National Geographic News

This male spider destroys female genitalia to stop future mating By Megan Hamilton We've all heard that spider mating rituals are fraught with danger, especially for the males. Sometimes the female gets the munchies afterward, and he turns into a snack. Sometimes the male "castrates" himself, plugging the female to stop future mating.

In a pinch: Trap jaw ants use powerful jaws to escape death traps By Megan Hamilton The trap-jaw ant has earned the reputation of making short work of its prey. With herculean, spring-loaded mandibles, it crushes its prey with ease and defends its nests. Scientists have recently discovered it has another nifty use for those jaws.

Newly discovered fossil sheds light on fearsome terror bird clan By Megan Hamilton For more than 60 million years, enormous predatory birds, often called "terror birds" dominated South America. Now, a recent find of a previously unknown species in Argentina sheds light on how these birds vocalized — and possibly hunted their prey.

Honduran rain forest gives up pre-Columbian 'lost city' By Karen Graham While searching for the fabled "White City," or the "City of the Monkey God," rumored to be located in a remote part of the Mosquitia rain forest in Honduras, an archaeological team instead found the remains of a an unknown civilization.

Sea turtles use Earth's magnetic field to navigate home: study By Megan Hamilton For millions of years, sea turtles have navigated the oceans to return to their birthplace to excavate nests and lay eggs. Scientists have long been mystified because it wasn't known how they did this.

Zimbabwe's plan to sell 34 baby elephants outrages activists By Megan Hamilton Maputo - Zimbabwe's Hwangwe National Park plans to sell elephants for as much as $40,000 each because it needs the money to run the park, officials say. The park plans to sell more than 60 elephants to buyers in China, France, and the United Arab Emirates.

Angry groundhog menaces Hampton couple By Megan Hamilton Hampton Falls - Groundhogs might be cute, round, and fuzzy, but don't let that warm and cuddly exterior fool you. Inside lurks a merciless biter as one New Jersey couple found out. Gary McGrath and his wife were going about their day when they met IT. Groundhogzilla.

Meerkats have a 'sinister' side, scientists say. Who knew? By Megan Hamilton Johannesburg - Oh sure, meerkats look cute and cuddly — and they are, but when it comes to certain aspects of their lives, these pint-sized critters can be rather ruthless, scientists have found.

Opossum Drop: Animal cruelty for NC New Year's festivities Special By Megan Hamilton Brasstown - When most of us celebrate the New Year, opossums don't usually come to mind. However, in North Carolina and other areas in the South, some people think differently than we do.

Experts say global warming will make food less nutritious By Megan Hamilton With unprecedented global warming occurring worldwide, there are more than enough problems to go around. Now, evidence suggests there’s another unpleasant change that we will likely have to deal with.

Kryptodrakon progenitor pushes pterodactyl evolution back in time By Megan Hamilton Kryptodrakon progenitor, discovered in China, is the earliest known and most primitive pterosaur found to date, and the creature holds a few surprises.

Op-Ed: Bad PR and lies for new Qatar dolphin facility By Elizabeth Batt Doha - A newly planned dolphin aquarium in Souq Waqif, Qatar, lied about a National Geographic sponsorship and then launched an incredible display of bad PR.

Op-Ed: Is NatGeo sponsoring company that purchases Taiji dolphins? By Elizabeth Batt Doha - A new temporary lease dolphin show run by Ukrainian company NEMO or Nerum LLC, is opening in Qatar. According to the show, National Geographic is sponsoring their endeavors, despite NEMO's import of dolphins captured in the Taiji dolphin drives.

Fisherman wrestles a Shark in Nantucket, MA By Eduardo Arrufat Nantucket - A surfer fisherman in Nantucket, MA wrestled a shark off-shore after catching it in his fishing line this week. He released it, but only did so after capturing the fight on YouTube.

Op-Ed: Virus with its own immune system discovered By Paul Wallis Sydney - Virology isn’t a subject for the weak-minded. The world’s most changeable forms of life keep coming up with new tricks, and this one, an actual arsenal of immune capability of viruses against immune responses, is a real eyeopener.

Op-Ed: The top 10 photos from National Geographic's Instagram feed By David Silverberg Some news outlets understand the value of social media. For months, iconic magazine National Geographic has been wowing its 984,000 fans on Instagram, where their photos feature breath-taking views of animals, people and places across the world.

Video: Super slow motion video of sprinting Cheetah By Greta McClain Cincinnati - Cheetahs can reach top speeds of 64 miles per hour, which makes capturing the grace and speed of such an animal on camera a spectacular feat.

Top 5 photos of animals in the womb By David Silverberg Scientists are showing us what other mammals look like in the womb, thanks to revolutionary four-dimensional scanning technology. Here are the top five photos of animals in their mothers' wombs.

Magazine unveils first ever complete views of Titanic wreck By Kev Hedges Stunning images showing the legendary wreck of RMS Titanic are to be published in April's edition of National Geographic Magazine.

National Geographic's UFO hoax over Connecticut mall By JohnThomas Didymus Winsted - Photo and video analyst for Mutual UFO Network Marc Dantonio created a "quadcopter" for an upcoming National Geographic special, "The Truth Behind UFOs." The purpose was to show how technology can fool anyone into thinking they are seeing a real UFO.

Fisherman catches cyclops shark By Kim I. Hartman An albino fetal cyclops shark, born with one eye, has been authenticated by scientists who examined the creepy but cute creature after it was caught by a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of California.

Experts: Lions could be extinct in 15 years Special By Lynn Morris National Geographic Society's explorers-in-residence believe lions could become extinct in 15 years. Award-winning film-makers and conservationists Beverly and Dereck Joubert have been studying threatened big cats in Africa for 30 years.

Indigenous tribe from Peru stops Nat’l Geographic’s DNA sampling By Lynn Herrmann Cusco - Indigenous leaders and local officials have stopped a plan by the National Geographic Society that would have allowed its geneticists to collect DNA samples from the Q’eros, a remote Peruvian tribe believed to have descended from the first Inca.

The Long Shadow of Chernobyl - 25 years after the disaster Special By Lynn Morris National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig is determined the world’s worst nuclear accident should not be forgotten. And is returning to Chernobyl 25 years on to photograph the site and people who live and work there.

Lost world slowly yields secrets as several new species found By Stephanie Dearing Arlington - At least a dozen previously unidentified (scientifically) animals were found in the Foja Mountains of New Guinea, an area called the 'lost world.'

Survey: India greenest of all countries By Sukhdeep Chhabra A survey conducted by the National Geographic Scoiety and GlobeScan has showed that Indians are nature's best friends, followed by Brazil and China. The least scorers were Americans, Canadians and Japanese.

National Geographic launches video games By Chris V. Thangham The non-profit National Geographic Society will soon start its for-profit company, National Geographic Ventures, and will create video games with geography themes.

National Geographic says red-heads set for extinction By Chris V. Thangham Genetic scientists warn that redheads are a dying breed; soon they will become extinct in the next 100 years. National Geographic magazine reports that less than two percent of the world’s population has the natural red hair.

Long Life Span in Flies Reversed By Just Whiff of Food By RobotGod Flies on a diet live much longer than flies that are allowed to eat all they want.

Stonehenge Settlement Found: Builders' Homes, "Cult Houses" By RobotGod A major prehistoric village has been unearthed near Stonehenge in southern England.

National Geographic Image