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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.

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Defector

Buy a Defector Gift Subscription, Get A (Different) Gift Subscription

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2025 gift subs

A screencap of a video showing the backside of a green frog and a hornet inside a plastic box

Screenshot 2025-12-09 at 10.21.05 AM

I Shall Never Mess Up Again

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


Typing

Sabrina Imbler

a mother leopard seal opens her mouth above the body of her dead pup

nora rafaella open mouth

Why Won’t Nora The Leopard Seal Abandon Her Dead Pups?

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Albert Burneko

louise

Animals

Beware The Jingler

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.

image-for-story

Politics

Olivia Nuzzi Addresses The Worm

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

Screenshot 2025-11-13 at 9.37.35 AM

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

A pack of Nanotyrannus attacking a juvenile T. rex.

Nanotyrannus-Final-Art-800×0600-1

Let Us Now Celebrate Our Extinct Short King, Nanotyrannus

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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)

New York Giants v Philadelphia Eagles – NFL 2025

Tom Brady Cloned His Dead Dog As A Brand Activation

<div class="gmail_default">
<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)

Close-up of a barred owl (Strix varia), also known as the

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.

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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

piattaforma 2

Why Do Some Spiders Make Web Art?

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

Brown basilisk_Basiliscus vittatus_credit Brian Hillen_1

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

chunknpsfatbearweek

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

a wild octopus americanus, arms unspooled and curling

Image 5

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

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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

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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

Screenshot 2025-08-27 at 1.00.06 PM

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

Screenshot 2025-08-21 at 3.05.47 PM

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)

Bruce Bennett Collection

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

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Chameleons Endure Tiny Knock To Colorful Reputation

Adelie penguins on nests, Antarctica.

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

wavydave

The Brief Adventures Of Wavy Dave

insidetheworm

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

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Innovation Strikes In The Field Of Chimpanzee Rectum Adornment

a trio of chilean flamingos, with the Bills Week logo

ChileanFlamingo2_creditsVictorMOrtegaJimenezD(1)

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)

Spring in Baden-W√ºrttemberg

Bill Shapes, Ranked