Japan’s bear problem continues, and the country is running out of the robot wolves that help keep them at bay. First released in 2016 by the manufacturer Ohta, Monster Wolf was originally designed to ward off the agricultural foes like boars, deer, and the island nation’s Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations. The creative solution quickly went viral for its red LED eyes and menacing fangs—as well as its admittedly odd, furry pipe frame.

Starting at around $4,000, each bespoke Monster Wolf is now equipped with battery power, solar panels, and detection sensors. Its speakers are programmed with over 50 audio clips including human voices and sirens audible over half a mile away. These aren’t assembly line products, however. Each Monster Wolf is custom made, and Ohta simply can’t keep up with the current demand.

“We make them by hand. We cannot make them fast enough now. We are asking our customers to wait two to three months,” company president Yuji Ohta recently told the AFP.

Bear encounters in Japan have steadily risen, as urban development continues to encroach on their habitats and limit their food sources. The country’s rapidly aging population is also making them particularly susceptible to attacks, especially in more rural regions. Since the beginning of 2025, the government has reported at least 200 injuries and 13 fatalities—over twice the previous mortality record. Official data also recorded over 50,000 bear sightings across the country during the same time period. 

Last year, Japan even deployed its own military to help cull bear numbers. More than 14,600 animals were captured and euthanized in 2025, an all-time high and almost triple the previous year’s tally.

Ohta told the AFP that amid the ongoing crisis, there has been “growing recognition” that Monster Wolf is “effective in dealing with bears.” The main customer base remains farmers, but orders are also coming from golf courses and rural workers. Upgraded versions will soon include wheels to actually chase animals and patrol preset routes. There are also plans to release a handheld version for outdoor enthusiasts and schoolchildren.

Until Ohta catches up with its orders, residents and visitors are encouraged to review the Japanese government’s own bear safety tips.

The post Japan runs out of robot wolves in fight against bears appeared first on Popular Science.

If he’s wooing, he could use some pointers.It’s dusky at the end of the day as I’m driving to my home for the night. When the mountains meet the prairie, cattle ranches and fields artfully adorned with round bales of hay become the backdrop. So, when I see a dark shape in the distance, I immediately think cow. But as I draw closer, the shape isn’t quite right for a cow. She turned broadside as I stopped at a pullout to look closer. Moose!This cow moose is slowly making her way from the distant willows, over the marshy ground, to a flowing stream. It’s dark enough that getting usable/decent images with her at this distance is questionable. I pick up my camera anyway. 

She steps down into the cut of the creek, a look of relaxed relief passes over her, and she stands there for a few moments, seeming to revel in it, before lowering her head to drink. It’s unseasonably hot.

A bull moose appears at the edge of the meadow, materializing out of a different cluster of willows. He stares at the cow moose. 

She climbs up out of the water and turns to leave. The bull moves forward, first at a walk, then the two of them begin to trot. She’s fleeing, and the chase becomes a full-on gallop, hooves slicing through the air, two tall, awkward-looking animals floating gracefully at racetrack speeds.

The distance between them is relatively constant, separated by a few lengths.

The cow moose crosses the creek, and they both stop. An impasse?

The pause is short-lived. The moment she takes a step, he’s after her again. First, trotting, keeping pace, then back at a full gallop.

Serious speed across the prairie. It’s dark, my shutter speed is slow, and my ISO is maxxed out at 20,000. I think maybe I can capture some artsy, motion-blur images of the chase, so I keep shooting.

This time, she stops behind some bushes. He does not continue the pursuit. I watched them a little longer while they casually browsed in separate directions, as if there had never been any issue.

I’m unsure what to make of it. It’s early for the moose rut, but someone has to go first. It was a glimpse into another world, with its own distinct customs and norms. I’m grateful for this moment of wild connection on the plains of Alberta, Canada.

If you’re interested in purchasing or licensing any images you see here, please email me at SNewenham at exploringnaturephotos.com, and I’ll make it happen.

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The post Wooing or Shooing? A Moose Encounter appeared first on Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham.

