Wildlife

Bristly quarter-inch grubs that eat wool, silk, and feathers while the adults do no harm. Where the food source actually is, why the rash is not a bite, and how to clear them.

A grey papery ball with one entrance hole, and a colony that dies every autumn. How to tell it from a wasp nest, when removal is justified, and what actually works.

A one-inch endangered butterfly surviving on a handful of Keys islands. What drove the collapse, why fire ants matter, and what the captive breeding programme has achieved.

Ominous in parts of Europe, auspicious in Japan and China. Why the readings contradict each other, what the black witch moth has to do with it, and which butterfly you saw.

A genuinely poisonous black swallowtail with an iridescent blue sheen, and the model five other butterflies copy. ID, the toxicity, and why the right pipevine matters.

Egg to adult in about a month, through five instars and a chrysalis where the body is rebuilt from scratch. What happens at each stage and what to look for on the plant.

Honeybees, bumblebees, and solitary bees like mason and leafcutter bees, which make up most species. How they differ and which ones actually sting.

From small African species to the Komodo dragon. How venomous they really are, whether one makes a good pet, and how big they actually get.

Never found in the same place, jaguars in the Americas, leopards in Africa and Asia. The rosette pattern, size, and bite force differences that actually separate them.

A one-inch endangered butterfly that eats only wild lupine and whose caterpillars are guarded by ants. Where it survives, why fire matters, and what recovery involves.