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Paleontologists from the University of Chicago have discovered a new dinosaur species while digging up fossils in Niger in the central Sahara. The new beast – actually an old beast, having stomped the earth about 95 millions years ago – is described in the journal Science.
A rat terrier in Hoboken, Georgia named Henry celebrated his 25th birthday in January. As he gets his papers together to vie for Guiness World Records’ oldest living dog honors, Henry is using his celebrity to raise money for other senior pets.
This week marks 15 years of service by Larry, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street. The 19-year-old tabby has served at the pleasure of six prime ministers, ostensibly as the official ratter but more practically as the welcoming face of the UK government.
A cockatiel named Sonny has just celebrated his 33rd birthday, cementing his position as the world’s oldest. The old bird – who has experienced more than double the lifespan of your average cockatiel – was recognized last year by Guiness World Records.
It is exceedingly rare to see birds of different species socializing, but birders will occasionally witness interspecies preening, in which one species grooms another, usually picking at parasites in the process. Now ornithologists are trying to explain the unusual behavior.
Conservationists in New Zealand have high hopes for this year’s kākāpō mating season. That’s partly because there’s been a bumper crop of this big bird’s food staple, the berrylike fruit of the rimu tree. The critically endangered species will spend the next few weeks getting busy, one hopes.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo announced the birth this week of an Asian elephant—an endangered species. The female calf was born on Groundhog Day at 1:15 a.m. to 12-year-old mother Nhi Linh and 44-year-old father Spike.
The results of the 150th Westminster Dog Show are in, and the coveted Best In Show award goes to Penny, a 4-year-old Doberman pinscher. Penny had to triumph over 3000 other dogs representing 202 breeds to win top honors.
When we last checked in on Pablo Escobar’s hippos – the descendants of the dead drug lord’s hippopotamuses that have infiltrated Colombia’s Magdalena River basin – the government was attempting to control the invasive population by sterilizing them.
Last October a sickly bearded vulture was rescued by a roadside in Haute-Savoie, France, just south of Geneva. Taken to a veterinary clinic that specializes in vultures, the staff learned this specimen is 37 years old, the world’s oldest bearded vulture outside of captivity.
For the first time in more than fifty years there will be no pandas in Japan. That’s because five-year-olds Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, born at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, are being shipped off to China this week. The sibling twins were born to Ri Ri and Shin Shin, who had arrived on loan from China in 2011, and returned there in 2024.
A pet shop that opened last summer in Portland, Oregon has come up with a surefire way to pack the store with customers: snake yoga classes in the lobby. HISSS, a reptile shop that sells snakes, lizards, and arachnids, pitches serpentine yoga as a way to “uncoil your body and quiet your mind.”
Veronika is a 13-year-old Swiss brown cow living with the Wiegele family in the mountain village of Nötsch in southern Austria. When she was about two years old, her owners noticed she would sometimes grab a stick in her mouth and use it to scratch her body.
This month the National Zoo in Washington announced the birth of a painted river terrapin, the first time this critically endangered species has been successfully bred at the zoo. In fact, the little guy is already five months old. The zookeepers had found it on August 26, still sporting its egg tooth, a tiny built‑in tool it used to crack out of the shell, meaning it was only a day or two old when they found it.
ZooTampa’s manatee rehab center announced it had released 26 manatees in 2025, the highest number of rehabbed manatees returned to the wild in any single year since the facility opened in 1991.
For nearly 50 years, an eastern box turtle named Rockalina lived alone on a linoleum kitchen floor. When she was rescued last year by New Jersey turtle sanctuary Garden State Tortoise, she was wan, her eyes covered in dead skin, her claws unnaturally bent upward.
A 550-pound black bear has been living under a house in Altadena, California for over a month, much to the dismay of a terrified homeowner. Ken Johnson says he might sue the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, which he claims hasn’t done enough to remove the big beast.
A short-haired tortoiseshell cat named Flossie turned 30 years old this week, extending her Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest living cat. Born on December 29, 1995, Flossie was officially recognized as the world’s oldest feline by Guinness in 2022, just before her 27th birthday. She’s still going strong.
“Smart, courageous and determined” is how the American Kennel Club describes the Basset Fauve de Bretagne, a dog breed now recognized by the AKC, meaning the small hunting dog will be able to compete in shows.
French film legend Brigitte Bardot died this week at 91. The pouty “sex kitten” appeared in over 50 films in a 20-year career, which she abruptly abandonedin 1973. For the remaining decadesBardot devoted her life to animal welfare.
