From scary to sensual: our best wildlife stories

© Piotr Naskrecki

After all of Conservation International’s work around the world, wildlife still manages to surprise us — and scare us.

In honor of World Wildlife Day, we’re resurfacing three of our favorite critter-related stories.

  1. Field notes: 6 of our scariest moments

Never forget: Some animals can kill you. A few of our scientists’ most hair-raising experiences in the field came when they found themselves face-to-face with apex predators or deadly snakes. (Fortunately, they lived to tell us about it.)

Read more here.

  1. Animal love: 5 weird ways species get it on

Valentine’s Day is as good an excuse as any to examine the strange ways of animals in love. Find out which species likes to eat during sex, which animal cheats when he’s drunk, and which one will literally copulate … until he dies.

Read more here.

  1. Amid lifelong search for lions, 20 cherished minutes

Since childhood, John Martin was obsessed with lions. As director of visual storytelling at Conservation International, Martin has traveled the world to film wildlife — but it wasn’t until 2014 before he had a brush with the species that helped inspire his career as a filmmaker. In this piece, he vividly describes the experience — providing a poignant reminder of the awe that nature can inspire in all of us.

Read more here.

Morgan Lynch is a staff writer for Conservation International.

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