Emily Anthes

We explore a boom in research into our furry friends.

Pets were once dismissed as trivial scientific subjects. Today, companion animal science is hot.

Stress, ovarian cancer, buoyancy disorders: Every pet has its troubles, and needs a good doctor who makes house calls.

A fatal fungal disease has devastated the world’s amphibians. But the fungus has a vulnerability: It cannot tolerate heat.

Cats are more social than they are often given credit for. Can you help yours access its inner dog?

Transfusions have become an important part of veterinary medicine, but cat and dog blood is not always easy to come by.

A pair of whales were extricated from the besieged city of Kharkiv and taken to an aquarium in Spain with help from experts around the world.

A few “reasonable precautions” can help people keep their pets safe from the H5N1 virus, experts say.

Muscle from a sick dairy cow tested positive for the virus. The meat did not enter the commercial food supply, which officials said remained safe.

The National Institutes of Health, which owns the chimps at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico, has no plans to move the animals to sanctuary, despite a ruling from a federal judge.

The new case, in a Michigan farmworker, did not suggest that bird flu was widespread in people, health officials said, adding that the risk to the general public remained low.

Tens of millions of farm animals cross state lines every year, traveling in cramped, stressful conditions that can facilitate the spread of disease.

In a cautious new paper, scientists tried to determine whether an interactive speech board might enrich the life of a parrot named Ellie.

Farmworkers have been exposed to milk infected with the bird flu virus. But there has been virtually no testing on farms, and health officials know little about who may be infected.

Biodiversity loss, global warming, pollution and the spread of invasive species are making infectious diseases more dangerous to organisms around the world.

Gov. Kristi Noem suggested that President Biden should have euthanized the family dog, as she did. Animal experts said that such an option should be a last resort.

A genetic analysis sheds light on when the outbreak began, how the virus spread and where it may be going.

There is no evidence that the milk is unsafe to drink, scientists say. But the survey result strongly hints that the outbreak may be widespread.

Since a new form of bird flu arrived in 2022, federal officials have sought to reassure Americans that the threat to the public remained low.

A single spillover, from a bird to a cow, led to the infections, a review of genetic data has found.

The milk poses virtually no risk to consumers, experts said. But the finding suggests that the outbreak in dairy cows is wider than has been known.

H5N1, an avian flu virus, has killed tens of thousands of marine mammals, and infiltrated American livestock for the first time. Scientists are working quickly to assess how it is evolving and how much of a risk it poses to humans.

Officials have shared little information, saying the outbreak was limited. But asymptomatic cows in North Carolina have changed the assessment.

Feral cats take a heavy toll on the world’s wildlife, especially Down Under. The solution? Smarter traps, sharpshooters, survival camp for prey species, and the “Felixer.”

To protect Australia’s iconic animals, scientists are experimenting with vaccine implants, probiotics, tree-planting drones and solar-powered tracking tags.

When traditional conservation fails, science is using “assisted evolution” to give vulnerable wildlife a chance.

When the total solar eclipse happens on Monday, animals at homes, farms and zoos may act strangely. Researchers can’t wait to see what happens when day quickly turns to night.

The infections, which include one associated human case, add another worrying wrinkle to a global outbreak that has devastated bird and marine mammal populations.

A new study suggests that two killer whale populations in the North Pacific are distinct enough to be considered separate species.

U.S. regulators confirmed that sick cattle in Texas, Kansas and possibly in New Mexico contracted avian influenza. They stressed that the nation’s milk supply is safe.

Two musky steroids, and higher levels of odorous acids, distinguish the body odors of adolescents and tots.

How do you design an app for a parrot? Consider games that are “made to be licked,” a new study suggests.

A new study of camera-trap images complicates the idea that all wildlife thrived during the Covid lockdowns.

Despite a common narrative that male mammals tend to dwarf female ones, fewer than half of mammalian species display that pattern, a new study suggests.

A green honeycreeper spotted on a farm in Colombia exhibits a rare biological phenomenon known as bilateral gynandromorphism.

