Articles published in December 2024
Everything about the platypus: the egg-laying, venomous, electroreceptive, biofluorescent monotreme from eastern Australia -- size, diet, habitat, reproduction, and the strange facts that make Ornithorhynchus anatinus one of the most unusual mammals on Earth.
Everything about the Weddell seal: the southernmost-breeding mammal on Earth, the pinniped dive champion at 600 metres and 80 minutes underwater, an underwater singer with 34 distinct call types, and the Antarctic fast-ice specialist named after James Weddell.
Everything about the leopard seal: size, habitat, diet, hunting, vocalisations, the Paul Nicklen encounter, and the strange facts that make Hydrurga leptonyx the apex predator of Antarctic waters after the orca.
Everything about the Arctic fox: size, habitat, diet, the most dramatic seasonal coat change of any mammal, -70C cold tolerance, 4,000 km migrations, polar bear following, the Scandinavian conservation crisis, and the strange facts that make Vulpes lagopus the smallest canid of the Arctic.
Everything about the mountain lion: size, habitat, diet, hunting, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Puma concolor the most widely distributed wild cat in the Americas.
Everything about the Iberian lynx: size, habitat, rabbit-specialist diet, breeding programmes, conservation recovery, and the strange facts behind Lynx pardinus -- the textbook case of modern mammal conservation.
Everything about the Bengal tiger: size, habitat, diet, Project Tiger conservation, Sundarbans swimmer tigers, stripe-as-fingerprint identification, and the strange facts that make Panthera tigris tigris India's most iconic wild cat.
Everything about the red panda: size, habitat, bamboo diet, pseudo-thumb, conservation, and the strange facts that make Ailurus fulgens the sole living member of family Ailuridae.
Everything about the giant panda: bamboo diet, pseudo thumb, mountain habitat, reproduction, conservation success, and the strange facts that make Ailuropoda melanoleuca one of the world's most iconic mammals.
Everything about the golden eagle: size, habitat, diet, hunting, reproduction, conservation, and the strange facts that make Aquila chrysaetos one of the most widespread and formidable raptors on Earth.
Everything about the wandering albatross: wingspan, dynamic soaring, Southern Ocean range, breeding cycle, 120,000 km annual migrations, longline bycatch, and the strange facts behind Diomedea exulans -- the bird with the largest wingspan alive.
Everything about the Antarctic krill: the most abundant wild animal on Earth by biomass, its bioluminescence, massive swarms, role as the foundation of the Southern Ocean food web, climate threats, and CCAMLR-regulated fishery.
Everything about the brown-throated three-toed sloth: anatomy, the algae ecosystem in its fur, weekly defecation descent, upside-down physiology, lifespan, conservation, and the strange facts that make Bradypus variegatus the slowest mammal on Earth.
