A rare all-black gentoo penguin has been spotted on Rongé Island, Antarctica. Gentoos typically sport the more traditional ...

Camera traps in a forest have caught video of two all-black wolves. Now scientists are investigating where they might have ...

Zoo officials announced the death of the 21-year-old black jaguar Wednesday morning. She had developed kidney disease, which ...

Jaguars are majestic animals that have captivated people for centuries. But these big cats are facing huge challenges in a ...

Melanism is a rare, random genetic anomaly believed to be caused by mutations in the melanicortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R) which leads to an over production of the pigment melanin. It’s difficult ...

While most jaguars are spotted, Maya was completely black — a trait called melanism, meaning she had increased amounts of dark pigmentation. Roughly 10% of jaguars around the world are black.

Texas is home to some unique animals, from armadillos to free-tailed bats. But have you ever seen this "one-in-a-million" ...

A rare population of leucistic, or partially white, purple-faced langurs near Sri Lanka’s Sinharaja Forest Reserve has attracted ecotourism interest, even as monkeys in general are perceived by ...

Over the past two decades, at least four major research programmes have formed in evo–devo, although there is extensive overlap among them. Figure 1: A morphodynamic model relating shape change ...

Laura is an Assistant Editor for The Scientist. She has a background in microbiology. Her science communication work spans journalism and public engagement. View Full Profile. Learn about our ...