Marine Animals
"It's bigger than a full-size snooker table and has a 40cm-long stinging spine."10 most fearsome, deadly river monsters, including a grisly giant leech
Freshwater holds fewer deadly surprises than the sea - rivers, lakes and streams are places of peaceful serenity. Or are they...?
It's the size of a double-decker bus and weighs a mighty 7 tonnes. Meet the ocean giant that cruises - through the oceans
Basking sharks are the second largest shark species in the world. They feed on microscopic animals called zooplankton.
"I started screaming." Scientists were filming dolphins in Australia, when this happened
Dolphins have been filmed catching fish with seashells for the first time ever.
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Crab vs lobster – They look similar… but what actually makes a crab a crab – and a lobster a lobster?
Just how do crabs differ from lobsters? Stuart Blackman explains
"It looks like an alien and can cause cardiac arrest within minutes…" 14 deadly, highly dangerous beach animals you could encounter on the sand
Some are stepped on without warning. Others wash up looking like harmless shells or marine litter. One curious touch can mean agonising pain, paralysis, and even death.
Photographer has astonishing leopard shark encounter in enchanted kelp forest
A diver shares his magical moment with leopard sharks in the twinkling canopies of a kelp forest.
When experts tagged diving whales, they discovered something astonishing about their song
For the first time, researchers have matched an entire whale song to an entire dive – and found the song changes in step with what the whale’s body is doing underwater
Joel Sartore has photographed 18,000 species. His latest is one of the weirdest and rarest yet
After a decade of photographing animals around the world, Joel Sartore has captured his 18,000th species: the critically endangered red handfish.
When scientists put a camera tag on a whale, they never expected to see this
When NOAA researchers used suction-cup tags to study cetaceans, they caught the incredible moment a whale breached.
"Its bristles are like thousands of tiny, hollow needles poking out of every inch of skin, ready to inject you with neurotoxin that burns like fire for several hours…"
A sting burns like fire and they can turn their throat inside out to gobble down a meal. This is the fireworm
Staggering drone footage shows 24m giants speeding through Indonesian waters
Wildlife watchers were lucky enough to be joined by three pygmy blue whales.
As a huge storm approached the US coast, California's great white sharks did this
For the first time, scientists have documented what white sharks do when storms are on the way.
“Probably ate it headfirst." Here's what scientists found inside this deep-sea fish’s bulging belly
Researchers at the Natural History Museum wanted to solve the intriguing mystery of what was inside this rare fish’s enormous stomach without cutting it open – here’s how they did it.
Crab might be a delicacy, but this one is highly poisonous and deadly to eat – just a tiny amount can kill a human and there's no antidote!
Discover the colourful, toxic crab which can kill – warning, there is no cure - and therefore shoudn't be eaten!
How do whales mate? For animals as big as whales, sex can be a tricky affair and lengthy affair - here's how they do it
Discover the fascinating world of whale reproduction...
“It was pure chaos!” This diver stumbled across a huge creature cruising through the ocean…
Underwater videographer shares incredible footage of the moment he discovers an enormous lion's mane jellyfish.
It strikes fear into swimmers around the world and sends people scrambling from the water – but what exactly is the point of a dorsal fin?
The dorsal fin is one of the most recognisable features in the animal kingdom, but it's far more than a dramatic silhouette. Here's why so many creatures have evolved one
It looks like something from science fiction, has a 1m leg-span, can pinch with the force of a gorilla's bite and – terrifyingly – can climb trees…
‘It forms pods of up to 10,000 individuals and the water looks like it’s been whipped into a froth’
Advanced social skills and excellent teamwork help these cetaceans thrive around the world
"They dodge death by hitting rewind. Even after a dead medusa has collapsed into a pile of mush, its cells can grow into polyps…"
Immortal jellyfish, and a few similar species, are said to be immortal. But how true is this claim? Dr Helen Scales explains.
They have strange beaks, bizarre bodies and can plunge more than 2.5km into the deep ocean… Are these the world's strangest whales?
"It's small enough to hold in your hand, but equipped with an underwater surveillance system worthy of a deep-sea spy…"
Does it really need this number of eyes?
How to help a beached, stranded whale or dolphin - and help save its life
A beached cetacean is a distressing sight, but there are ways you can help until the marine medics arrive, says British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR)
It's as sleek as a torpedo, as long as a bus, and weighs the same as an elephant: The ocean creature that slices through water at a speedy 35 km/h
Our guide to the minke whale, the UK's most frequently spotted whale
