Nature
Animals, plants and ecosystems, from coral reefs to the Arctic.
Featured in Nature
Start with these, then follow the links inside each article wherever they lead.
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle, Amazonia, or simply the Amazon, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7 million km2, of which 6 million km2 (2.3 million sq mi) are covered by the rainforest.
Coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate.
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 mi2). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
Blue whale
The blue whale is a species of baleen whale and the largest marine mammal in the rorqual family Balaenopteridae. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9-30.5 m (98-100 ft) and weighing up to 190-200 t (190-200 long tons; 210-220 short tons), it is the largest animal known to have ever existed.
African elephant
African elephants are members of the genus Loxodonta comprising two living elephant species, the African bush elephant and the smaller African forest elephant (L. cyclotis). Both are social herbivores with grey skin.
Monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown.
Octopus
An octopus is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ok-TOP-ə-də). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids.
Western honey bee
The western honey bee is the most common of the 7-12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for 'bee', and mellifera is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', referring to the species' production of honey.
Tardigrade
Tardigrades, also known as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them Kleiner Wasserbär 'little water bear'.
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Sequoiadendron giganteum is a species of coniferous tree, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae. Giant sequoia specimens are the largest trees on Earth.
Mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers.
Tiger
The tiger is a large cat and a member of the genus Panthera native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur that fades to white in parts, with black, mostly vertical stripes.
Wolf
The wolf, also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though grey wolves, as popularly understood, include only naturally occurring wild subspecies.
Emperor penguin
The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and lives exclusively in Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching 100 cm (39 in) in length and weighing from 22 to 45 kg (49 to 99 lb).
Fungus
A fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes yeasts, molds, and mushrooms. These organisms are classified in the biological kingdom Fungi.
Bird migration
Bird migration is a seasonal movement of some birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically between northern and southern regions.
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a system formed by organisms in interaction with their environment, where the biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels, for example, genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity, and phylogenetic diversity.
Extinction
Extinction is the termination of a species via the death of its last member. A taxon may become functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to reproduce and recover.
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of warmblooded reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They existed through most of the Mesozoic era, first appearing early in the Triassic period.
Serengeti
The Serengeti is a geographical region in Africa, spanning the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania and extending to southwestern Kenya. The protected area within the region includes approximately 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi) of land, including the Serengeti National Park and several game reserves.
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, 485 nautical miles (898 km; 558 mi) west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of slightly over 33,000 in 2020.
Arctic
The Arctic 'bear') is the polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying north of the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway (Nordland, Troms, Finnmark, Svalbard and Jan Mayen), northernmost Sweden (Västerbotten, Norrbotten and Lappland), northern Finland (North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Lappi), Russia (Murmansk, Siberia, Nenets Okrug, Novaya Zemlya), the United States (Alaska), Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), and northern Iceland (Grímsey and Kolbeinsey), along with the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas.
Savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close.
Orca
The orca, or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus Orcinus, it is recognizable by its distinct pigmentation; being mostly black on top, white on the bottom and having recognizable white eye patches.
Chimpanzee
The chimpanzee, commonly abbreviated to chimp, is a medium-sized great ape species found in the forests and savannas of equatorial Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one.
Polar bear
The polar bear is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can interbreed.
Giant panda
The giant panda, also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders.
Great white shark
The great white shark, also known as the white shark, white pointer, or great white, is a large shark. It is closely related to the mako sharks, the porbeagle, and the salmon shark.
Bald eagle
The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), which occupies the same niche as the bald eagle in the Palearctic.
Ant
Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period.
Kelp forest
Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds.
Wetland
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor processes taking place, especially in the soils.
Taiga
Taiga or tayga, also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome.
Tundra
In physical geography, a tundra is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic, Alpine, and Antarctic.
Pollination
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves.
Guides in Nature
Tropical rainforests
Why the forests around the equator hold more species than anywhere else on land, and what happens when they are cleared.
The ocean and its zones
From sunlit surface waters to the pitch-black trenches, how life changes with depth in Earth's largest habitat.
Animal migration
Why birds, whales, butterflies and wildebeest make long seasonal journeys, and how they find their way.
Pollination and pollinators
How flowers recruit bees, birds, bats and the wind to reproduce, and why a third of our food depends on it.
Predators and prey
How hunting shapes animal bodies and behaviour, and why removing top predators can transform a whole landscape.
Coral reefs
How tiny animals build structures visible from space, and why reefs are so rich and so fragile.
Fungi: the hidden kingdom
Neither plant nor animal, fungi recycle the dead, feed forests through underground networks and gave us bread, beer and penicillin.