Breeding

coral

The Secret Sex Lives of Deep, Dark Corals

A unique fjord in Chilean Patagonia gives scientists a chance to unlock the reproductive secrets of cold-water corals that typically live thousands of meters below the ocean’s surface.

Latest in Breeding
Newly hatched plainfin midshipman develop in a nest hidden under a rock in the intertidal zone of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Photograph by Shane Gross
The Curious Life of a Singing Fish

Plainfin midshipmen migrate from the deep sea to the intertidal zone to spawn, and that’s when things really get loud.

Sounds of Survival

A quest to record a quiet frog’s call may mean the difference between its survival and its extinction.

Guianan cocks-of-the-rock (Rupicola rupicola)
Golden Hour

For these spectacular South American birds, the key to attracting a mate is finding—and fighting for—the right time and place to shine.

African elephants (Loxodonta africana)
Are You My Allomother?

A newborn elephant's aunts, sisters, and cousins all lend a helping trunk to support the newest member of their clan.

woodpecker
The Anomalies: The Acorn Woodpecker

These highly social birds defy the typical two-parent family structure, proving that cooperation can make good evolutionary sense.

Demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo) winter migratory bird, fisheye perspective of feeding cranes. Khichan, Western Rajasthan, India. February 2015
Bird’s-eye View

What began as the seasonal arrival of just a few dozen cranes has become one of India’s most renowned wildlife spectacles.