Animals
‘Mean, hateful’: Magistrate scolds man who dumped ex-girlfriend’s snakes in Coogee
Justin Downs, 26, destroyed two python enclosures before releasing the pets Bagel and Mango in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
- by Nick Newling
Latest
A footvolley star dog is beating Rio beachgoers at their own game
The game is a combination of soccer and beach volleyball. The athlete? A three-year-old border collie named Floki.
- by David Biller
Exclusive
Palaeontology
Scientists dissolved a boulder in acid – and a thylacine jumped out
The bone-crushing fossilised jaws were one of three Tasmanian tiger ancestors uncovered by palaeontologists, amid a contentious effort to resurrect the marsupial carnivore.
- by Angus Dalton
Exclusive
National parks
The ‘time capsule’ being built in the middle of suburban Sydney
At a new national park nestled amid housing development in suburban Sydney, locally extinct animals are coming back one species at a time.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Russian ‘spy’ whale found dead in Norway
Hvaldimir, whose name is a combination of the word hval, the Norwegian word for whale, and Vladimir, after the Russian president, was first spotted by fishermen in Norway in 2019.
- by Kieran Kelly
Travis turns heads when he wears this feather. But there’s a grim prediction behind it
They’re majestic in flight, a big talker and a really fussy eater, which is part of the reason the red-tailed black cockatoo is endangered.
- by Justin McManus
Star chef lifts the (pie) lid on Victoria’s feral animal problem
Award-winning chef Jo Barrett has cooked up a delicious way to rein in some of the state’s biggest environmental vandals.
- by Dani Valent
Perspective
Wildlife
With the Olympics around the corner, let’s embrace the ibis as a Brisbane icon
Few animals elicit as much contempt as the “bin chicken”. But maybe we should embrace this misunderstood bird as an icon of the city rather than a stain on our name.
- by Courtney Kruk
Explainer
Natural world
Clever birds and killer bots: What to know about swarm intelligence
Birds, bees and ants all co-operate to solve problems with no one in charge. Here’s what humans are learning from them.
- by Angus Holland and Jackson Graham
Hello baby! Victorian zoo welcomes arrival of white rhino calf
The birth of the 60-kilogram male calf is a major milestone for Werribee Open Range Zoo and breeding efforts for the species, which is classified as near threatened.
- by Adrian Black
Whale leads rescuers on harbour chase, before slice of freedom
The humpback moved erratically and often quickly, lunging across Sydney Harbour’s coves and bays and then hugging the coastline. It was untangled from the fishing line with a few deft cuts.
- by Nick O'Malley and Caitlin Fitzsimmons