The NSW government has bought more than 1500 square kilometres of the state for a new national park to protect 25 threatened animal species and important habitat

A tourist’s accidental photo of a strange aquatic creature about 2.5m long has sparked new excitement about Scotland’s Loch Ness monster, the mysterious creature people love wondering about

A tiny, critically endangered marsupial has amazed conservationists on Kangaroo Island, after being spotted scampering in bushland destroyed in bushfires

Thousands of spiders are busily creating a rare natural silk sculpture in an Adelaide park. The social sheet-weaver spiders are working together like a community of ants to trap their prey

For the first time, scientists have found a beautifully preserved, fossilised meal inside the skeleton of a dinosaur, including fern fronds and spores, leaves and even charcoal from a bushfire

Carers at a Queensland aquarium waved a happy goodbye this week to a precious green sea turtle, who swam back to freedom after recovering in captivity from injury

Divers are using the quiet pandemic period to grow and replant coral at popular tourist diving and snorkelling spots on the Great Barrier Reef.

One of the important roles of zookeepers, vets and scientists is looking at animal poo as an indicator of health. Monarto Safari Park keepers share some of their poo knowledge with Kids News

Giant kangaroos, enormous crocodiles, massive wombats and a marsupial “lion” that lived 40,000 years ago in tropical Northern Australia died out because of climate change, a study has found

Life in lockdown can be pretty dull, even for penguins. But the day got a light brighter for these little birds when they had an excursion from their zoo enclosure to an art museum.

Researchers have discovered what is thought to be the last film of a thylacine, taken two years later than any other known record and casting doubt on its reputation as an aggressive animal

A fresh look at a fossil found at a Victorian beach and thought to belong to a pterosaur has resulted in the discovery of the first elaphrosaur dinosaur ever from Australia

A photo of a mountain hare in a snowstorm that took the photographer several freezing weeks to capture has won this year’s BigPicture international nature photography competition

A famous UK sports commentator in lockdown at home has narrated Phillip ­Island’s penguin parade 17,000km away to make up for the lack of live sports events

It looks like they’re just having a bit of fun, but new research has found that juggling stones is a sign that an otter’s tummy is rumbling and they’re ready for a feed

Sea turtles are nesting in record numbers across the world as humans stay inside to stop the spread of COVID-19. The turtles are thriving with crowd-free beaches and less pollution

A pod of dolphins has been filmed dancing and surfing through waves full of bioluminescent plankton. Kids News looks at the science behind the living things that glow

Experts have discovered cold-blooded frogs once lived on a warm Antarctica 40 million years ago PLUS Australian scientists need your help for a frog-finding mission closer to home

Despite being part of a large flock, flamingoes mostly spend time with a small group of close friends and others avoid certain individuals, suggesting some just don’t get along

Zoos and wildlife parks across the country have risen to the COVID-19 challenge with livestreams from inside animal enclosures and broadcasting feedings, tours, talks and shows

Australia’s koala population has been cut in half in the past two decades, with conservationists warning our national icon is already extinct in some areas after devastating bushfires and drought

A 7m-long procession of caterpillars parading through Alice Springs is fascinating and touching them dangerous, but to the Arrernte people, it can be a sign of a harsh winter on the way

Wild animals including jaguars, goats and boars have started exploring quiet city streets across the world as humans stay inside during the coronavirus lockdown

They’re the hit spiders of the internet, with their fancy colouring and cool courtship dancing. And now there are seven new peacock spider species to get to know

Visit the Great Wall of China, see the Mona Lisa or watch zoo animals without leaving home. Here are 10 top virtual experiences plus one very special out-of-this-world tour

A small team of wildlife carers in Queensland is spending the COVID-19 disruption playing and swimming with tigers to keep the animals happy and prevent them from becoming lonely

Scientists have unearthed the fossils of a fearsome feathered dinosaur with sharp claws and a telltale scar. It lived 67 million years ago and proves dinosaurs continued to evolve until their end

Three-and-a-half-month-old twin polar bear cubs have made their public debut at a zoo in the Netherlands, but without the public because of coronavirus restrictions

The careful scanning of a 3.6 million year old skull belonging to a fossil named ‘Little Foot’ has proven that early humans had small brains, swung between trees like monkeys and ate vegan diets

Photos of a giraffe’s bottom, a monkey deep in thought, a hunting eagle and a kookaburra surveying burned forest have each taken out prizes in the Sony World Photography Awards 2020

Human holiday-makers love the beautiful seaside town of Port Macquarie but great white sharks refuse to stay there, though scientists know a record number swim right past

A one-eared puppy that looks like a unicorn is capturing hearts around the world. Rae lost one ear at birth but its how the other ear came to look like a unicorn horn that is truly miraculous

The world’s smallest dinosaur has been discovered embedded in amber. The 100 million-year-old bird, just 5cm long, had bulging lizard-like eyes and a beak packed with 100 sharp teeth

A female komodo dragon has produced three baby dragons without a male mate through a rare process called parthenogenesis

An endangered turtle has reached WA after a two-year, 37,000km swim, possibly the longest animal journey recorded by a satellite tag, which has scientists wondering if she was born here

Five Australian photographers have blitzed the international Underwater Photographer of the Year competition with their incredible pictures of life under the sea