More than 20,000 votes cast in Butterfly Conservation’s poll of 60 native species to find nation’s favourite for first time

The votes are in on Britain’s favourite butterfly, and it is one of the most ubiquitous yet spectacular backyard beauties that has flown to victory.

With its lavender, yellow and maroon eye spots and luscious rusty red and black colouration, the peacock butterfly is both beautiful and commonplace, flying throughout spring, summer and autumn in all corners of the British Isles.

For Jenny Voisard, watching the daily antics of a bald eagle family perched above the shimmering waters of Big Bear Lake in Southern California is about togetherness as much as birdwatching. 

“We’re all together as a community. We mourn together, we laugh together, we cry together. So it’s emotional and deep. It’s hard to explain in words, really,” Voisard tells Popular Science.

A former corporate marketing consultant from Oregon, Voisard now works as the media manager for Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV). The non-profit is dedicated to conserving the land around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. However, the organization is most famous for its eagles. FOBBV livestreams a pair of bald eagles named Jackie and Shadow in their nest to millions of viewers around the world 24/7. After their first egg of 2026 was snatched by Ravens, Jackie laid two more eggs that hatched in April and will likely fledge from the nest in July.

Voisard originally joined as a volunteer to help answer questions and learn about eagles. But life and FOBBV had other plans. 

“I never could have believed in a million years that this is my life and this is what I’d be doing, even just a few years ago,” says Voisard. “So it’s just a testament to Sandy and her vision and her when she starts something.”

The Sandy who Voisard is referring to is not the eaglet who hatched this spring, but FOBBV’s former executive director Sandy Steers. Sandy died on February 11 after battling cancer. A life-long wildlife activist, she helped launch the cameras in 2015 and was FOBBV’s resident bald eagle expert. She devoted countless hours and energy to educating the public on the animals that call this slice of the San Bernardino National Forest home.

“She was very intuitive on how people learned,” says Voisard. “What she really wanted to do was blend science and storytelling and make it so that it would resonate. She hoped people would understand what they were watching, but then maybe they would pay attention more to the birds in their own backyard. Ultimately, what she thought was that if people cared about what was happening with nature, they’d want to take care of it.”

One of Sandy’s passion projects was protecting the last undeveloped northern shoreline along Big Bear Lake from development. Called Moon Camp, this stretch of land has been sought after by luxury housing and marina developers for nearly 25 years. The land sits less than one mile away from Jackie and Shadow’s nest, and this part of the lake is home to all of the fish that the eagles and their eaglets rely on for sustenance. It is also home to undisturbed forest that support birds, squirrels, and other animals, as well as the ash-gray indian paintbrush (Castilleja cinerea), a rare and threatened endemic plant only found here. 

FOBBV is concerned about further human encroachment on the animal and plant species in the area, particularly the eagles. Bald eagles have made a remarkable comeback due to conservation efforts, but still face several threats including lead poisoning, collisions with cars, avian influenza, eating fishing line, and habitat loss.

“There used to be 20 to 35 visiting bald eagles that used to come to Big Bear Lake during the winter, and now we’re down to six to 10 at best,” says Voisard. “And bald eagles are increasing everywhere else.”

The land is currently owned by RCK Properties and discussions about its development stretch back to 2002. In September 2025, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors met to discuss the proposed development of over 50 homes and a 55-slip marina to the unincorporated community of Fawnskin.

At the time of the hearing, RCK Properties’ Steve Foulkes told CBS News Los Angeles that he believes it is a sound project from an environmental standpoint, that the building will be slow, and the project will provide jobs and income over a longer period of time. 

Foulkes tells Popular Science that, “RCK Properties has no comment on the fundraising effort beyond confirming that we entered into an Option Agreement with the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust.”

Sandy and the San Bernardino Mountain Land Trust negotiated a limited purchase agreement with the developer and are fundraising to purchase the land for its appraised value of $10 million. The fundraiser has already raised over $3 million with more than one month to go. 

“Sandy passed away right after the agreement was signed, so we’re doing this in her honor,” says Voisard. “She put all of that on her shoulders because she wanted to save everything.”

