Animals | featured news

A week-old giant panda cub born at Washington DC's National Zoo had fluid in its abdomen and abnormalities of the liver, an initial necropsy shows.

The giant panda cub born a week ago at the National Zoo in Washington has died, and it was not immediately known why the animal died, zoo officials said Sunday.

A female giant panda at the Smithsonian's National Zoo is a mother for the second time, giving birth to a cub. The birth late Sunday by Mei Xiang was a surprise after years of failed pregnancies.

Hathaway received a probationary sentence and was ordered to undergo psychological treatment after he was convicted of having sex with a dead deer that he found while biking along Stinson Avenue in Superior, Wis., on Oct. 11, 2006.

University of Florida researchers examining the carcass of a large, pregnant Burmese python said Monday they found a record 87 eggs inside, giving them important clues about the reproductive capability of the dangerous, invasive species.

Polar bears first appeared 4-5 million years ago - but the animals have interbred with brown bears as Earth has warmed and cooled, say Penn State researchers.

California beachgoers, who have no doubt seen it all, have something new to add to the list: two goats named Goatee and Pismo surfing on Onofre State Beach.

Babies who spend their first year in homes with dogs have fewer colds and ear infections and need fewer antibiotics than babies in pet-free homes, a new study from Finland shows. Babies who live with cats also seem to have a health advantage, but it's not as big.

South Korea on Wednesday proposed resuming whaling for scientific research, angering other Asian countries and conservationists who said the practice would skirt a global ban on whale hunting.

A friend recently asked me whether black bears in Appalachia have Southern accents and whether they have trouble understanding black bears raised in Canada or Alaska. Taken literally, those are notions more fit for a Disney movie than a scientist. In a more abstract sense, however, it’s a profound inquiry that fascinates zoologists and psychologists alike.