Human cases are rare in the United States, but in some Western areas cats that hunt rodents can become infected — and even pass on the disease to their owners.

The research, involving primroses and hawk moths, suggests that air pollution could be interfering with plant reproduction.

Small dogs with prominent noses live longer than bigger, flat-faced canines, a new study suggests.

Dead gentoo penguins tested positive for the virus, and at least one suspected case has been reported in king penguins.

Scientists have devised a new video system that reveals how animals see color, and us.

A photographer trained two rats to take photographs of themselves. They didn’t want to stop.

The National Institute on Aging may let funding lapse for a yearslong study of nearly 50,000 pet dogs, which could also offer insight into human health.

Tissue samples from a polar bear that was found dead have tested positive for the virus.

With drones and infrared cameras, intrepid veterinarians are monitoring the health of wild orcas in the Pacific Northwest.

In January, the American Museum of Natural History’s new insectarium gained 500,000 tenants. It has taken them some time to find their footing.

The virus, which recently reached the Antarctic region for the first time, is surging again in North America.

Goffin’s cockatoos, long known as adept tool users, are the first parrots found to alter their food by dipping it in water.

But the country’s health has not fully rebounded from the pandemic, according to new data from the C.D.C.

Longevity drugs for our canine companions are moving closer to reality. They also raise questions about what it might mean to succeed.

A variety of common canine pathogens, none of them new, could be driving the recent outbreaks.

In our Pyrocene age, enormous wildfires aren’t merely damaging ecosystems but transforming them.

The New York Times invitó a los lectores a incluir a los pájaros en sus pasatiempos y a compartir sus avistamientos con el Laboratorio de Ornitología de Cornell.

A new study highlights both the promise and the limitations of gene editing, as a highly lethal form of avian influenza continues to spread around the world.

Scientists are studying urban animals and the diseases they carry, to understand the potential risks to people, pets and the animals themselves.

Elephants rely on visual cues to maintain consistent timing of their strides, a new study suggests.

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Thousands of people from around the world responded to the invitation, sharing their sightings with scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

A warming climate could make cities even less hospitable to wild mammals, according to new research.

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More than 100 million birds breed in the region, and many are likely to be vulnerable to the virus, scientists warned.

Many of the birds that spend their summers in the United States are preparing to fly south. Here’s where they’re headed — and why it matters.

To follow an olive-sided flycatcher, first you have to catch it.

Avian species are “especially vulnerable,” scientists say.

A new study finds that urban areas tend to favor avian species with small bodies and broad diets.

For the residents of Chimp Haven, retirement is bananas.

How do you teach 300 chimpanzees to seek safety in a storm? With cowbells, sound machines and a bright orange Frisbee.

Many doctors said that they were unfamiliar with the condition, known as alpha-gal syndrome, the agency found.

As Covid testing increasingly moved to the home, the wastewater data fell out of sync with case and hospitalization rates, a new study found.

Since 2011, there have been more human swine flu cases reported in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Most have occurred at farm-animal showcases.

A rediscovered sample of frozen sediment, collected more than 50 years ago, highlights the vulnerability of Greenland’s ice sheet to a warming climate.

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Strips of sharp metal pins are meant to keep birds away from buildings. Some birds are stealing them to build their nests.

From late 2021 to early 2022, humans transmitted the coronavirus to white-tailed deer more than 100 times, research suggests.

The nation uses an enormous number of animals for commercial purposes, and regulations do not adequately protect against outbreaks, experts concluded.

An architecture and design firm in New York installed indoor air sensors during the pandemic. Then the wildfires hit.

Five people, four in Florida and one in Texas, have acquired malaria in the United States in recent months.

To study how the African malaria mosquito homes in on its human targets, researchers built an enormous “flight cage.” in rural Zambia.

A century ago, a well-ventilated building was considered good medicine. But by the time Covid-19 arrived, our buildings could barely breathe. How did that happen? And how do we let the fresh air back in?

When he proposed that the human papillomavirus caused cervical cancer, he was ridiculed. He persevered, and today a vaccine exists.

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