2026

Tasmanian devils, dogs and shellfish are some of the only animals that are known to carry naturally occurring cancers that can pass between individuals. But scientists in Vermont have discovered a new animal species that can do the same, catfish. When they researched the mysterious black skin lesions afflicting catfish in Lake Memphremagog and other…

Nutria (representative image) California once believed it had beaten nutria. The invasive semi-aquatic rodents had been wiped out in the state by the late 1970s, but decades later they reappeared in the Central Valley and a new genetic study suggests their return was not an accident of nature, but the result of human reintroduction.The finding…

In 1859, a single pig turned a quiet island dispute into a tense confrontation between two powerful nations. What began as a farmer’s frustration over a wandering animal on San Juan Island quickly escalated into a military standoff involving British warships, American soldiers and competing territorial claims. The disagreement was rooted in a much older…