From the archive: An extremely rare two-headed tortoise has been found living in South Africa. The heads appear to function independently of their shared body, with both able to feed normally. It is only when they sometimes disagree on which direction to walk that they have a problem.
First there was Dolly, the sheep. Now, scientists at the University of Idaho have successfully cloned a mule. Born on May 4, Idaho Gem is the first member of the horse family to be cloned.
As custodians of over three-quarters of Britain, farmers have a huge impact on the country's biodiversity. Much depends on how they manage their land. An independent study now suggests it's those farmers who support foxhunting and game-bird shooting who do most for wildlife conservation.
For centuries ornithologists denied the importance of birds' sense of smell, looking more to birdsong and flashy plumage as typical means of communication. Now, a new study on the striking-looking crested auklet adds to evidence that smell is as important to birds as to other animals.
From Colombia's jungle to the Walt Disney World Resort, Florida, conservationists are collaborating to save a tiny monkey from extinction in the wild. The cotton-top tamarin, a pet-trade favorite, is threatened by dwindling habitat. Now, an unlikely team has come up with creative ways to protect the minuscule primate.
It's almost summer and war-weary, economy-embattled Americans will head seaside in their millions. With so much frolicking in the surf there will be a few nips from sharks, experts warn—although bites are statistically extremely unlikely and almost never fatal. Swimming with sharks is not as dangerous as driving to the beach.
In the rugged Santa Monica Mountains, less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles, biologists tracked two satellite-tagged mountain lions captured last year. Join science correspondent Chad Cohen as he explores whether man and beast can coexist near LA. This story airs tonight on our U.S. cable television program National Geographic Today.
While the dramatic effects of war and regime change on the people of Iraq have been broadcast around the world, the picture is less clear for its feathered inhabitants. Biologists are now trying to assess the environmental impact of recent events in a country that is home to many threatened birds.
In a controversial new study, researchers argue that the similarities between chimpanzee and humans are so great that chimps should be re-grouped with humans on the tree of life. Researchers base their claim on analysis of DNA and our relatively recent evolutionary divergence from chimps.
A mysterious disease wiping out white-backed vultures in India is now decimating populations in neighboring Pakistan. Recent studies of the migration routes of Eurasian vultures, which winter in India, raise fears that these far ranging birds may spread the disease further to related species in Africa and Europe with devastating consequences.
Birds aren't so much sitting ducks as sitting dodos, conservationists warn. Plummeting bird populations are seen as evidence that the world is suffering the greatest wave of animal extinctions since the dinosaurs disappeared. And a new report says humans are to blame.
Mercury levels in the blood and feathers of common loons in Southeast Canada, New York state, and New England are probably some of the highest in animals anywhere in the world. Now scientists are using the loons to understand the impact of mercury-poisoned lakes on waterbirds, fish and other aquatic wildlife.
Skipper caterpillars have developed an unusual form of waste disposal. An underbelly launching pad enables them to fire their fecal pellets great distances away from their homes. The equivalent distance for a similarly equipped 6-foot human would be around 240 feet. Research suggests the ability protects the caterpillars from predators.
Fishers on the Mekong River in northern Thailand and Cambodia wait expectant, as they have for hundreds of years, for the arrival and harvest of giant catfish. But this year the catfish, which can weigh as much as 650 pounds (300 kilograms), may never come.
The Turtle Conservation Fund has listed the 25 most endangered turtles to highlight the survival crisis facing tortoises and freshwater turtles and to unveil a global plan to prevent further extinctions. Two hundred of the world's 300 remaining species are threatened and require conservation action, the group says.
