Labradors are known for being greedy dogs, and now scientists have come up with a theory about the genetic factors that might be behind their behaviour. Science correspondent and labrador owner Nicola Davis visits Cambridge University to meet Dr Eleanor Raffan and Prof Giles Yeo to find out how understanding this pathway could help us treat the obesity crisis in humans ..read more

Celebrity fashion designer, who recruited couriers to transport bags from her native Colombia to US on commercial flights, receives 18-month sentence A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities from Britney Spears to the cast of the Sex and the City TV series has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court on charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from her native Colombia. Nancy Gonzalez was arrested in 2022 in Cali, Colombia, and later extradited to the US for running a sprawling multiyear conspiracy that involved recruiting co ..read more

I wasn’t a dog person until he came along, attached to a new boyfriend. But by the time the relationship ended, I couldn’t bear to be parted from this tornado of black fur When I first met Brutus, I wanted nothing to do with him. He clambered into my car in a tornado of black fur, pointy ears and scraggly beard, then looked up at me with saucer eyes, threatening to unleash drool all over my passenger seat. All I could think was: “This is going to be annoying ..read more

Gathering antlers has been a favorite pastime in the state, but the high dollars they fetch is now putting animals’ lives at risk On a spring day in April last year, wildlife law enforcement officers in Wyoming made an alarming discovery. While patrolling national forest land in the state’s north-west, they came across an overflowing stack of 40 antlers piled among the trees and concealed with branches. The antlers, they realised, were part of an illegal poaching cache. Collecting antlers has long been a favorite pastime in Wyoming, where the state’s bull elk spend most of the summer growing m ..read more

Boyton and Hollesley Marshes, Suffolk: Today these wide open skies give us so much – not least a spoonbill – but there are also great rewards closer to ground As we climb the river wall, our steps laboured by the steep bank, the harsh wind suddenly hits us so fast it takes our breath away. The Butley river, with its saltmarsh and mud banks, sweeps ahead on my left. To my right, Boyton Marshes stretches into a bright white horizon. These are the famous Suffolk skies: wide and open. Continuing on the Suffolk coast path, curlew, Cetti’s warblers and skylark ..read more

Birdwatching may have started out as a hobby, but active volunteers are helping bridge data gaps of threatened species and reaping real world outcomes as they go Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com Sean Dooley first started birdwatching as a 10-year-old with a notebook in hand at a place then known as the “Seaford swamp”, a freshwater wetland beside his primary school in Melbourne’s south-east. “I was ju ..read more

Experts celebrate discovery of secretive and endangered Australasian bittern in recently restored wetlands Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The “bunyip bird” – named after a mythological river-lurking, human-eating monster – is as elusive as its namesake. Also known as the Australasian bittern, it is heard more often than it is seen. It means that when bittern expert Geoff Shannon discovered the bird at Tasmania’s recently restored Lagoon of Islands – the first time it had been seen there in 40 years – it was a “very special moment ..read more

Creature with balloon syndrome spotted from passing bus in Gloucestershire is in charity’s care and has been named Bounce A hedgehog that had swollen to the size of a football – so big that it was spotted in a field by a passenger on a passing bus – has been deflated by rescuers. The female hedgehog, which has been named Bounce, had blown up to twice its normal size when it was seen in Gloucestershire ..read more

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world ..read more

More than 50% of the planet’s species live in the soil, but only a fraction have been identified – so far Read more: No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent The sound of an earthworm is a distinctive rasping and scrunching. Ants sound like the soothing patter of rain. A passing, tunnelling vole makes a noise like a squeaky dog’s toy repeatedly being chewed. On a spring day at Rothamsted Research, an agricultural research institution in Herefordshire, singing skylarks and the M1 motorway are competing for the airways. But the attention here is on ..read more