If they do not raise enough money by the end of July, Voisard says that the money will go towards a financing option with the land owners. With this option, the land trust would pay a higher interest rate quarterly. 

A celebration of Sandy’s life will be held on Saturday, June 13 at Veterans Park in Big Bear, California. The event will also be livestreamed—just like Jackie, Shadow, Sandy, and Luna’s nest. 

“I hope that they remember her love of life and nature and everyone and her kindness and her just big open heart,” Voisard says. 

The post Bald eagles Jackie and Shadow need $10 million appeared first on Popular Science.

Concrete is everywhere, and that’s a problem. Manufacturing the essential material accounts for around eight percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions, making it one of the single biggest contributors to the climate crisis. Researchers are investigating all types of creative solutions to the issue, often by replacing ingredients with more eco-friendly alternatives.

Recent propositions include adding coffee grounds, bacteria, and even recycled diapers into the mix.But engineers at Purdue University in Indiana think the answer can already be found in the natural world. According to a study recently published in the journal Chemistry of Materials, one solution may be swapping out the cement for shellfish.

“Oysters generate a natural cement. They use this material for attaching to each other when building reef structures,” chemist and study co-author Jonathan Wilker explained in a recent university profile.

Wilker has spent years examining the biological properties of oyster cement in hopes of recreating the sturdy adhesive for other applications. They have since learned that the bivalves bind together by producing the inorganic compound calcium carbonate—basically chalk. While calcium carbonate isn’t usually adhesive by itself, oysters also produce a small amount of stickier organic materials like phosphorylated proteins. This allows the shellfish to fuse together, even when saturated in water.

After breaking down the chemical composition of oyster cement, Wilker’s team recreated it in a laboratory. They then collected a bunch of limestone bathroom tiles, since their calcium carbonate is virtually identical to oyster shells. From there, they glued stacks of tiles together using their artificial, biomimetic cement. In nearly every stress test, the tiles broke before the bond itself.

Confident in their faux-oyster cement’s abilities, Wilker and colleagues finally tried combining a polymer from their creation into commercially available concrete mix. In lab tests, their oyster-inspired concrete was 10 times stronger while doubling its compressive strength. On top of all that, it also took less time to cure.

Wilker’s team plans to continue testing their patent-pending recipe. He notes that it’s not simply stronger. It’s even more eco-friendly when compared to most adhesives on the market.

“Most of the adhesives that you see at the hardware store are made of organic compounds, derived from petroleum,” he said. “There is so much more that we can learn from nature.

The post Want stronger concrete? Just add oysters. appeared first on Popular Science.

Four-ton Paige, brought in as surprise for attenders, made gushing debut after governor finished keynote speech

An African elephant weighing roughly 4 tons that was brought to the Texas Republican party’s annual convention to excite attenders ended up drawing widespread attention for the wrong reasons after she urinated on the convention floor and became the focus of animal welfare concerns.

Inside the George R Brown convention center in Houston on Friday, attenders had been told to prepare for a “larger-than-life surprise” after governor Greg Abbott finished his keynote speech. Organizers also displayed a message asking people to keep the aisles clear.

Researchers studying copulation in mayflies pulled off a stunt worthy of the naughtiest ancient Greek myths. Just like Hephaestus used an unbreakable net to trap his wife Aphrodite and her lover Ares in the middle of their adulterous act, a team of scientists in Germany deployed a long-handled net to catch mating insects, and then used freezing spray to preserve the moment for study. 

And that’s not even the strangest part of the study titled, “When mayflies have an erection: functional morphology of the genitalia in Ecdyonurus.” 

Frozen in the act

Mayflies are a group of strange winged insects with dramatic life cycles. They live as larvae in freshwater for most of their lives. When they finally become adults, they stop eating (their gut closes off and turns into a balloon) and they exist to fulfill a single mission—sex. 

Before the Insect Systematics and Diversity study, researchers knew very little about mayfly mating. It’s easy to see why, since the act is fast and it takes place mid-flight,  in the air. The team was clearly undeterred in their quest to understand the intimate affairs of much smaller beings.

