Conchologists, and citizen scientists team up to seek out endangered mollusc species along River Thames

It is tiny, hairy and “German” – and it could be hiding underneath a piece of driftwood near you. Citizen scientists and expert conchologists are teaming up to conduct the first London-wide search for one of Britain’s most endangered molluscs.

The fingernail-sized German hairy snail (Pseudotrichia rubiginosa) is found in fragmented patches of habitat mostly along the tidal Thames.

Washington state resident’s backyard flock of domestic poultry had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said

A person in the US is believed to be the first human to die from a rare strain of bird flu, but state health officials said on Friday the risk to the public is low.

The person in Washington state, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu strain called H5N5 after becoming seemingly the first known human infected by the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.

This article was amended on 22 November 2025 after the AP corrected its copy to remove a reference to the person’s gender, which has not been released by health officials

Hannah Shirley, born in November 1973, was celebrated with Hungry Hungry Hippos-themed party

The San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center is feeling festive, and it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but instead a birthday celebration for a hippo that turns 52.

Hannah Shirley, the world’s oldest known living pygmy hippopotamus, turned 52 years old on Thursday, and celebrated with a Hungry Hungry Hippos–themed party. Hannah was surrounded by guests as she played with different-colored balls and presents.

Nearly 13m people are hoarding millions of dollars’ worth of the stylish 50 peso note, featuring Mexico’s cutest critter

For most of her life, Gorda was just an axolotl who lived in a museum in Mexico City – that is, until she became the star of the country’s favourite banknote.

The note, which features a depiction of Gorda as the model for Mexico’s iconic species of salamander, went into circulation in 2021, dazzling the judges of the International Bank Notes Society, who declared it the Note of the Year.

The enormous, serpentine fish, regarded in Japanese folklore as a herald of disaster, usually live deep below the surface and are only sighted when sick or dying

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It was a beautiful warm day in north-west Tasmania when a fish with a reputation as a harbinger of doom washed ashore.

Tony Cheesman, who lives in the seaside town of Penguin, was walking his two dogs, Ronan and Custard, along the beach at Preservation Bay on Friday morning when something silvery and surrounded by gulls grabbed his attention.

Researchers in British Columbia catch sea wolves in the act after placing camera to solve mystery of damaged traps

The clues read like something from mystery novel: crab traps, suspiciously hauled ashore by unseen hands, had been damaged by baffling teeth marks. The bait inside was missing.

The question for researchers in the remote corner of British Columbia was: whodunnit? As with many crimes of opportunity in the modern era, the culprit was unmasked by a remote camera.

Scientists discover thousands of sea creatures have made their homes amid the detritus of abandoned second world war munitions off the coast of Germany

In the brackish waters off the German coast lies a wasteland of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the second world war and forgotten about, thousands of munitions have become matted together over the years. They form a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy seafloor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western tip of the Baltic Sea.

Over the decades, the Nazi arsenal was ignored and forgotten about. A growing number of tourists flocked to the sandy beaches and calm waters for jetskiing, kite surfing and amusement parks. Beneath the surface, the weapons decayed.