Artiodactyls, classified in the order Artiodactyla, are even-toed ungulate mammals characterized by bearing weight primarily on the third and fourth digits of each limb, which are usually of similar size and aligned symmetrically. This order includes diverse families such as Bovidae (cattle, antelopes, goats), Cervidae (deer), Suidae (pigs), and Hippopotamidae (hippopotamuses), and, in many modern treatments, is combined with Cetacea in the clade Cetartiodactyla based on molecular and morphological evidence. Artiodactyls exhibit a wide range of digestive specializations, notably ruminant foregut fermentation in many lineages, and occupy varied terrestrial and semi-aquatic ecological niches.
Reducing wolves to protect endangered caribou doesn't always deliver the expected results, and the shape of the land may be the deciding factor.
Plants & Animals
Feb 7, 2026
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Fences intended to protect cattle from catching diseases from wildlife and other livestock in southern Africa are in disrepair, restrict wild animal migrations and likely intensify human-elephant conflict—but a plan to remove ...
Ecology
Feb 5, 2026
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California wildlife officials have approved a plan to eradicate Catalina Island's entire deer population as part of a broader effort to restore the island ecosystem, sparking fierce opposition from an unusual coalition of ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 4, 2026
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If you've watched a giraffe browsing in the tree canopy, a white rhino meandering across open grassland, or a warthog shuffling around on its knees in South Africa's Kalahari desert, you know what they eat: leaves, grass, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 4, 2026
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For generations, farmers have spent backbreaking hours tearing down and rebuilding fences just to move livestock to fresh grazing fields. Now, thanks to a groundbreaking project at the University of Missouri's Center for ...
Biotechnology
Feb 3, 2026
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Each year, bacterial infections are responsible for roughly 7.7 million deaths worldwide, with this problem further exacerbated by rising antibiotic resistance. Not only are wound infections increasingly difficult to treat, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 3, 2026
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Removing sheep and other livestock entirely from upland grasslands—a strategy often promoted as a way to boost carbon storage and tackle climate change—may actually reduce the most stable forms of soil carbon, according to ...
Ecology
Feb 2, 2026
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Less than a year ago, United States company Colossal Biosciences announced it had "resurrected" the dire wolf, a megafauna-hunting wolf species that had been extinct for 10,000 years.
Ecology
Feb 2, 2026
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A debilitating hoof disease affecting elk herds across the Pacific Northwest appears to be driven not by a single pathogen but by multiple bacterial species working together, according to a study led by researchers in Washington ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 2, 2026
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The life of one of the most remote grizzly bear populations in the world is being documented by the animals themselves, with collar cameras that provide a rare glimpse of how they survive on Alaska's rugged and desolate North ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 1, 2026
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