Animal science

There are still plenty of utterly alien creatures left to find on Earth. Now a brand new horror has emerged from the depths of the ocean – meet Ophiojura, a “totally unique” type of animal with arms covered in hooks and eight sets of toothy jaws.

It’s normally a leg here or a tail there, but scientists have now discovered one of the most extreme examples of limb regeneration ever seen in an animal – sea slugs that voluntarily detach their own heads and then regrow an entire body from it.

Researchers have identified the oldest known fossils of primates, dating them to 65.9 million years ago. That’s just after one of Earth’s biggest mass extinction events, and it suggests that the ancestor of all primates lived alongside the dinosaurs.

Scientists have observed snakes using an entirely unknown way of getting around. Brown tree snakes in Guam have been spotted climbing objects by wrapping themselves into a never-before-seen “lasso” shape.

Curing cancer is a noble goal, but sometimes scientists just want to give octopuses ecstasy. From medical marvels to wild speculations about time travel, aliens and the end of the universe, New Atlas revisits some of 2020’s strangest science stories.

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of dinosaur that’s a real show-off. Ubirajara jubatus is a small creature found with strange spikes sticking out of its shoulders, which scientists speculate were used as ornaments, like a peacock’s tail.

Newts do it. Lizards do it. Even educated axolotls do it. Regenerating limbs isn’t something many animals can do, but now there’s a surprising new addition to the list – alligators. A study has shown that alligators can regrow part of a lost tail.

The tardigrade is one of nature’s toughest creatures. Now scientists have discovered a new species that adds to an already impressive array of survival tools by employing a type of fluorescent shield to protect itself against lethal UV radiation.

We're on the brink of a sixth major extinction event, largely thanks to human activity and climate change. The least we could do is try to prevent some of them, and now a study has quantified how many species we may have saved in the last few decades.

It can be hard to determine if an animal is extinct or just really good at hiding. A new study shows how environmental DNA can help the hunt, with several missing frog species rediscovered in Brazil, including one that hasn’t been seen in 50 years.

Back in 2015 scientists published a paper outlining what they perceived as a sixth mass extinction event. Researchers have now provided an update in the form of a new study that has found the rate of extinctions is increasing at an unprecedented rate.

Wild buffalo and cattle in Australia cause all sorts of damage to the environment by destroying vegetation, eroding soil and spreading weeds, but a major new wildlife tagging venture could greatly reduce their impact.