Photo via ICUN

According to a new report from The International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN), a 5-year study involving 200 scientists has found that the flora and fauna of Africa's freshwater ways are threatened with extinction thanks to four main factors: agriculture, water abstraction, dams and invasive species.

Photo by sheilaellen

Despite their reputation as pests, termites are actually fascinating creatures particularly for their complex social structures. But that isn't the only thing that hast attracted the attention of scientists lately. It seems that by watching where termites decide to build mounds, secrets to the ecological changes of Africa's savanna are revealed.

Photo Credit: ECORD/IODP via Live Science

In an instance where drilling into the Great Barrier Reef is a good thing, scientists are pulling core samples of ancient coral to unravel how sea level changes have impacted corals in the past, and perhaps help predict what can happen to them in the future as they struggle wi

Photo via Keith Slausen / US Forest Service

The Sierra Nevada red fox was thought to be extinct, until three weeks ago anyway. U.S. Forest Service biologists captured photos of the fox with a camera set up on a trail, and took DNA samples of saliva pulled from a bait bag the fox bit into to experts at the University of California, Davis.

Image from oldphotosjapan : Mount Fuji in Clear Weather by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

Mt. Fuji in Japan is one of the most famous and iconic mountains in the world; it has been the subject of endless photographs, poems and paintings over the centuries.

Photo via The Telegraph

Oshine the orangutan has a bit of a weight problem.

Image credit: ruurmo/Flickr

Everything from fungus to parasites, pesticides to disease, pollution to habitat loss, has been blamed for t

Photos via ICUN

The issue of how marine noise impacts whales is a subject of intense study. We're seeing more and more evidence of how human activity in the ocean negatively affects whales and dolphins.

Webcam screenshot via National Zoo

August 31st was a special day at the National Zoo -- four lion cubs were born! It is the first litter to a five-year-old lioness named Shera. But you don't have to be a visitor at the zoo to check out the tiny newborns.

A map of the planet's oldest living things, via Rachel Sussman

What are the oldest living things on the planet? If you're thinking 200-year-old tortoises, well, those are just whippersnappers compared to the organisms that give Methuselah a run for his money. Rachel Sussman has traveled the planet photographing living creatures that have celebrated at least their 2,000th birthday.