October 18th is World Okapi Day! Okapis are awesome, beautifully patterned rainforest animals. They live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Did you know that they are relatives of the giraffe? Learn more about okapis here, in our series on the Fantastic Unfamous Cousins…
From across the forests and savannas, mountains, oceans, and skies of the world, welcome to a celebration of the animals that you know and love – it’s the … It’s the tallest land mammal in the world. You know it by its spots and long…
What is a squirrel?! What do you think of when you hear the word squirrel? A cute, puff-tailed creature that bounces quietly through the treetops? Or maybe that cheeky critter that raids your family’s bird feeder no matter what obstacles you set up? A squirrel…
By David Brown. Illustrations by Kayla Harren. From Nature’s Giants Magazine, courtesy of the Wild Nature Institute.
Tuataras look like lizards, but they are the last living members of an ancient group of reptiles called sphenodonts. Stewart Nimmo, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Today tuataras live only in New Zealand, but their sphenodont relatives used to live all over the…
The Gila monster is not really a monster at all … It is a kind of lizard that lives in the deserts of the United States and Mexico. The “Gila” part of its name comes from a river basin in Arizona where it lives. The “monster” part…
The savannas of East Africa are famous as the home of big animals like lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, and huge herds of wildebeest. It is no surprise then that these savannas are home to big spiders, too. The king baboon spider (Pelinobius muticus) lives in…
August 26th each year is a day to learn about and celebrate the beautiful African wild dog. The African wild dog is also known by other names, such as the painted dog, painted wolf, and the African hunting dog, or by its scientific name: Lycaon…
“People look at you blankly when you mention botos,” says wildlife biologist Dr Tony Martin. Dolphins are famous animals. They swim through the oceans of the world, frolicking among the waves and eating fish. The dolphins of the oceans have some much less well-known cousins:…
It is another sunny day in the Amazon rainforest. Butterflies flitter through the canopy of tall trees. Capuchin monkeys scamper along branches, chattering as they look for fruits and insect treats. They pay no attention as a mother and baby dolphin swim through the forest beneath them…
In Peru there lives a fantastically decorated frog. It has skin the color of chocolate and it is dappled with polka dots – lots and lots of polka dots, all over its body. H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Scientists call this…