The team collected Ecdyonurus venosus mayflies in Germany’s Black Forest. There, they used a long-handled net to catch copulating pairs. Unsurprisingly, most of the captured duos split up right away. Those that didn’t, however, would experience the literal meaning of Dolly Parton’s hit song “I Will Always Love You.” The team then shock-froze them with freezing spray and preserved them in ethanol.

The researchers then used synchrotron X-ray microtomography (µCT) at the synchrotron particle accelerator of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, producing images for a digital 3D model. 

“The aim of the present work is to clarify the function of genital interactions during copulation in the mayfly genus Ecdyonurus,” the team wrote in the study, “and to unravel the mechanisms that lead to the change in the penis configuration during mating.”

Yes, you read that right. Their penis changes—and the males sort of have two of them. 

A tale of two penises

Mayfly sex is of a shockingly acrobatic dynamic. Males swarm over bodies of water to seduce females. When a female introduces herself into the fray, the copulation occurs immediately and in midair. The male attaches onto the female from below, using forelegs to hold onto the bases of her wings, and then bends his abdomen up and over. He also uses specialized genital forceps called claspers to secure his grip. Mating can now take place. 

Females have a copulatory pouch that opens towards the back. Males have two separate penis lobes that have spines in between them and claspers on both sides of the “paired penis.” Similarly to the claspers, the spines keep the paired penis in place during mating. 

“µCT scans show that the penis changes shape during mating powerful muscles cause[ing] a deformation of the penis shaft, making the penis lobes fold over. At the same time, the penial spines extend and prick into the thin membrane of the female’s copulatory pouch,” per a statement. “This stretches the pouch so that it can receive large amounts of sperm, which are stored in a folded membrane at the front of the copulatory pouch.”

As if mayfly mating wasn’t complicated enough, other males frequently attempt to steal the female, so male mayflies’ sturdy attachment is doubly useful. Once the mating is done, however, the couple doesn’t get to celebrate their achievement for long. 

Researchers don’t know if they mate multiple times, but not much time passes before the males die of exhaustion from the swarming flight. The females lay the fertilized eggs in upstream water—and then also die. 

The post Mayflies have crazy, acrobatic sex appeared first on Popular Science.

A unique turtle is officially getting a second chance at life in the big blue. Last month we reported on a special resident at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia: a first-generation hybrid sea turtle, the child of a Loggerhead sea turtle father (Caretta caretta) and a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) mother. Nicknamed Earl Grey, the reptile-turned-celebrity has returned to the wild. 

This Hannah Montana of turtles was slated to be released on Wednesday, but on Tuesday the Georgia Sea Turtle Center announced a change of plans because of “some unexpected pre-release complications.” Luckily, these complications must have been resolved. He was sent on his way Thursday morning, only one a day behind schedule. 

“Yesterday evening, veterinarians at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center determined that the best course of action for Earl Grey’s well-being and successful transition back into the ocean was to conduct a private release,” according to a George Sea Turtle Center spokesperson.

The turtle was rescued from a beach in Brewster, Massachusetts, where it was stranded and cold-stunned. The turtle’s mixed background was revealed by genetic testing after the Loggerhead ridley (or Kemp’s Loggerhead?) arrived at the turtle center. Hybrid animals are natural, but we don’t know how many wild hybrid sea turtles there are. Most hybrid animals are only confirmed with genetic testing. 

“From an evolutionary perspective, hybridization could be one of many ways genetic diversity is introduced into a population,” Jaynie L. Gaskin, Georgia Sea Turtle Center director, told Popular Science in April. “We encourage other rehabilitation facilities to consider genetic testing for any suspected hybrid sea turtles, as there may be more individuals than we currently realize!”

In a Facebook video, the turtle center highlights the traits that the rare hybrid sea turtle inherited from each species, including a hook-shaped beak of a Kemp’s ridley (the mother) and the colors of a Loggerhead (the father). A combination of, in their words, the “best of both worlds.” . 

Stay warm, E.G.! 

