A new species of catfish discovered in a river deep in a South American jungle has an ingenious way to avoid being a snack for giant piranhas. Instead of camouflage, its body is covered with bony spines to deter potential predators.
Farmers in Tanzania are helping to conserve threatened forests by cultivating an unlikely crop: butterflies.
A warming climate is driving animal species to higher latitudes and higher ground at a rate far faster than previously believed, researchers from Britain and Taiwan reported Thursday.
In Uganda, where grasshoppers are regarded as a delicious seasonal snack, the appetite for the crispy critters has created a booming informal trade that has turned some trappers into wealthy men.
The kind of insect evidence found by investigators in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car does not prove that a body was stored inside, a bug expert for the defense testified Friday in the Orlando woman's murder trial.
Early morning chill seeps into the Nghe family's front yard. It's an oasis of fruit trees where a bee swarm the size of a football -- some 10,000 bees -- is huddled for warmth in the branches of a kumquat tree.
In the old days killing bedbugs was easy. If you saw one of the critters you'd waltz down to the local pharmacy, drop few bucks on a box of DDT, and zap, problem solved.
Hungarian photographer Bence Mate has won the 2010 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year title for his photo "A marvel of ants."
Africanized honey bees have been confirmed in Georgia and are responsible for the death of a 73-year-old man, the state's agricultural commissioner said Thursday.
Few ecological disasters have been as confounding as the massive and devastating die-off of the world's honeybees. The phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) -- in which disoriented honeybees die far from their hives -- has kept scientists, beekeepers, and regulators desperately seeking the cause. After all, the honeybee, nature's ultimate utility player, pollinates a third of all the food we eat and contributes an estimated $15 billion in annual agriculture revenue to the U.S. economy.
A North Carolina sheriff's deputy found himself in a standoff with a huge swarm of bees that covered his police cruiser.
Tuesday was anything but a routine day for Deputy Brandon Jenkins, who spent three hours in his patrol car after nearly 50,000 honeybees decided to park on it.
You know how you sometimes get stuck in traffic on your way to work, and when you reach the end of the jam there's nothing there?
From airliners to robotic drones, the next generation of flying machines are inspired by nature's experts.
"The largest bird on Earth that can fly weighs 15kg", said Michel de Gliniasty, Scientific Director at ONERA the French Aerospace Lab. "A condor, and it is something like less than four meters in wingspan."
The holiday weekend buzz at a California fair was stinging.
Bees are in decline in some parts of the world. CNN's Sasha Herriman reports.
A new study has suggested that cell phone radiation may be contributing to declines in bee populations in some areas of the world.
"Look, I'm salivating," Salma Hayek tells David Letterman of ants, grasshoppers and worms
Firefighters are trying to keep swarms of bees at bay with water hoses after a truck hauling them got into a wreck.
Ice cream cartons, PVC pipe, nets, pillowcases, a couple of refrigerators, boxes and bugs. Lots of bugs.
Ah, Valentine's Day. Cynics around the world pooh-pooh the so-called holiday as a ploy to sell chocolates and greeting cards. Others swear there's love in the air. It seems everyone has their own take.
Around the world, bees are dying in their millions and there's something in this mysterious, silent tragedy that has seized public consciousness.
"The Last Beekeeper" will change the way you see honeybees.
Botanists believe they have discovered one of the world's largest carnivorous plants in Southeast Asia.
They're ready to sting, and they know where they're going.
Known for building skate parks and shaping the skateboarding scene in New York, Andy Kessler, 48, died this week after an allergic reaction to an insect sting, friends and family told news media.
A British consortium pledged Tuesday to spend up to £10 million ($14.5 million) in research grants to find out what is causing a serious decline in bees and other pollinating insects.
FSB: Biotech for beesupdated: Fri Mar 06 2009 06:55:00
Bee colonies might not seem like the most lucrative market for designer drugs. But the need is urgent: CCD, or colony collapse disorder, a strange syndrome that kills adult worker bees outside the hive, has been reported across the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says American beekeepers lost 37% of their hives to CCD last year, after losing 31% the year before.
