Animals

Bird Sighting Record Broken In Canada

11:16am January 02, 2013

Josh Vandermeulen, 22, is happy as a lark about the record he set for number of birds sited in Ontario, Canada. He drove thousands of miles to see 344 different bird species this year, six more than the previous record.

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Birding for the Holidays

11:36am December 26, 2012

The Audubon's 113th Christmas Bird Count is underway, and thousands of volunteers are taking part this year. Ornithologist David Bonter, and Gary Langham, Audubon's chief scientist, share tips on which species to look out for, and how even birding beginners can get involved.

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Study: Red Noses Help Reindeers Cope With Polar Air

4:20pm December 25, 2012

by Sabri Ben-Achour

It turns out Rudolph wasn't the only reindeer with a bright red nose. All reindeer have red noses, and a new study in the British Medical Journal explains why. Their noses are packed with lots of blood vessels to warm cold air on the way in and soak up heat from their breath as they breathe out.

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Christmas Comes Early At Australia's Taronga Zoo

7:11am December 18, 2012

Late last week, zoo keepers delivered some tasty presents. You could say they were the animal equivalents of holiday cookies — but without sprinkles.

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This photograph from 1934 shows the Carnegie Museum's Apatosaurus skeleton on the right — wearing the wrong skull.

Science

Forget Extinct: The Brontosaurus Never Even Existed

7:09pm December 09, 2012

by NPR Staff

Even if you knew that, you may not know how the fictional dinosaur came to star in the prehistoric landscape of popular imagination for so long. The story starts 130 years ago, in a time known as the "Bone Wars."

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Blue Whale Barrel Roll Caught On Camera

12:00pm December 07, 2012

Reporting in the journal Biology Letters, Jeremy Goldbogen and colleagues say blue whales perform underwater acrobatics when they're eating: they rotate 360 degrees while they gulp krill. Reaching 90 feet in length, blue whales are the largest animals on the planet. Goldbogen is studying their dining habits to understand what fuels their growth.

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A stray cat rests at the Torre Argentina ruins in Rome in October. Officials say a cat shelter that sits adjacent to the site must be shut down.

World News

Cat Fight In Rome: Beloved Shelter Faces Closure

10:23am December 04, 2012

by Sylvia Poggioli

Stray cats prowl freely among many of the city's ancient monuments. At the Torre Argentina ruins, a cat shelter has been caring for felines for two decades. But archaeological officials now say the shelter, built in the foundations of an ancient temple, must be closed.

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Puppies May Help Students Ace Finals

8:42am December 04, 2012

It's finals week for many college students. And to help keep students' blood pressure down, one Canadian university opened a puppy room for students. It's full of borrowed therapy dogs to cuddle.

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Russian School Kids Entertain Lion Cub

7:31am December 03, 2012

An elementary school pet is typically an animal that can be kept in a terrarium or small cage. For a short time, some Russian village kids cared for a far wilder creature. They found a lion cub after it escaped from the trunk of a car. Waiting for police to come and take it to a local zoo, the kids played with it in the gym.

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