Uncover stories carved by wind and water — extraordinary wildlife, extreme environments and the hidden forces of nature.
This list explains how certain animals survive winter by either tolerating internal freezing or avoiding it through supercooling and antifreeze-like chemicals.
Read more →
Researchers observed a young Japanese macaque, Imo, washing sweet potatoes, and the behavior appears to have spread through part of her troop as a form of social learning.
Read more →
Rewetting peatland on an upland farm in Eryri helped bring breeding curlews back after they had been absent since the 1990s.
Read more →
This list highlights plants capable of extremely rapid movements and explains that they use different mechanical strategies for hunting prey or aiding reproduction.
Read more →Devil’s gardens are rainforest patches where the ant Myrmelachista schumanni helps Duroia hirsuta trees dominate by killing nearby seedlings with formic acid.
Read more →
In Yakushima’s cedar forests, rain-filled hollows in old trees and rotting stumps can form long-lived phytotelmata that support isolated freshwater communities of insects and other invertebrates.
Read more →
Pangolins have unusually long, deeply supported tongues that help them eat ants and termites without teeth.
Read more →
Detached giant kelp can act as a floating habitat, carrying holdfast-dwelling animals like limpets and barnacles as it drifts and sometimes helping coastal species disperse.
Read more →
This list highlights animals that act as ecosystem engineers by building structures that create habitat and support many other species.
Read more →The Sahara silver ant survives and stays active on scorching desert surfaces because its dense, triangular hairs reflect sunlight and help reduce overheating.
Read more →
Yellowstone’s wolf reintroduction in 1995 helped change elk browsing behavior in some riparian areas, allowing willows to recover and, in turn, supporting beavers and wetland habitat.
Read more →The line mattered because it captured the conflict between environmental protection and government-backed development, and it became a memorable statement of conservation opposition to federal power.
Read more →
After the Chernobyl disaster, researchers found melanized fungi in contaminated areas that could tolerate intense radiation and help move radionuclides through the environment.
Read more →
Invasive tunicates are coating lobster traps in the Gulf of Maine, making gear heavier, messier, and more time-consuming to haul and clean.
Read more →
Researchers have observed that yellow-spotted river turtles nest more often near the full moon and that many hatchlings emerge together in a single-night burst.
Read more →
This list highlights bioluminescent fungi and shows how their glow can appear in different fungal structures, from gills and stems to hidden mycelium in wood and soil.
Read more →The line mattered because it argued that wild nature was necessary and became a lasting slogan for wilderness preservation and conservation.
Read more →
Virginia’s eelgrass restoration expanded from repeated seed plantings into more than 3,500 hectares of underwater meadow that helps clear water, stabilize sediments, and support bay scallops.
Read more →
Researchers in Norway documented Svalbard reindeer eating seaweed in winter when ice seals off their usual tundra forage.
Read more →
Repeated bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef can shift coral recovery toward brooding species, changing which corals recruit after damage and potentially altering reef structure and habitat value.
Read more →
New York removed thousands of urban trees, including apparently healthy maples, to stop the spread of the Asian longhorned beetle.
Read more →
Namib Desert beetles collect water from fog by tilting their bodies so condensation forms on their wing covers and rolls to their mouths, inspiring fog-harvesting technology.
Read more →
Kotogahama Beach’s “singing sand” squeaks because rounded, well-sorted quartz grains rub together under the right dry conditions.
Read more →
The article explains how Kawah Ijen’s blue sulfur flames form and how miners work in dangerous conditions extracting sulfur from the crater.
Read more →
Some ants in Australia tend root-feeding scale insects underground, protecting and moving them to keep a steady supply of honeydew.
Read more →
The Channel Islands fox’s recovery was managed as separate island lineages, using captive breeding, studbooks, and careful genetic tracking to restore populations without mixing them.
Read more →Tap a topic to search across all CurioWire stories.
House mice introduced to Gough Island became unusually large and predatory, and have been reported attacking and eating seabird chicks, including albatross chicks.
Read more →
Burmese pythons in South Florida’s Everglades are a major invasive predator because they can eat prey as large as alligators, along with a range of other animals.
Read more →
Some Alaskan stickleback fish evolved to lose much of their bony armor after becoming isolated in freshwater, likely because changing predation pressure made heavy plating less advantageous.
Read more →
Libyan Desert Glass is a natural glass formed about 29 million years ago by extreme heat, but scientists still debate whether that heat came from an impact or an airburst.
Read more →