Nature

A mother giant petrel watches while her baby is weighed in Antarctica. Photo: Jeff Otten/NSF

Every week we post a funny animal photo that’s begging for a caption. Join in the fun! You’ve got til 11:59 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday to enter your suggestion (click “Read more” below). On Monday we’ll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

Pacific black brant geese with goslings. Photo: Jeff Wasley/USGS

Birds, caribou, and oil companies will share vast Alaskan wilderness. “[It’s] a victory for birds, wildlife, and America’s future,” Audubon president and CEO David Yarnold said of the first-ever management plan for the 22.8 million acre reserve in northern Alaska. “It says that some places really are too precious to drill.”

The Rinjani Scops Owl. (Photo credit: Sangster G, King BF, Verbelen P, Trainor CR / CC-BY-2.5 via Wikimedia Commons)

The rinjani scops owl (Otus jolandae) makes a unique “poook, poook” hoot. But it wasn’t until recently that scientists figured out this bird—dubbed by Indonesian locals as “burung pok” for its call—was a new species. Turns out, it’s actually pretty common. 

An aerial view of sockeye salmon migration. (Photo Credit: USFWS Alaska/Togiak National Wildlife Refuge/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Sockeye salmon migrate 4,000 miles in the Pacific Ocean each year to return to their home river to spawn. It’s known that they rely on chemical cues to guide them short distances in their freshwater spawning rivers, but researchers, fisherman, and interested citizens alike have long pondered how salmon know how to make this journey. People have been so curious, you could say sockeye salmon have a certain captivating animal magnetism about them. 

UPDATE 2/19: We've selected the finalists. Click through to vote for your favorite!

Every week we post a funny animal photo that’s begging for a caption. Join in the fun! You’ve got til 11:59 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday to enter your suggestion (click “Read more” below). On Monday we’ll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

Franck Vervial/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

It's Valentine's Day, and many people are planning to celebrate with that special someone. It's also a good excuse to look at lovin' in nature. While humans may value monogamy, it turns out to be quite rare among animals in the wild.

Photo: Ian/CC BY-NC 2.0

Update: We've selected the finalists. Now vote for your top pick below.

Every week we post a funny animal photo that’s begging for a caption. Join in the fun! You’ve got til 11:59 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday to enter your suggestion (click “Read more” below). On Monday we’ll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

Oiled sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico, 2010. [Photo: NOAA/CC BY 2.0]

With the federal civil trial against BP scheduled to begin on February 25, Audubon and other environmental groups have mounted a letter campaign to urge the government to fine the company the maximum amount possible for the Gulf Oil Spill. So far more than 100,000 people have sent letters. Audubon, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Environmental Defense Fund will deliver the letters on Wednesday, February 13.

Lead researcher Ljerka Ostojic with an Eurasian Jay (Photo Credit: Julia Leijola/ CC-BY-NC-SA)

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and perhaps guys looking to impress their gal should clue in to the behavior of male jays: Eurasian jays can interpret changes in what their mates desire—when it comes to food, anyway. 

Photo by Ian Barbour / CC BY-SA 2.0

Cats’ bad reputation among bird-lovers may be well deserved. A new study estimates that domestic cats, considered a global invasive species, kill 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds in the lower 48 states each year.