Wildlife for the Web

Turtle numbers across the globe are declining as a result of habitat destruction, the exotic food industry and the international and often illegal pet trade. In an effort to curb the dwindling numbers, the American Tortoise Rescue (ATR) started World Turtle Day observed annually on May 23.

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Great news for the Wolkberg Zulu butterfly! The Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa has found a second colony of this extremely rare species.

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14000 people from 142 countries took part in a recent survey conducted by Arkive to uncover the world's favourite species. The results are in and you might be a little surprised by who took first place.

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This week in nature: some grim karma for a poacher, sock-sniffing mosquitoes, forced abstinence for endangered fish, alien ant invaders and some very eloquent prairie dogs!

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If you've never heard of a wildlife auction, think 'Storage Wars' crossed with an Attenborough special. Well, maybe not exactly ... but substitute the rows of storage containers with bomas (special wildlife enclosures) and the secondhand treasure with rhino and giraffe, and you’re pretty close.

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This week on the roundup: fungal communication, saving turtles with LEDs, everything you need to know about entomophagy and why serving lion meat tacos is a stupid thing to do.

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We've all seen (and perhaps made feeble attempts to fold) an origami paper crane or perhaps a jumping frog. But origami maned wolves? And aardvarks, pudús, tapirs and mandrills?! That sort of zoological origami virtuosity definitely deserves a post.

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The sun will come out tomorrow, right? Well, not for the crew at the Concordia research station in Antarctica it won’t. This past Sunday they said farewell to the sun for nearly four long, cold months.

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We have to admit: strange animal sightings seem to trigger a remarkable burst of creative speculation online. Take the animal carcass that washed up on a New Zealand beach late last month...

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Ecologist Vanessa Stephen puts on her wellingtons and heads out to photograph the bizarre and fascinating creatures that have adapted to survive in the strange world of the mangroves.

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It seems like a freak occurrence: vultures swoop in & devour the dead body of a hiker in the French Pyrenees in less than an hour. But there's a back story here you should know.

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Bees were the big newsmakers this week with the pesticide ban, but there were also insect-sized drones, lemurs in portrait, transgenic salmon and trees simply gasping for a drink. It's all in this week's roundup.

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If you happen to be eating, you might want to come back later. Fascinating and disgusting in (almost) equal measure, here's a roach birth you won't easily forget.

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Whether you call it Workers’ Day or Labour Day, May 1 is associated with labour and workers’ rights. And with hard work in the spotlight, we’ve been looking at a few particularly industrious animals that deserve a day's rest of their own.

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Around 20% of the world’s invertebrates are now at risk of extinction, so we’re happy to back any effort that highlights the importance of protecting the spineless species that make up the majority of life on earth. That’s why we're sharing the work of macro photographer Robert Oelman, who’s been exploring remote rainforests in search of some of the world's most exotic insects...

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Cheetahs on the brink, massive eggs on auction, decoding the language of elephants, the cultural life of whales and a bit of cheeky Mars graffiti from the Curiosity rover. That and more in this week's roundup.

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Seagull: resourceful, inquisitive, intelligent ... and very underrated. Ecologist-with-a-camera Vanessa Stephen is taking a look at the crafty foraging strategies of this clever scavenger.

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It's a warm Saturday evening ... and both human and arachnid are preparing for mealtime. Photographer Brett Blignaut takes a break from his barbecue to capture a few snaps of a spider's supper.

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Conservation charity Durrell has teamed up with the makers of Wallace and Gromit and the likes of Stephen Fry to produce an animated short that aims to save other species from the dodo's sad fate.

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Like most dates in the eco-calendar, 22 April is likely to attract its share of the usual dismissive criticism. But if you can bear to shelve that cynical reticence for just a few minutes, here's some good evidence to back Earth Day's world-changing credentials.

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