Animals

Two pelicans, Joey and Felicity, were reported outside their habitat at the Pittsburgh Zoo on Oct. 17 and both were rescued, the zoo and WPXI reported Saturday.

Sgiath, a black Labrador from the Scottish Highlands, is trained to find the invasive carpet sea squirt, nicknamed sea vomit, at low tide; the BBC reported she has been named IFAW’s animal of the year.

Federico Veronesi won Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 with The Aftermath, an elephant carrying a dead calf in Namibia, chosen from 65,403 entries.

A University of Washington study found plunge-diving gannets and boobies have short, wide neck vertebrae and an extra contact surface, the authors say.

Saint Louis Zoo says calf Jet got the third dose of an experimental mRNA vaccine against EEHV on Sept. 30; no result showing protection has been reported.

Montana wildlife officials euthanized 14 black bears at one residence north of Bozeman. Feeding is alleged and the investigation is ongoing. What the law says.

Backpack, Bear 89, won Katmai’s Fat Bear Week 2026, beating Bear 910 103,334 votes to 98,253 in the Sept. 29 final, according to explore.org’s results table.

Two giant pandas from China landed at Zoo Atlanta on Sept. 27 under a new panda agreement, but they remain in quarantine with no public viewing date set.

UBC researchers have described two new sea spider species, Callipallene pilosuspedes and Tanystylum kiixin, found in the Salish Sea off British Columbia.

APHIS has proposed shortening the bird flu import waiting period for foreign regions from 90 days to 28 days, aligning U.S. rules with international standards.

Researchers describe a new wild cat, Leopardus tilcayo, in Bolivia and find the tiger cat is really five species, each needing its own assessment.

A new FWS rule and internal memo narrow the Endangered Species Act’s “take” definition, exempting most accidental harm to wildlife, including whale strikes.

A 41-year-old Novi, Michigan, man was bitten while trying to photograph an eastern massasauga rattlesnake at a boat launch in Proud Lake Recreation Area

A resident in southern Madison County, Indiana, told the sheriff’s office he watched an adult lioness and a cub cross his property Thursday morning, August 27

Jackie, the bald eagle whose nest at Big Bear Lake, California, has been watched by a worldwide audience on a livestream since 2015, died in the early hours