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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

a baby loggerhead turtle does a happy turtle dance inside a bucket of water

Creaturefector

Are You Entranced By The Turtle Dance?

A Blue Whale swimming underwater is showing her tail fin

Cautious Whales Sing In A Whisper Orcas Cannot Hear

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Ray Ratto

Kathryn Xu

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

An alligator-y creature behind museum glass.

Defector Reads A Book

‘The Artist’s Way’ Week 5: Looking For Small Evolutions

Man Eating Soft Ice Cream on Cone with Clear Plastic Spoon

Science

Everything I Would Eat With The Spoon Inside My Brain

a chimpanzee stares out between the leaves

Chimpanzee Culture Is Disappearing Because Of Us

a pink Amazon River Dolphin floating on back in slightly brown water

Think River Dolphins Don’t Piss On Each Other? Urine For A Surprise

‘The Artist’s Way’ Week 4: We Are Deprived

a tiger named Elena seemingly retching after she has just sampled elephant dung

Normalize Eating Poop

Black-and-white photo of a writer scrawling on paper.

‘The Artist’s Way’ Week 3: Synchronicities And Faith

a hummingbird visiting a flower with itty-bitty white mites on its beak

A Mite’s Leap Of Electric Faith Into A Hummingbird Nostril

a gif of a little frog called a cricket frog leaping across the surface of the water, but becoming entirely submerged when it lands

This Frog Is In Its Belly Flop Era

a small brown shrew called the Mount Lyell shrew in a natural environment

Much Ado About Shrew

Spectators in a color television studio on an exhibition of the USA in Moscow.

‘The Artist’s Way’ Week 2: Roadblocks And Revelations

A fire fighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California, on January 11, 2025. The Palisades Fire, the largest of the Los Angeles fires, spread toward previously untouched neighborhoods January 11, forcing new evacuations and dimming hopes that the disaster was coming under control. Across the city, at least 11 people have died as multiple fires have ripped through residential areas since January 7, razing thousands of homes in destruction that US President Joe Biden likened to a "war scene." (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Climate

The Future Of West Coast Wildfire Is Whiplash

Arts And Culture

‘The Artist’s Way’ Week 1: Our Hands Hurt

a silvery fish called a delta smelt in a litle cup

Politics

This Week In Maligned Little Fish

Tahlequah Grieves Again

Matchbook image of men in suits having drinks at a bar.

Life Lessons

My Fancy Little Mocktail Was Missing More Than Booze

Rachelle Hampton

Justin Ellis

chad michael murray and two other male revue dancers are shirtless in suspenders in front of a green fundraising chart

Defector At The Movies

Defector Watches A Christmas Movie: ‘The Merry Gentlemen’

A photo of a brown armored catfish that has been named the blob-headed catfish for its extremely sizable blob-shaped face/schnoz region

Blob-Headed Fish Sets New Standard Of Fishy Blobbiness

A still from a video capturing a red male cardinal staring menacingly at his reflection in the side-view mirror of a white car

Birdfector

It’s So Confusing Sometimes To Be A Bird

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Barry Petchesky

Lacey Chabert and her ex-husband in the movie The Christmas Quest, in an attic-like space shining a flashlight on something

Defector Watches A Christmas Movie: ‘The Christmas Quest’

Who Was The Fly Who Died In My House?

A clam known as a heart cockle, which is shaped like a heart with a red-and-white striped border, against a white background

There Are Clam Cathedrals Everywhere For Those With The Eyes To See

Luis Paez-Pumar

Lindsay Lohan sitting on a chair opening a book that reads "Construction Proposal Lifestyle Complex"