Rowan Jacobsen's examination of Colony Collapse Disorder warns of the pitfalls of industrialized agriculture
Birds and bees
updated: Sun Sep 21 2008 20:01:00
Baby birds get help from the common bumblebee. CNN's Kyung Lah reports
Setting one species up to scare off or even kill another is nothing new.
With rising energy prices and the global biofuel rush already putting pressure on food prices, more news that some countries' food supplies are being threatened from other corners is never welcome. But new research from the British Beekeeping Association (BBKA) released last week seemed to promise exactly that.
The Louisiana crawdaddy could reduce disease and fight spiraling food prices in Egypt. CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh reports
City dwellers across the country are rapidly discovering the appeal of urban beekeeping
When it comes to sex, Isabella Rossellini is an animal.
Actress Isabella Rossellini talks about her newest project 'Green Porno', in which she shows how critters mate.
U.S. military scientists are developing half-machine, half-insect creatures to collect intelligence behind enemy lines
Mercury contamination in rivers can spread to nearby birds, even
ones that don't eat fish or other food from the water
CNN's Harris Whitbeck tours Rio de Janeiro's most violent slum, which is ground zero in the dengue fever epidemic.
The battle against a massive and deadly outbreak of dengue continues Monday, but obstacles remain in at least one sprawling neighborhood.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports from Rio de Janeiro on an epidemic of dengue fever that has infected over 50,000 people.
Soldiers and firefighters have joined the fight against dengue, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne disease that has infected at least 55,000 people in Brazil this year.
More than 55,000 cases of dengue, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne disease, have been reported in a southeastern Brazilian state in the past four months, authorities said Thursday.
Unless you're a perfect caretaker of your lawn (and, really, who is?), prepare for another round in the turf wars this summer. You'll have to deal with a full frontal assault from the dandelions, of course. And an attack from the crabgrass. But you'll face more stealthy opponents, too: root-chomping grubs and microscopic mildew that turn the grass from green to gray or brown.
California Highway Patrol says an estimated 8 million bees escaped from an overturned truck in Sacramento.
Imagine driving down the highway amid the typical stream of cars and trucks to suddenly discover millions of bees swarming toward the morning commute.
Scientists have developed a robotic cockroach that can change the herding behavior of real insects -- and coax them into going where they normally wouldn't
A virus found in healthy Australian honey bees may be playing a role in the collapse of honey bee colonies across the United States, researchers reported Thursday.
Scientists investigating the recent disappearance of U.S. honeybees have linked a little-known virus to the die-off, suggesting that a novel infection capable of wiping out hives has spread widely among America's bees. The researchers also reported circumstantial evidence that the virus may have been introduced to the U.S. via bees imported from Australia.
Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park.
It's a sweet time for honeybees in the rolling hills of eastern Pennsylvania, and the ones humming around Dennis vanEngelsdorp seem too preoccupied by the blooming knapweed nearby to sting him as he carefully lifts the top off their hive. VanEngelsdorp, Pennsylvania's state apiarist, spots signs of plenty within: honeycomb stocked with yellow pollen, neat rows of wax hexagons housing larval bees, and a fertile queen churning out eggs.
Because of global warming, whitebark pine trees are dying. And that is threatening the food supply of grizzly bears
Maryland beekeepers have lost 45 percent of their bees since last year -- but the death toll is likely attributable to weather, not a national trend of mysterious die-offs
Time.com: CSI Too Close to Homeupdated: Tue Jun 05 2007 15:20:00
Sure, forensic science makes great TV, but Texas residents oppose a plan for a "body farm" in their neighborhood
Coming soon: Brood XIII. It sounds like a bad horror movie. But it's actually the name of the billions of cicadas expected to emerge this month in parts of the Midwest after spending 17 years underground
Beekeepers throughout the United States have been losing between 50 and 90 percent of their honeybees over the past six months, perplexing scientists, driving honey prices higher and threatening fruit and vegetable production.
Climate scientists working on the United Nations' report on global warming say documented effects of rising temperatures include more plant- and tree-eating insects, shifting weather patterns, and the spread of disease-causing organisms in humans.
You're driving up the East Coast and admiring the fall colors. But something seems off.
Even without sailing to distant lands, modern-day scientists and researchers are charting new territory.