At 130kg and 2m tall, Baron is a very big dog. But he’s also a very big softie, patiently helping kids learn to read and visiting elderly people in his therapy-dog job

A large male and two smaller female baboons broke free from a truck at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, sparking a baboon hunt through the inner western suburbs

Scientists are studying an ultra-rare pink manta ray — maybe the only one in the world — that has been photographed during a dive on the Great Barrier Reef

In his weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight looks at the Fire Fight Australia concert which raised $9 million to help bushfire victims and he imagined two new faces in the crowd

Though the crowd cheered for a golden retriever, a fluffy, puffed-up poodle has been named top dog for 2020 at the world-famous Westminster Dog Show

A new and very scary species of dinosaur related to T-Rex and known as the Reaper of Death has been identified after pieces of its skull were rediscovered in a museum drawer

After losing four paws to frostbite, vets have performed surgery to replace this Russian cat’s front and back-leg paws with 3D-printed prosthetics made from titanium

Therapy dogs have been helping calm people’s nerves for several years. Now pigs are lining up to be loved by people all over the world who need some extra emotional support

Scientists have discovered four new species of walking sharks near northern Australia and New Guinea that could have evolved because they got separated from their original population

One of these incredible photos will be the winning entry in the 2019 Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award. Which would you vote for?

A baby minke whale beached in South Australia has been saved by volunteers and rangers. Kids News investigates what is known about why whales become stranded on beaches

The Australian Army has said goodbye to their much-loved retiring blue heeler mascot, who makes way for two-month-old pup Private Ridgley Blue IV

Using a bright orange heart rate machine attached with suction cups, scientists have achieved the incredible feat of measuring, in the wild, the heart rate of the world’s biggest animal

Mummified crocodiles, a mongoose, birds, cats and lion cubs are among an incredible discovery uncovered by archaeologists at Egypt’s “City of the Dead”

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why banning dogs in Aussie pubs and bars is a backward step and a chance to draw a bar full of dogs to make his point

Jellyfish populations are booming and blooming all over the world. We asked a jellyfish expert to share 10 fascinating facts to know before you head to the beach or aquarium this summer

As posties get busy delivering millions of presents for Christmas, Australia Post is considering giving out hi-tech whistles to help keep staff safe from overly enthusiastic and unsafe dogs

UPDATE An abandoned puppy with a tail on his head is being called a “magical unicorn”. He will continue to live with the rescue group and he’s not having the tail removed any time soon as being different is okay

With bandaged paws, singed ears and scorched fur, Anwen is one very lucky koala, receiving good care and on the mend after her home was burned in bushfires

A tiny, deer-like creature that “seemingly only existed as part of our imagination” has been found in a forest almost 30 years after the last official sighting

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why he added an Aussie tradition to his Melbourne Cup drawing after local horse Vow and Declare finished first past the post

The Melbourne Cup is coming home to Australia after local horse Vow and Declare, ridden by jockey Craig Williams, finishes first in a tight contest at Flemington Racecourse

Archer was a big horse with a funny running style and a habit of hanging his tongue out. But in 1861, no horse was better than the NSW import when he took home the very first Melbourne Cup

Danielle Ridgway has only been a zookeeper for just over a year but she has already coached a lazy, cheating cheetah to sprint and worked towards saving critically endangered native species

Scientists have found the fastest ant in the world — the Saharan silver — which takes 47 steps a second to cover about 90cm, the equivalent of a human running 579kmh

A Paris zoo has unveiled a mysterious new organism, nicknamed The Blob, that looks like a fungus, acts like an animal, eats porridge, can move and can heal itself if cut in half

A gripping action shot that captures “the perfect moment” between a Tibetan fox and a marmot has won its photographer the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Wildlife officials believe a giant python skin may have been smuggled into Australia after it was found in a Queensland park, while in NSW the search is on for a boa constrictor on the loose 

One of the world’s rarest and most endangered monkeys has been born in Australia. The baby’s distinctive bright orange hair is making him a standout at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo

The fossilised bones of a winged reptile — nicknamed the Iron Dragon — which flew above Queensland during the age of dinosaurs has been uncovered in the outback

Filmmakers have recorded the dramatic colour changes of a sleeping octopus, suggesting it is dreaming about preying on a crab, catching it and then settling down to eat it

There’s a saying that a tiger never changes its stripes but it seems zebras can — a dotted zebra foal has been photographed for the first time at Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya

Critically endangered mountain pygmy-possums need your help to solve the mystery of the missing Bogong moths that have disappeared somewhere between Queensland and Victoria

If you see a rat disappearing around a corner one day, try not to freak out — scientists have discovered it may just want to play and could even be laughing at the fun of it all

For more than 250 years, we thought there was only one species of electric eel on Earth. Scientists have discovered two more species, one of which can shock its prey with 860 volts

Meng Meng placed the pink panda cub gently on her belly and warmed it lovingly with her big paws, warm breath and the soft fur of her cheeks. An hour later, its twin was born

Honeybees are being trained to do jobs too dangerous for humans and too difficult for sniffer dogs, detecting the smell of bombs and chemicals and helping test for life-threatening radioactivity

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why he used the faces of innocent animals to measure the destruction of the Amazon fires