Pangolins just received an odd form of political protection.¹

Found in southeast Asia and Africa, these creatures look like a cross between a Texas armadillo and an aardvark anteater.² (When Spanish conquistadores encountered armadillos in Texas, they called them “pigs wearing armor” but soon learned to eat them.)

An ancient city found deep in a Central American rainforest yields a surprising discovery.

Scientists from China, Sweden, and Australia have discovered what they claim is the oldest known parasite, publishing their results in Nature Communications.¹ The evidence comes from small tube-shaped objects attached to the shells of the host brachiopods.² Scientists speculate that these tubes contained some sort of parasitic worm.

An amazing abundance of life can be found in the strangest places—such as the backs of turtles. It was previously known that an array of life was present on the backs of loggerhead sea turtles, and new research shows that it's more abundant and diverse than scientists ever realized.¹

European dippers are making the news lately, including science news in Wales.^1-3

These riparian habitat birds are indicators⁴ of freshwater stream quality, as noted below. Scientists study them to learn how badly freshwater streams are polluted—such as by non-biodegradable (non-decaying, indigestible) plastic waste products.^2,3