Jesús Rivas has the kind of job that would keep most of us lying awake at night hoping to keep the nightmares at bay: He does field research on anacondas, which can weigh more than half a ton. And he looks for them in swamps by feeling for them with his bare feet. This Five Days of Snakes story airs tonight on the National Geographic Channel.
Scientists from around the world are mimicking the mechanics of insects as they design tiny flying robots to scout battlefields, search for victims trapped in rubble, and record images as they hover over distant planets. This National Geographic EXPLORER story airs this weekend on MSNBC.
Effective camouflage is crucial to any military campaign. Troops able to hide themselves and their weapons will steal a march on the enemy. Yet in developing the latest concealment technology scientists are seeking inspiration from two radiantly colorful creatures: butterflies and cuttlefish. This story airs on National Geographic EXPLORER this Sunday.
When cuckoos put their chicks up for adoption they manage to keep it a secret. They do this by tricking the foster parents into thinking the nestlings are their own. But an Australian wren has now wised up to the cuckoo. Scientists say it marks an escalation in the evolutionary "arms race" between the birds.
Museum dinosaur exhibits may soon whir and hum into action as lifelike robots walk around like the ancient creatures did millions of years ago. View the full story and a photo gallery:
The Carolina Dog, a familiar-looking animal long known in the U.S. South as the "yaller dog," may be more than the common mutt that meets the eye. These canines live much like the dogs of ancient times, suggesting to researchers that they may be America's most primitive dogs with roots that could stretch back across the ancient Asia-America land bridge. This story airs tonight on the National Geographic Channel.
Artistry is only one qualification required for illustrators to bring dinosaurs alive in National Geographic magazine. To ensure accuracy down to the detail of plants and background geology, "paleo artists" must be steeped in the latest research and work with scientists in a process that can take up to a year. This is the second story in National Geographic News' Dino Week. View the full story and a photo gallery
Coastal development along Florida's Gulf Coast has brightened once-dark night skies, luring hatchling sea turtles from beachside nests and to parking lots and streets, where many are killed. But a program to darken the coastline of Sarasota County has improved long-term prospects for the sea turtle population.
A new study finds that sharks in the North Atlantic Ocean are vanishing
at a phenomenal rate. Hammerhead shark populations shrank the most,
dropping 89 percent in the last 15 years. Researchers say the only way to stop
this shark slide may be to limit fishing.
This is the last article of a three-part series tracking the adventures of Jeff Carrier and Harold "Wes" Pratt as they continue their long-term study of shark breeding. The two shark specialists have studied nurse shark breeding and behavior at a remote Florida Keys nursery for 12 years. This year, a National Geographic scientist is participating in the study, attaching Crittercams to some of the sharks, allowing us to see the world from a shark's point of view.
Roaming Earth's tropical and subtropical waters, hammerhead sharks school in large groups around underwater mountains. Are they using the seamounts as "stepping stones" for migration? The answer could ultimately help marine conservation efforts.
In an attempt to curb overfishing of the prized Atlantic bluefin tuna, officials have imposed different quotas on bluefin catches in waters off of North America and Europe. But bluefin travel freely across the Atlantic, a study found, so global quotas may need another look.
Wrestling a giant python, riding in a truckload of deadly cobras, suffering a bite from an Indian gharial—it's all in a day's work for Brady Barr, reptile expert and host of the National Geographic Channel's Reptile Wild television series.
Footprints impressed on the Earth millions of years ago are energizing the field of dinosaur paleontology which traditionally has relied on piles of old bones dug up from ancient sediments. By following their spoor, dinosaur researchers are able to track activities and lifestyles of the dinosaurs as they walked the Earth millions of years ago. View the full story and a photo gallery
Researchers have unearthed a fossil ape that dates back 10 to 13.5 million years and could be an ancestor to the orangutan. The fossils were found during a six-year survey of a coal mine in northern Thailand.