CNNMoney: Bedbugs are backupdated: Mon Nov 28 2005 13:30:00
For the past couple generations of Americans, "Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite," has been nothing but a cute little saying. But that was before the insidious insects began staging a comeback worthy of Dracula.
(CNN) -- This month Richard is on a Quest for Fear.
His enemies number in the billions around the globe and are a swift and elusive opponent. But his job is to seek them out where they live and, in the process, protect a menagerie of exotic animals.
Thousands of hungry moths may hold the key to eradicating cocaine production, Colombian scientists have said, but critics say the idea could open the way for "ecological mischief."
Fortune: DOLITTLE'S RAIDERSupdated: Mon May 02 2005 00:01:00
THERE'S A RAT LOOSE HERE at the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and it's coming right at me. Suddenly it veers and goes back the way it came. Then it loops around and darts toward me ag...
Ant-Farm Technology is finally marching into the 21st century, thanks to Fascinations, a Seattle-based toy company. The ten-person, $5 million--plus firm is celebrating its 20th anniversary with th...
Monarchs are dying in Mexico. No, not kings and queens, but creatures that are just as majestic -- in the butterfly world.
Every 17 years, billions of cicadas cause a loud stir in almost one third of the United States. Scientists now say the insects also leave a lasting and positive impact after they die.
Pressed for time and can't do everything your home requires to keep it in tip-top shape? If so, you could be at risk for any number of disastrous situations -- from creepy, moldy crawl spaces to crawling critters.
There's no formal neighborhood watch program, but fiddler crabs in Australia know a thing or two about preserving a safe place to live.
"Imagine if you could convince a bunch of robots to act like ants, and further convince them that they really like land mines," observes James McLurkin. "That would be a boon to society."
Anyone who's traveled lately has heard the coughing, sneezing and wheezing of fellow passengers suffering from the flu or a cold. But there's another bug to watch out for -- the bedbug.
Fortune: Food For Thoughtupdated: Mon Jul 21 2003 00:01:00
Say what you will about American food, at least we Yanks haven't afflicted the world with calamities like haggis, the Scottish staple made of boiled sheep's stomach, or hakarl, an Icelandic offerin...
An ant crawls out of its hill and marches toward a half-eaten Twinkie. Another treks to a puddle of water. Others plot routes to their own diminutive chores. Along the way, each lays down a pheromo...
It figures that a success story as all-American as Milton Levine's would have its genesis on the Fourth of July. That was the date in 1956 when Levine, a novelty-toy salesman, noticed some ants cra...
Back in 1984, Roxanne Quimby was hitchhiking into town from her home in rural Maine when a yellow pickup, driven by a somber-looking man with a scraggly beard, rolled to a stop. She'd heard the gos...
Back in 1984, Roxanne Quimby was hitchhiking into town from her home in rural Maine when a yellow pickup, driven by a somber-looking man with a scraggly beard, rolled to a stop. She'd heard the gos...
You're headed for Shanghai to tour some factories or to Tanzania for a weeklong safari. Or perhaps your son or daughter is spending a semester in Madras or spring break in Belize. You check with yo...
Once upon a time, there was a grasshopper who worked in a large corporation that didn't make anything, really, except decisions and money. This fellow had a job much like any other, in that he work...
One night a few summers ago I checked into a motel in central Montana, pulled back the sheets on the bed and was horrified to find a colony of ticklike bugs inhabiting the underside of the bedsprea...
How do you put a price tag on a barefoot walk in lush green grass? Consider this: Every dollar you spend on landscaping can easily return 100% when you sell your home. But that's just one reason wh...
Fortune: Weapons to Waspsupdated: Mon Dec 12 1994 00:01:00
Defense cutbacks that shrank AlliedSignal's Kansas City division 59%, to 3,300 employees, have forced the manufacturer of nuclear weapons components to diversify into a new industry: breeding kille...
The armies of insect pests that destroy crops are winning. This despite the fact that, according to researchers at Cornell University, the U.S. uses 33 times as much pesticide as in the 1940s and t...
Fortune: THE BUG'S BACKupdated: Mon Jul 15 1991 00:01:00
An American favorite is making a comeback after 14 years, albeit in something of a limited edition. Beetles, a Toronto company founded by brothers John, 36, and Greg Long, 32, is making nigh-new bu...
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