Wild World

I used to think shoebill storks looked like something out of a Jim Henson fever dream—until I saw one hunt. The bill is the whole story, really.

I used to think the mata mata turtle looked like something a kid designed after watching too many monster movies. The first time I saw one in real life—well

I used to think the weirdest thing about sea cucumbers was their name. Turns out, these slug-shaped echinoderms—relatives of sea stars and urchins—have

The thorny devil looks like something a child might draw if you asked them to imagine the most hostile creature possible. I’ve spent time in the

I used to think emperor tamarins were just tiny mustached monkeys doing their own thing in the Amazon canopy. Turns out, these squirrel-sized primates—weighing

I used to think tarsiers were just another weird primate until I saw one at a rescue center in Bohol, and honestly, those eyes are unsettling in person. Here’

I used to think flying fish were just showing off. Turns out, they’re doing something far more desperate—and far more calculated. When a dorado or

I used to think dolphins just played because they were, you know, dolphins—perpetually cheerful marine mammals with nothing better to do than leap through

I used to think marine iguanas were just regular lizards that got lost at sea. Turns out, these Galápagos natives are the only lizards on Earth that forage

I used to think grief was exclusively human. Then I watched footage from Samburu National Reserve in Kenya, where a matriarch named Eleanor collapsed from