Farm animals help maintain the grounds at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport

Sheep once grazed on the National Mall and White House grounds

In the late 1910s, sheep grazed near the Lincoln Memorial and on the White House lawn. Under Woodrow Wilson, their wool was auctioned for charity, briefly making the grazing animals the subject of a federal cost-saving experiment.

Biologists believe over 5,000 coyotes inhabit LA as of 2025

Panic and fear of coyotes spread in the 1980s after the first recorded instance of a human killed by the animal in American history, but LA and Chicago residents today are learning to live alongside the animal. Research shows that coyotes can even benefit urban ecosystems by helping to control populations of geese and deer, and by improving songbird survival through preying on cats.

Denver International Airport is associated with numerous dark conspiracy theories

Since opening in 1995, the country's largest airport has spurred a variety of conspiracy theories. Some believe the runways form a hate symbol; others believe its giant horse statue is cursed.

Watch how wild animals are projected into a mall

Centered around a dynamic, ever-changing watering hole, the experience allows you to meet a diverse range of animals from Africa to the Arctic as they graze, drink, and interact with the environment around them.

Canine inspectors can help detect potential carriers of invasive insects

At ports of entry in the US, Customs and Border Protection agents use dogs to sniff for forbidden foods and other items that are known to harbor invasive pests. Agents also physically inspect items such as flowers to prevent entry by species that may harm US agriculture.

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.

A Swedish town erects a giant straw Christmas goat each year—often burned down by pranksters

Each year, the town of Gävle builds a giant straw Christmas goat, which pranksters often burn, despite heightened security measures. Notable attacks include arsonists dressed as Santa and gingerbread men firing flaming arrows and hackers disabling cameras before torching the goat.

Why cows are loving their new robot caretakers

Autonomous robots are transforming dairy farming by letting cows choose when to be milked or cleaned. Dairy robot manufacturer Lely says this ability to decide reduces a cow's stress and increases milk production. The robot systems are costly, but are marketed as increasing efficiency for dairy farmers. And the cows appear to love them.

Before modern sanitation, New York City let pigs roam the streets to eat its garbage

In the early 1820s, an estimated 20,000 hogs roamed Manhattan's streets, feeding on trash that the city lacked a system to collect. Pigs were eventually banned at the urging of wealthy residents, who feared they would deter tourists and drive down property values.

Cannes hotels hire hawks to scare off seagulls

Seagulls prey on celebrity tourists visiting for Cannes' festival season, a problem the city's hotels have (mostly) solved with an unlikely solution: more birds. Falconers strategically deploy hawks to scare off the seagulls and, in the process, protect the unsuspecting diners' meals.

One-third of the world’s food supply relies on pollinators

By supporting crop production and farmland ecosystems, these animals contribute over $200B to the global economy. A 3% to 5% decrease in this production may result in as many as 427,000 deaths due to nutritional deficiencies.

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.

Noise pollution from humans and technology alters animal behavior

Animals may experience chronic stress and health issues due to noise pollution, which often interferes with their mating sounds. Due to traffic, nightingales sing louder on weekday mornings, and birds near airports start singing earlier to avoid upticks in takeoffs and landings.

What ancient goat teeth reveal about ancient human-animal relationships

About 4,000 years ago, several goats with terrible teeth managed to outlive their better-teethed brethren. With such intense dental damage, the goats were likely fed higher-quality feed than the more dentally gifted herd members, a dietary shift that would've contributed to the difference in life span. These goat teeth underscore the hard truth that humans may inflict harm on the animals they care about most, regardless of intention.

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

The Chinese market for donkey hides has created a new source of diseases

Since 1992, China’s donkey population has dropped more than 80 percent. This report examines how China’s booming demand for a traditional medicine known as e-jiao, made from collagen from donkey hides, is leading to the slaughter of 6 million African donkeys annually, and providing a new source for zoonotic diseases.

Mark Zuckerberg owns a cattle ranch in Hawaii

Zuckerberg owns a cattle ranch on Kauai, where he says his goal is to raise the best beef in the world. Zuckerberg has said that he raises Wagyu and Angus and feeds them macadamia meal and beer, both of which are produced on the cattle ranch. In January 2024, Zuckerberg said his daughter thought his full-time job was cattle ranching.

An academic on why the animals in 'Animal Farm' matter

Although Orwell intentionally wrote his 1945 novella as an allegory of the Russian Revolution, Charlotte Sleigh—an associate professor of science and technology—argues that the text can also be used to understand (and complicate) our relationship with the nonhuman world.

Learn about unconventional ways to clean up crude oil, including using moss and chickens

Studies show that microorganisms in chicken manure can break down the hydrocarbons in crude oil without producing toxic by-products. Scientists have also explored avoiding the environmental risks of chemical dispersants and synthetic adsorbents by using human hair and peat moss to adsorb crude oil, which can be taken up by their cuticles and porous structures, respectively.

Why you have to airlift rhinos upside down

Conservationists in Namibia have found that airlifting rhinos upside down is actually better for their health than lying them down on stretchers. A study by Cornell University found that rhinos have higher blood oxygen levels when upside down, which is critical for their survival during transport. The upside-down position also allows the rhino's spine to relax, which can help to prevent injuries. This new finding could revolutionize the way that rhinos are moved.

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

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.

Moss provided the evidence to convict Chicago cemetery grave robbers

In 2009, employees at Burr Oak Cemetery were accused of exhuming graves to resell burial plots, but they argued the events took place before their employment. An analysis of moss, whose metabolic activity deteriorates at a known rate, with the transported human remains helped establish a timeline that placed the accused at the crime scene.

Gastroliths, or ‘stomach stones,’ help animals digest plants in their stomachs

Most often used by birds and reptiles, gastroliths help break down the cellulose of plant cells, which can resist decomposition from stomach acid alone. Over time, gastroliths become smooth and are regurgitated before being replaced by larger stones.

Why Japan builds airports on water

Some of Japan's roughly 100 airports are built on water—that is, engineers have created new land in bodies of water specifically to construct airports. This six-minute video explains why the country is doing so despite the higher cost of such airports.

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.

Google data centers possess six layers of security

Property boundaries, such as anti-climb fencing, overlapping cameras, vehicle crash barriers, and circulating patrols, are coupled with lobby iris scans and ID and badge checks. The security operations center monitors individuals throughout their visit, including the less than 1% of Google users who ever receive permission to visit the data center floor.

Who cleans the London Underground at night?

The London Underground, also known as the Tube, services millions of people every day. After the transit system closes each evening, a crew of workers known as “fluffers” gather to clean the underground tunnels. This article sheds light on these unnoticed cleaners, covering the difficulties of their jobs and the bizarre things they’ve encountered, from ghosts to nesting pigeons.

Is there a shortage of air traffic controllers?

In 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration employed more than 14,000 air traffic controllers—crucial workers who direct traffic in and out of airports and around legal airspace. However, due to long training programs and the pandemic's aftereffects, as of 2023, nearly half of the agency's 290 facilities are understaffed. The agency has attempted to shift its hiring direction to increase its numbers.

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

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

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

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

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

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

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

Shooting stars, or meteors, are fragments of asteroids and comets that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating streaks in the sky called meteor showers.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.