Animals & Nature

There are times when you’re kind of sad that a certain animal has gone extinct. Then there are times when you hear “a beaver the size of a bear,” and know instinctively that would not be, in any way, shape, or form, adorable. Meet the Castoroides, a giant beaver who surely could have built some...

If you’re a certain type of indoorsy person, wandering the nation’s national parks – even if you’re getting paid – does not sound like your idea of a dream job. For someone who lives for exploring, for hiking, for communing with nature and spending your days outdoors instead of in an office would seem like...

Y’all, I had no idea that one of the best and move coveted ingredients for high-end perfume came from a whale’s intestines. For real. Whale vomit (or perhaps something like a whale gallstone), also called ambergris, is exactly that – and a raw, waxy glob of it could be worth up to $20,000. Ambergris forms...

Have you ever looked at your cat, snoozing on the sofa or lolling in the sun like they’ve got not a single care in the world? If so, you’ve probably thought to yourself at least once that, if you get a vote in what you’d like to live another life as, a cat just might...

We know Black Widow from the Marvel Cinematic universe is a lethal as she is beautiful, but does the same go for the spider she’s named for? The black widow spider, or Latrodectus hesperus, is one of three venomous spiders in found in the United States. This shiny, black member of the arachnid family is most...

Birthdays are milestones to be celebrated, and celebrated with cake and ice cream. Yes, even if you’re a seal – maybe especially if you’re a seal – though then, it would seem that the ice cream and cake are best if combined. Note: the ice cream and cake are best if combined according to by...

It’s pretty much common knowledge that parrots are not only smart, but can be taught to speak, as well. And not just mimic what they hear, either; you can hold conversations with some of the smarter ones. One of my favorite stories about Andrew Jackson is that he owned a parrot that swore like a...

If you’re even a casual marine life aficionado, you realize that there’s no consensus that space is actually the last frontier. The world’s oceans hold many similar secrets in their depths, tucked safely out of sight, and even though we’ve lived with these bodies of waters for millennia, we may never uncover them all. We...