Colombia's peace treaty accidentally sparks increase in deforestation
16 August 2021
The end of Colombia's civil war in 2016 unwittingly caused an increase in deforestation across the country as Marxist guerrillas no longer protect the land
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Endangered maleo bird of Indonesia bouncing back from the brink
30 July 2021
Maleos, colourful Indonesian birds that look a bit like quirky chickens, are endangered. But an initiative to protect the species has helped boost the number of nesting birds at some sites
Rare video of giant squid reveals it stalks jellyfish in deep water
11 May 2021
The giant squid is famously elusive, but researchers have captured the first known footage of it hunting by using a decoy jellyfish attached to a camera
People living in the Atacama desert once traded exotic parrots
29 March 2021
The remains of birds from between AD 1100 and 1450 suggest that people once transported parrots and macaws to trade them at an oasis in Chile’s Atacama desert
An ancient rattlesnake lived in the jaw of a dead mastodon
29 March 2021
Mastodons were herbivores but an ancient rattlesnake fossil was found in the jaw of one of these giant creatures – it was probably taking shelter in the animal’s carcass
Some Amazon jaguars have adapted to live in treetops to avoid flooding
12 March 2021
Seasonal flooding can make parts of the Amazon river basin tricky terrain for land animals, so jaguars have taken to spending months in trees and eating monkeys and lizards they find up there
Dolphins that help humans catch fish are being disturbed by ship noise
2 March 2021
Some dolphins help humans catch fish, but an uptick in the levels of noise pollution from nearby ships is changing the way the dolphins communicate with one another
Oldest evidence of malted barley shows ancient Scandinavians made beer
17 February 2021
Ancient malted barley grains found in Denmark suggest that people there were likely using this to brew beer at least two millennia ago
Cannibal cockroaches nibble each other’s wings after they have mated
10 February 2021
The wood-feeding cockroach may be the only known example of a species that practices mutual sexual cannibalism – the male and female both nibble each other’s wings after mating
Greeks domesticated grapes about 4000 years ago to improve wine-making
4 February 2021
We know that the ancient Greeks made wine as early as 4300 BC, but a new analysis of preserved seeds suggests grapes were domesticated around 2000 BC
