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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

Animals

Creaturefector

Science

Albert Burneko

Beware The Jingler

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


Sabrina Imbler

Split image. The lefthand side is Olivia Nuzzi attends the 2023 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 29, 2023 in Washington, DC. She's wearing a leopard longsleeve top and has long blonde hair and is smiling tightly at the camera. On the right side is an image of a purple blob of some sort.

Politics

Olivia Nuzzi Addresses The Worm

a female spider next to a funnel-shaped hole in a web

Drop Whatever You’re Doing Right This Instant, There’s Big Spider Web News

A pack of Nanotyrannus attacking a juvenile T. rex.

Let Us Now Celebrate Our Extinct Short King, Nanotyrannus

Barry Petchesky

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 26: Tom Brady looks on from the field during warmups prior to an NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on October 26, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)

Tom Brady Cloned His Dead Dog As A Brand Activation

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<div class="gmail_default">Ryan Goldberg is an award-winning journalist and author who has written for <i>Texas Monthly</i>, The Intercept, <i>The</i> <i>New York Times</i>, <i>Popular Science</i>, and ProPublica, among many other publications. Some of his best stories ran in the old Deadspin. He lives in Brooklyn, and leads regular walks for the Brooklyn Bird Club. You can find more of his work at <a href="http://ryangoldberg.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ryangoldberg.net&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1758917926877000&amp;usg=AOvVaw04lh06uBoaa598nfG5ro-G">ryangoldberg.net</a>.</div>
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Ryan Goldberg

UNITED STATES - 2023/05/31: Close-up of a barred owl (Strix varia), also known as the northern barred owl, or striped owl, in a park in Kirkland, Washington State, United States. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Owl Code Tearing Apart New York’s Birders

a photo of the microscopic flatworm Stenostomum simplex, which looks like a worm with green balls inside its body.

Exclusive! A Revealing And Not Made-Up Interview With A Two-Headed Worm

a spider with yellow stripes perched on a web decorated with stabilimenta

Why Do Some Spiders Make Web Art?

a photo of a brown basilisk lizard missing a forelimb sitting on a reed

Fat AND Sassy? A Three-Legged Lizard Really Can Have It All

Chunk Overcomes Murder Rap, Broken Jaw To Win Fat Bear Week

a wild octopus americanus, arms unspooled and curling

Unlike Our Stupid Human Arms, Octopus Arms Are All Equally Beautiful And Talented

a spotted ratfish, which is a brownish fish with white spots and a white spot between its eyes

Why Not Have A Rod Of Teeth On Your Forehead For Sex Reasons?

two winged male ants: Messor ibericus (left) and Messor structor (right) against a black background

Everything You Need To Know About The Girlboss Ants That Give Birth To Another Species In Order To Exploit Their Offspring (Slay Ant Queen!)

a swarm of bumblebee catfish climbing the vertical rock of a waterfall

Where Are You Going, Fish?

an illustration of two bats together, one with a rat. the next panel shows the two bats biting the rat together

Brother May I Have Some Rat

<p><a href="http://www.ddavisla.com"><span style="font-weight: 400">David Davis </span></a>is the author of <i>Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation</i> and <i>Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku</i>. He lives in Los Angeles.</p>
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David Davis

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - CIRCA 2000: Photographer Bruce Bennett photographers a battle between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the of the New York Islanders circa 1990 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images)

Shots

After 50 Years Of Shooting Hockey, Bruce Bennett Finds An Even Tougher Challenge: Birds

A photo of a green fla-necked chameleon posing against a swirly yellow and green background

Chameleons Endure Tiny Knock To Colorful Reputation

Mods Asleep

How Climate Change Is Transforming The Soundtrack Of The Natural World

a 3D-printed crab named Wavy Dave is waving his claw at a fiddler crab in the distance

The Brief Adventures Of Wavy Dave

Behold: A Surprisingly Beautiful Depiction Of Being Swallowed By A Toothy Penis Worm

the behind of a chimp named Juma, who is displaying a behavior called grass-in-rear, in which a strand of grass dangles from his rectum

Innovation Strikes In The Field Of Chimpanzee Rectum Adornment

a trio of chilean flamingos, with the Bills Week logo

Bills Week

Why Do Flamingos Eat So Weird?

28 April 2024, Baden-Württemberg, Donaueschingen: A mallard duck swims in a pond in Donaueschingen Castle Park. Photo: Silas Stein/dpa (Photo by Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Bill Shapes, Ranked

Kathryn Xu

Common loon flapping its wings in the morning

Fatal Battles In Common Loons: A Subsequent Analysis


<p>Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.</p>


Dan McQuade

A cat on a fake baseball card. He's grey and little and next to a keyboard. There is a wood border around the card, with the Toledo Mud Hens logo in the corner, and a Defector logo in the other corner, and WEBLEY: Toledo Mud Hens