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Defector


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Sabrina Imbler

Mona Khalil, a Lebanese ecologist activist looks at a turtle at a coast in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre 12 August 2002

Science

Mona Khalil, Who Devoted Her Life To Protecting Turtles, Killed By Israeli Airstrike

Creaturefector

You Are The Dancing Fly, Young And Spry, Just A Little Guy

A statue representing an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archaeological Museu of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation of the reconstruction.

They’re Making Ötzi The Iceman Show Feet

A view inside the Texas Division of Emergency Management State Operations Center as they respond to the New World Screwworm threat on June 5, 2026 in Austin, Texas.

Welcome, Screwworms! Make Yourself At Home

a still from an AI video showing four killer whales moving under the ice

AI Animal Videos Are Ruining One Of The Internet’s Last Good Things

Interviews

Cat Fitzpatrick On Writing Transsexuals Into Iambic Pentameter

Green Pakistani Parrot on White Background

Birdfector

Let Birds Masturbate

The dead whale lies bloated off the Danish island of Anholt. It is the humpback whale known as Timmy, which first beached off Timmendorfer Strand at the end of March and was transported to the North Sea around a month later

The Long, Sad, And Totally Fucked-Up Tale Of Timmy The Whale’s Trip To Germany

And They Were Tomb Mates!

a wall-e ass looking robot called the looming eyes buoy

Foolish Humans! Gulls Are Not So Gullible After All

What The Fuck Is Happening With This Fish

People take part in a No Stage For Genocide protest to demonstrate against Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. Picture date: Saturday May 16, 2026. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)

Politics

Eurovision Is Running Out Of Time

A picture taken on September 6, 2021 shows the reconstruction of the face of the oldest Neanderthal found in the Netherlands, nicknamed Krijn, on display at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. - - Netherlands OUT (Photo by Bart Maat / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (Photo by BART MAAT/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Would You Want This Guy As Your Dentist?

two computer-animated sheep peering through a window

Defector At The Movies

‘The Sheep Detectives’ Made Me Baaaawl My Eyes Out

a photo of a remora fish with its head buried inside the cloaca of a manta ray

What Are You Doing In There, Fish?

A still from the trailer for Hoppers showing a beaver standing on a pile of machine rubble and proselytizing to a crowd of animals

Arts And Culture

Dam It All To Hell

the water scavenger beetle Regimbartia attenuata

Even After Being Eaten, This Beetle Has Two Ways Out Alive

Logo for the AI text editing company Grammarly at the Grammarly AI Hub in Austin, Texas, March 11, 2023. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

The Machines

Vindicated At Last In My Years-Long Loathing Of Grammarly

a bright pink insect called a katydid against a dark background

This Pink Bug Is Not A “Rare Freak Mutant” After All

White-faced Plover Charadrius dealbatus, Great Kinmen Island, Taiwan.

Newly Poly Plover Dad Still Figuring Out His Time Management

Chimp Toti attentively observes the quartz crystal during Experiment 1.

Which Chimp Should Wield The Crystal?

Baby monkey named 'Punch' is seen with a stuffed animal at a zoo on February 20, 2026, in north of Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Abandoned by his mother at birth, the monkey found comfort with a stuffed animal.

The Mournful Ballad Of Punch The Monkey

a screenshot of an email exchange with "Elena Ferrante", which contains six back-and-forth emails out of an exchange of 12

Life's Rich Pageant

What I Learned From My Annoyingly Long Correspondence With “Elena Ferrante”

the ancient fish Haikouichthys, which resembles a blue noodle with four eyes

Finally! An Ancient Fish That Understood Life’s Terrors

Gold medalist Loic Meillard of Team Switzerland, Silver medalist Fabio Gstrein of Team Austria and Bronze medalist Henrik Kristoffersen of Team Norway celebrate by taking a victory selfie on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Men's Slalom Run