Carnivores, in the context of the biological order Carnivora, comprise a diverse clade of mostly mammalian predators characterized by specialized dentition, particularly enlarged canines and carnassial teeth adapted for shearing flesh. Members of Carnivora include families such as Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, Mustelidae, and others, exhibiting a wide range of dietary strategies from obligate carnivory to omnivory. They share morphological and physiological traits such as a generally well-developed sense of smell, often acute vision and hearing, and cranial and limb adaptations for hunting, scavenging, or opportunistic feeding, making the order ecologically pivotal as apex and mesopredators in many terrestrial and some aquatic ecosystems.
There aren't any native lion or tiger populations living in Japan today, but this was not always the case. Fossil evidence indicates that at least one species of large cat roamed the archipelago during the Late Pleistocene—a ...
A camera-trap survey conducted throughout 2025 has revealed the bewildering breadth of biodiversity hidden within the Annamite Mountains, a largely unexplored forest haven stretching for 1,100 kilometers through Laos and ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 14, 2026
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Gray wolves adapt their diets as a result of climate change, eating harder foods such as bones to extract nutrition during warmer climates, new research has found. The study, led by the University of Bristol in collaboration ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 13, 2026
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A study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine found that overweight and obese dogs have significantly higher eye pressure than lean dogs, with pressure increasing by 1.9 mmHg for every one-unit rise in ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 13, 2026
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The stunning Sierra Nevada red fox is one of the nation's rarest and most critically threatened mammals, with fewer than 50 believed to remain in the Sierra. And now, for the first time, a specimen has been successfully GPS-collared ...
Ecology
Feb 11, 2026
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Most seals give birth to a pup around the same time each year, and wean them and send them on their way within 12 months in an annual cycle.
Plants & Animals
Feb 10, 2026
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New research confirms the potential for police forensic investigators to carefully consider the presence of pets at crime scenes as a credible new avenue for finding and investigating DNA leads to solve the case. The Long-running ...
Biotechnology
Feb 10, 2026
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A study published in the journal PeerJ, conducted by a researcher from the Institute of Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity (ISYEB) at the French National Museum of Natural History, in collaboration with a researcher ...
Ecology
Feb 10, 2026
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Americans love dogs. Nearly half of U.S. households have one, and practically all owners see pets as part of the family—51% say pets belong "as much as a human member." The pet industry keeps generating more and more jobs, ...
Veterinary medicine
Feb 9, 2026
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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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