vulgaris the most-studied cephalopod on Earth and a species complex of cryptic relatives.
Everything about the immortal jellyfish: size, habitat, biology, transdifferentiation, research history, and the strange facts that make Turritopsis dohrnii the only animal known to reverse-age naturally.
Everything about the Atlantic salmon: size, habitat, anadromous life cycle, magnetic navigation, aquaculture, conservation, and the strange facts that make Salmo salar the world's most farmed fish and a wild species in steep decline.
Everything about the dumbo octopus: the deepest-living octopus on Earth, its Disney-inspired name, ear-like swimming fins, 7,000 metre depth records, asynchronous egg-laying, and why it was never filmed alive until 1999.
Everything about the Japanese spider crab: size, habitat, diet, decoration behaviour, reproduction, longevity, and the strange facts that make Macrocheira kaempferi the largest arthropod on Earth.
Everything about the pillar coral: spire-shaped colonies, daytime polyps, Caribbean range, SCTLD devastation, rescue breeding, and why Dendrogyra cylindrus sits on the brink of functional extinction.
Everything about the moose: size, antlers, habitat, diet, swimming, reproduction, vehicle collisions, and the strange facts that make Alces alces the world's largest deer.
Everything about the North American beaver: size, dams, lodges, iron-infused teeth, ecosystem engineering, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Castor canadensis the second-largest rodent on Earth.
Everything about the bonobo: size, habitat, female-led society, conflict resolution through sex, diet, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Pan paniscus humanity's closest living relative.
Everything about the Virginia opossum: the only marsupial native to North America. Size, diet, involuntary 'playing possum' reflex, snake venom immunity, tick control, 50 teeth, and conservation.
Everything about the narwhal: the spiraled tusk, Arctic habitat, deep diving behaviour, echolocation, sensory biology, medieval unicorn horn trade, lifespan, conservation, and the strange facts that make Monodon monoceros the unicorn of the sea.
Everything about the Bornean pygmy elephant: size, habitat, gentle temperament, the 17th-century royal gift origin theory, oil palm conflict, and why only 1,500 remain in Sabah's forests.
Everything about the coyote: size, habitat, diet, vocalizations, coywolf hybrids, urban adaptation, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Canis latrans North America's most successful wild canid.
Everything about the snow leopard: size, habitat, hunting, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Panthera uncia the ghost of Central Asia's highest mountains.
Everything about the spectacled bear: size, Andean habitat, herbivorous diet, tree platforms, reproduction, and the strange facts that make Tremarctos ornatus South America's only bear and the last surviving short-faced bear.
Everything about the little brown bat: size, habitat, diet, echolocation, hibernation, reproduction, white-nose syndrome, and the strange facts that make Myotis lucifugus one of North America's most remarkable mammals.
Everything about the Eastern subterranean termite: biology, colony structure, shelter tubes, swarming, gut protozoa, and why Reticulitermes flavipes causes roughly $2 billion in US damage every year.
Everything about the jumping spider: vision, intelligence, hunting tactics, Portia cognition, courtship dances, reproduction, and the strange facts that make Salticidae the largest and smartest spider family.
Complete reference on the Indian red scorpion: venom toxicity, prazosin treatment, habitat, size, lifespan, and the strange facts that make Hottentotta tamulus the most medically lethal scorpion on Earth.