The post Rare hybrid sea turtle released back into the ocean after rescue appeared first on Popular Science.

How do you determine how many months or years animal mothers nurse their babies? If you’re not in a rush and can observe this dynamic, you could supposedly stick around to see when the baby, mother, or both decide that they’re done. However, that could take years. A team of researchers investigating breastfeeding in orangutans recently opted for a different, perhaps surprising strategy—searching for particular proteins in poop. 

In a preliminary study published in the journal Communications Biology, researchers searched for milk‑specific proteins in the feces of wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) living in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo. These proteins prove that he or she is continuing to drink breast milk.The practice of recognizing particular proteins in feces is called fecal proteomics and it can help scientists better understand what animals are consuming.

“Orangutans have a slow life history with one of the longest interbirth intervals and the lowest reported infant mortality rates among primates or even mammals,” the team wrote in the study. “Breastfeeding is a key factor in their life history because it possibly promotes offspring health and increases maternal interbirth intervals.”

The team gathered fecal samples for over two and a half years, and found milk‑specific proteins in all the 20 samples from orangutans less than six and a half years old. This indicates that the young great apes were continuing to breastfeed until they were at least that age. 

According to the team, these results are “consistent with the behavioral evidence as having one of the longest breastfeeding periods in mammals.”

What’s more, “milk intake was significantly correlated with higher levels of biological defense and probiotic bacterial proteins.”

In other words, the more milk a young orangutan drinks, the more probiotic intestinal bacteria it has and the sturdier its biological protections are. Such consistent and enduring breastfeeding probably helps the very high survival of orangutan babies and plays a role in their slow reproductive approach. 

Unfortunately, Bornean orangutans are critically endangered, and the paper highlights why their populations don’t rebound quickly after a decrease. Safeguarding what’s left of their rainforest habitats is crucial. 

The post Orangutan poop holds surprising clues about how long they breastfeed appeared first on Popular Science.

NEW YORK, June 4 — Wildlife experts found eight new species of dragonfly, ‌three unknown grasshoppers and some 60 new butterflies and moths in vivid hues during a trip to Angola's Lisima plateau in February, ‌a conservation group said yesterday.

The Wilderness Project visited the waters that flow through the plateau and which feed four of Africa's major rivers: the Congo, Okavango, Zambezi and Cuanza.

New species included an armoured, predatory cricket, a previously undescribed species of copper caterpillar and its adult butterfly, and a crowned crab spider that fluoresces under ultraviolet light.

Experts also found a new blood orange-hued species of ladybird orb-web spider ‌which mimics ladybirds in signaling to predators with a ⁠bright colour - normally a darker ⁠red - that it is too bitter or ⁠toxic.

"The armoured crickets are ⁠very cool ... ⁠very fierce-looking," expedition leader Rob Taylor told Reuters. "As a defense mechanism, they can actually squirt fluid onto whoever's trying to attack ⁠them." Scientists the world over are frantically trying to record species as they reckon with a global ecological crisis that has put a million plant and animal species on the brink of extinction. They estimate there are 8.7 ⁠million species in the world, of which science has identified only 1.5 million.

Many are fast disappearing because of ⁠human activity, with more than 800 animal species going extinct since ⁠around ⁠1500.

Taylor said wildlife in the Lisima plateau was threatened by "tree-felling, deforestation and ... the artisanal diamond mining industry," as well as by slash-and-burn ‌agriculture, which razes natural forests to use the soil for planting, only to see the nutrients wash away. — Reuters

Florida officials are asking people to identify wildlife in photos captured on trail cameras across the state.

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Police and hunters in Utsunomiya, 100km north of the capital, resume their search for animal that is not usually seen so close to Tokyo

A city in Japan has closed all its 94 primary and secondary schools after a bear was spotted in the municipality for the first time.

Officials in Utsunomiya, a city of half a million people about 100km (62 miles) north of Tokyo, took action after a medium-sized black bear – estimated to be about one-metre-long – was seen near a park in the city on Saturday. The bear was spotted again on CCTV running just in front of two startled young men in the city centre, in the early hours of Sunday.