Some Colosseum fighters battled wild animals instead of other humans

How ancient Roman gladiators got ready to rumble

Before they could lay the smackdown in the arena, gladiators were professionally trained, combining a physical regimen with an education in the rules of the ring. Contrary to popular belief, archaeological evidence suggests most gladiators weren't killed in the action, and women may have fought on rare occasions. This article breaks down a life of a Roman gladiator.

The poet Martial vividly described the Colosseum’s opening games

In "Liber Spectaculorum," Martial recounts the inaugural spectacles at the Colosseum, offering graphic depictions of staged executions—some modeled on Greek myths—that took place during the midday program.

Colosseum spectators needed tickets and social rank to get a good seat

Entry to the Colosseum was free but tightly controlled: spectators presented tesserae, sat strictly by class, and risked losing their seats if they left for lunch, while senators watched in comfort and women and slaves were pushed to the top tiers.

A Roman-era cemetery in York may hold the remains of gladiators

A burial ground in York, used from the 1st to the 4th centuries CE, contained around 80 skeletons of unusually tall and muscular young men. Many show fatal combat wounds, including one with a bite mark from a large predator.

Hear how gladiator fights were funded, judged, and sometimes fixed

In a wide-ranging interview, Professor Michael Carter unpacks the business of gladiatorial games—from advertising and fighter merch to referees, match rules, and a code of conduct that often pushed gladiators to spare defeated opponents.

The high-tech mechanisms of the Roman Colosseum

The Roman Colosseum is one of the most iconic amphitheaters in the world and still partially stands today. Aside from its sheer size, the arena was equipped with some of the most high-tech engineering from the classical world, including sophisticated lifts, a huge retractable awning, and an underground network of tunnels, elevators, and trapdoors.

Emperor Commodus fought as a gladiator while ruling Rome

Commodus, who reigned from 180–192 CE, scandalized Rome’s elite by appearing in the arena despite being the son of Marcus Aurelius. The ancient biography—though partly fictional—captures the shock his gladiatorial performances provoked.

See third-century mosaics inside a Roman villa, which show gladiator games

Discovered at Nennig, these third-century CE mosaics depict gladiators, animal hunts, and arena musicians. Set in a lavish villa atrium, they likely commemorated games sponsored by the estate’s wealthy owner.

Medieval bestiaries blended real animals with myth and moral lessons

Medieval bestiaries combined observed animals with fantastical creatures, using vivid imagery to convey symbolism and moral meaning. This lecture explores England’s Worksop Bestiary (c. 1185), showcasing over 100 illustrated beasts from the Morgan Library’s collection.

Wildlife use Rome's sprawling archaeological sites as urban havens

The Italian capital features some of the world's most famous monuments as the inheritor of ancient Rome's grandeur. This photo essay explores the city's vibrant collection of wildlife, including long-concealed native crabs, peregrine falcons, and the beaver-like nutria.

Roman terror was key to its centuries-long dominance

Historians like Polybius recorded Rome's violent tactics in detail, including the enslavement of entire populations and the mass killing of whole cities. Even as terror and violence proved effective in war, many Romans came to view the tactics with skepticism.

Bear-baiting was another form of entertainment during Shakespeare’s time

We tend to think of Shakespeare’s audiences as prim and proper, but the Bard’s shows were just another form of amusement, viewed by commoners as entertainment not unlike the animal blood sports that were similarly popular during the time period.

Crowds used a thumb gesture to decide whether a gladiator lived or died

This explainer unpacks pollice verso, the hand signal spectators used to call for a gladiator’s execution. Ancient sources never specify the direction; evidence suggests that the thumb was likely turned up or thrust toward the throat, not down.

Pompeii’s ruins expose the brutal realities of Rome’s sex trade

Drawing on graffiti, slave collars, brothel art, and the story of “Eutychis, a Greek lass with sweet ways,” this piece reconstructs the violent, coercive world of Pompeii’s enslaved prostitutes—and how their owners controlled, renamed, and exploited them.

