Nature’s weirdest creatures

Britain is a country mercifully bereft of threatening fauna–or so you might believe. John Lewis-Stempel provides a miscellany of our otherwise benign land’s more fearsome critters

Unfairly maligned as a sneaky troublemaker, the quicksilver ferret is a characterful, curious and highly intelligent creature–with fascinating regal and cultural trappings to boot, writes Octavia Pollock

From the pleasures of harvesting your own one-of-a-kind honey to the meditative calm that methodical hive-management brings, beekeeping has much to offer, finds Jane Wheatley

During late August 2025, the Hunterian Museum of Zoology in Glasgow hosted Snake Summer, an event covering snakes in science, folklore and fantasy organised by Dr Will Tattersdill of the University of

A round-up of the strangest science stories from around the world.

Nature’s spiky deterrents–thorns, spines and prickles–may be quick to catch us out, but they can also prove to be a useful ally, discovers Laura Parker