Skittering figures of urban legend – and a ubiquitous reality – cockroaches are nearly as abhorred as they are ancient. Even as our efforts to exterminate them have developed into ever more complex forms of chemical warfare, roaches' basic design of...

The interactions between apex predators and their prey are some of the most awesome and meaningful in nature – displays of strength, endurance, and a deep coevolutionary history. And there is perhaps no apex predator more impressive and important in...

The comparative physiology of seemingly disparate organisms often serves as a surprising pathway to biological enlightenment. How appropriate, then, that Robert Elsner sheds new light on the remarkable physiology of diving seals through comparison wi...

In January 2010, the Gemini was moored in the Swinomish Slough on a Native American reservation near Anacortes, Washington. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the rusted and dilapidated boat was in fact the most famous fishing vessel ever to have sailed...

The second installment in a planned three-volume series, this book provides the first substantive review of South American rodents published in over fifty years. Increases in the reach of field research and the variety of field survey methods, the in...

There are more than 1,300 species of bats – or almost a quarter of the world's mammal species. But before you shrink in fear from these furry "creatures of the night" consider the bat's fundamental role in our ecosystem. A single brown bat can eat se...

From the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bastet, to the prophet Muhammad's favorite cat, Muezza, and our contemporary obsession with online cat videos, felines have long held a place of honor in their human counterparts' homes and cultures. But the dom...

Our oceans are becoming increasingly inhospitable to life – growing toxicity and rising temperatures coupled with overfishing have led many marine species to the brink of collapse. And yet there is one creature that is thriving in this seasick enviro...

The double-crested cormorant, found only in North America, is an iridescent black waterbird superbly adapted to catch fish. It belongs to a family of birds vilified since biblical times and persecuted around the world. Thus it was perhaps to be expec...

Although no one had ever followed North American monarch butterflies on their annual southward journey to Mexico and California, in the 1990s there were well-accepted assumptions about the nature and form of the migration. But to Robert Michael Pyle,...