Animals

Now extinct, a Tasmanian tiger (thylacine) is seen in the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania in 1933.

A plan to bring the Tasmanian tiger back from extinction raises questions

5:00am August 20, 2022

by Bill Chappell

The thylacine had trademark stripes and, rare in the animal world, abdominal pouches in both females and males. The last known specimen died in a zoo in 1936.

Do animals sweat? Here's a poem to answer that question

5:10pm August 19, 2022

by Rebecca Hersher

Humans are sweaty beasts, but it turns out many other animals have different ways to keep cool. Staff of the Maryland Zoo help explain how their residents regulate their temperatures.

How do mosquitoes smell us out? And how can we stop them? A new study offers a surprising answer to the first question — and hope for better preventive strategies as a result.

Mosquitoes surprise researcher with their 'weird' sense of smell

3:13pm August 18, 2022

by Ari Daniel

That's how neuroscientist Meg Younger describes her team's findings about how skeeters hone in on human aromas. And that could lead to better ways to keep us bite- and disease-free.

This undated photo provided by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority in August 2022 shows a newly hatched Kemp's ridley sea turtle making its way out to the Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands.

National

The world's smallest sea turtle nests in Louisiana for the first time in 75 years

10:56am August 18, 2022

by The Associated Press

Kemp's ridley sea turtles have hatched in Louisiana's wilds, officials say, in a victory for barrier island restoration. The tiny turtle is also believed to be the world's most endangered.

Scientists in Argentina have unearthed a new kind of dinosaur

6:13am August 18, 2022

It was about the size of a dog — it walked on two legs, ate plants and had spiky armored plates on its back — kind of like its distant family member the stegosaurus.

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National

Encore: Florida's python challenge does little to reduce the invasive species impact

5:04am August 18, 2022

by Greg Allen

Florida awards hunters who capture pythons from the wild, but the challenge has done little to reduce the invasive species impact on the Everglades ecosystem.(Aired on ATC on Aug. 15, 2022.)

A spotted lanternfly creeps on the ground during a baseball game in Pittsburgh in 2021.

What a pest! Spotted lanternflies are spreading in the U.S.

5:00am August 18, 2022

by Jaclyn Diaz

State officials are calling on residents to get involved and kill these bugs at all costs. The spotted lanternfly isn't dangerous to humans or pets but could cost the country's agricultural industry.

Science

Some spiders might experience REM sleep and even dream

4:59pm August 17, 2022

Jumping spiders appear to move their eyes during sleep, similar to the way humans do during REM sleep — raising the question of whether spiders might dream as well.

A monkey at a zoo in California dials makes a call to 911

6:27am August 17, 2022

When the line dropped, 911 dispatchers investigated. They found no prime suspects, but a primate suspect. A Capuchin monkey had made the call after grabbing a phone from a nearby golf cart.

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Moving cattle into the forest could help climate change, farmers and the livestock

5:03am August 17, 2022

by Jonathan Ahl

Most grazing animals spend their time in open pastures. But there is a movement to raise livestock in the forest to benefit animals and the environment.