Oil-Coated Gulf Birds Better Off Dead?

Since late last week a flood of pictures of oil-coated Gulf of Mexico birds—and conservationists painstakingly cleaning them—has added new emotional impact to the BP oil spill. Some experts—citing traditionally low survival rates for rescued birds—are controversially arguing it would be better to immediately and humanely kill the suffering birds. In a Spiegel Online article [...]

Orphaned “Moon Bear” Cubs “Mothered” by Scientists

After being orphaned, Asiatic black bear, or moon bear, cubs are getting protection  from scientists in Russia. Listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the moon bear is threatened by habitat destruction and by hunters fueling a trade in body parts. It’s springtime in the Russian Far East, and two scientists [...]

“City of Gonads” Jellyfish Found

The new Csiromedusa medeopolis jellyfish, with its bright “city of gonads” at center. Photograph courtesy Lisa-ann Gershwin, courtesy Zootaxa/Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Sporting a reproductive “skyline,” a new species of jellyfish is like nothing else known under the sea, a new study says. Shaped like flying saucers, both males and females of the [...]

Colossal Squid a Soft, Sluggish Drifter

Captain John Bennett examines an adult colossal squid accidentally caught by fishers in 2007. Photograph courtesy Ministry of Fisheries via Getty Images Equipped with a powerful beak, sucker-packed tentacles, and arms lined with razor-sharp claws, the colossal squid (pictures) likely inspired legends of terrible sea monsters, including the ship-wrestling kraken. But the squid’s titanic reputation [...]