Creature

All that slithers, swims, flits, flies, grows and dies

Animals, plants, microbes, fungi and all life on Earth, from long-buried dinosaurs to newly emerging infections, often serve to instruct and amaze. We are interested in everything from the simplest physical structures to the most complex emergent behavior of life's many forms — from the extinct to the evolved and from the web of ecology to the promise of animal-inspired technology. 

Up to 63% of African and Arabian mammal species may have vanished in a previously undetected die-off.
Charles Q. Choi, Contributor
What nature's most complex constructions can tell us about how the brain organizes behaviors.
Haley Weiss, Staff Writer
A new paper examines how elephants work together to solve a task and when cooperation breaks down.
Katharine Gammon, Contributor
Examining small molecules that attach to DNA strands can help build a sense of a lobster's age.
Haley Weiss, Staff Writer
Researchers used DNA from leeches' last blood meals to find out what animals live where in China's Ailaoshan Nature Reserve.
Nala Rogers, Staff Writer
How one dead bird turned into an on-the-fly science experiment.
Inside Science Contributor
The flying reptile was among hundreds of fossils recovered by police in 2013.
James Gaines, Contributor
Analysis of fish ear bones reveals how bioluminescent lanternfish became so abundant.
Joshua Learn, Contributor
Scientists identified competing neural pathways that control flies' decision making.
Karen Kwon, Contributor
The carnivores play a unique role in breaking down calcium, phosphorous from prey.
Joshua Learn, Contributor
Experiments on fox squirrels show they know the perfect combination of speed, springiness and "parkour movements" to get their nuts.
Joshua Learn, Contributor
A fossil skull from a bird that lived in the time of dinosaurs sheds light on how the ancestors of modern birds escaped extinction.
Nala Rogers, Staff Writer