Related coverage on animals

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), governments agreed to extend protection to 40 more migratory species, from cheetahs and striped hyenas to snowy owls, giant otters, and great hammerhead sharks. Too many of them are slipping toward extinction .

Koh Phangan may be known for yoga, detox retreats, and full moon parties, but beyond the curated paradise lies a different reality—one of injured stray animals and the quiet work of rescue. This story explores PACS (Phangan Animal Care for Strays), a grassroots animal shelter tackling overpopulation, disease, and neglect on the island. Through firsthand experience with teens, it reveals how meaningful travel, volunteerism, and compassion offer a deeper kind of healing—far from the Instagram version of paradise.

Prof. Pennie Lindeque added that microplastics “act as carriers for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, enhancing their survival and spread… each particle becomes a tiny vehicle capable of transporting pathogens from sewage works to beaches, swimming areas and shellfish-growing sites.”

When you experience your first kiss you might feel like you are the first in the world to feel that way. Kissing, scientists say, occurs in a variety of animals (even if today it's not in every culture), and it presents an evolutionary puzzle: kissing, a learned behavior, carries high risks, such as disease transmission like herpes and hepititis, while offering no obvious reproductive or survival advantage.

If we seize this moment, the 2026 review can catalyse a new wave of finance (see Green Finance mechanisms in the UAE), innovation and policy coherence — and move us closer to the vision of a nature-positive world by 2050. If not, the checkpoint risks becoming another missed opportunity while ecosystems, livelihoods and economies continue to degrade.

Lightning is one of the leading natural causes of tree death in tropical forests. The raw voltage and heat from a strike can instantly boil sap, splinter wood, and reduce a once-living organism to charcoal. But not tonka trees.

With 5 times the amount of Vitamin C in camel's milk, and full of iron, camel's milk needs no nutritional help. It has a shelf life of 5 days before pasteurization, after which it will survive for up to 3 weeks. Camel's milk is just as versatile as other milk, used as it is to produce low-fat varieties of cheese, chocolate, and a fermented delicacy that is used in areas that lack refrigeration.

As suburbs grow and cottage country expands, how do mammals fare with humans encroaching on wild spaces?  Tracking coyote movement in metropolitan areas shows the animals spend lots of time in natural settings, but a new study suggests the human element of city life has a bigger impact than the environment on urban coyote survival. 

Milk can come in many alternatives: lab-made, almond, oat, camel or from cows. What's your favorite?

A 62-year-old man with end-stage renal failure has become the first living person to receive a pig kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA.

In a research first, rain is found as the best indicator and driver of biodiversity.

2021, like any other year in the world, has its own risks and challenges that have to be addressed....