Pets of ancient Greece: crickets and ferrets and hedgehogs, oh my!

Ancient Greece left behind literature and art in which geese, doves, dogs, and the like are seen keeping people company or holding vigil for their return. Were these considered pets as we understand the term today, and where did ancient Greeks fall on the timeless question of cats versus dogs? Did Odysseus let Argos onto the sofa? This magazine article explores evidence of pets and their treatment in ancient Greece.

Wojtek the bear fought for Poland in World War II

Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear who eventually became a mascot, symbol, and eventually a soldier attached to the Polish II Corps during World War II. Learn about the amazing Wojtek, the Polish II Corps, and the incredible history of the Polish soldiers, many of whom had been imprisoned by the Germans or Soviets, who served during World War II.

The legend of the Chinese zodiac involves a race between animals

The legend of the Chinese zodiac says that to help people keep time, the emperor of the gods established a 12-year cycle, with each year symbolized by a different animal. To choose the animals, he held a cross-river race. Each of the winning animals used their unique skills to get across the river: The snake is sneaky, the rabbit is nimble, and the rat is cunning. These characteristics are believed to be mirrored by those born under the animals’ zodiac signs.

In the 1930s, three Australian soldiers were sent to fight emus with machine guns—and lost

As part of a post-WWI initiative to turn veterans into farmers, soldiers were given plots of land. After emus were found damaging the farmland, three men were sent to handle the flightless birds. These men ended up losing to the second-largest bird species in the world and potentially exacerbating crop losses by sending swaths of the birds running and trampling over wheat.

Fossilized bite marks suggest some dinosaurs may have engaged in cannibalism

An excavation site near the Colorado-Utah border contained Allosaurus bones with tooth marks of other Allosaurus, which may have occurred in response to a dry season in the area. The Tyrannosaurus and Majungasaurus have also been shown to eat their own.

Zoo animals have developed allergies, too

Although scientists do not know if allergies manifest among wild animals—and if animals can survive with them—in a zoo setting, veterinarians have observed zoo animals with common allergy symptoms, including itchiness, crusty skin, and runny eyes. Veterinarians have identified Asian elephants with pollen allergies and at least one jaguar with an allergy to fleas.

Watch this octopus win every single Escape Room challenge

Octopuses are famously intelligent, solitary creatures covered in hundreds of chemical-sensing suckers. They're also pretty fascinating pets, and even enjoy playing. The crew at OctoLab put one of its more playful mollusks into four different Escape Room-like cages to see how long it would take for it to escape. Watch this video to see the brilliant, if a bit unsettling, methods the animal uses.

A photo essay on 'French ring,' the storied sport for disciplined protection dogs

The sport dates back to the 1800s in France and tests canine agility, discipline, and aggression in protection dogs. This photo essay follows Judo de Loucyn, a 72-pound Belgian Malinois, the sport's preferred breed, as he competes in obstacle clearing, long jumps, and obedience and attack drills in the North American Ring Association Western Regional Trial in Arizona.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Three examples of how humans are still evolving

For much of nature, natural selection and "survival of the fittest" still play a dominant role; only the strongest can survive in the wild. As little as a few hundred years ago, the same was true for humans, but what about now?

Congress descended into fistfights, duels, and violence before the Civil War

In the decades before the Civil War, members of the United States Congress carried weapons, assaulted colleagues, and, in one case, a congressman killed another in a duel. The violence was driven largely by sectional conflict over slavery and foreshadowed the nation's descent into war.

A prisoner at the haunted Corvin Castle in Romania helped inspire Dracula

The dungeon in Corvin Castle has hosted numerous ill-fated prisoners and many unsettling occurrences. One of its most famous former residents is the cruel ruler Vlad III, the inspiration for the character of Dracula. Listen to the eerie tales of the dungeon where psychological torture and extreme violence took place.

Watch how viruses like Ebola can spill over from animals to humans—and vice-versa.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.