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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

Barry Petchesky

ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 28: Dolphins swim in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Atlantic City on August 28, 2022 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. With warming waters, dolphins and other mammals have been seen swimming and feeding closer to the shoreline. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Animals, Ranked By How Magical They Are To See

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

a small shelled cephalopod known as a paper nautilus or an argonaut drifting in the dark ocean on a little yellow piece of litter

The Argonaut Octopus Has Mastered The Free Ride

BROOKS FALLS, ALASKA - AUGUST 11: A brown bear shakes his fur while fishing for sockeye salmon on August 11, 2023 at Brooks Falls, Alaska within the Katmai National Park and Preserve. The bears feast at the falls between July and September, as millions of salmon swim upstream to spawn. Many of the same bears return to the falls annually, gorging on salmon to fatten up before hibernating for winter. The bears have become something of an internet sensation, as "bearcams" livestream bear activity at and around the falls to viewers worldwide. Commercial salmon fishing in Alaskan waters has often pitted business interests against wildlife conservationists in Alaska, which has more national park and wilderness land than anywhere in the United States. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Bear Wins Fat Bear Week By Defeating Bear That Killed Her Cub

UNITED STATES - 2013/08/27: Brown bear (Ursus arctos) or grizzly in Brooks River near Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Great Outdoors

Fat Bear Week Delayed By Bear Killing Bear

Patrick Redford

Sports Highlight Of The Day

The Sports Highlight Of The Day Is This Idiot Dog Starting A Fire

Kathryn Xu

Vintage color photograph of a chimpanzee in a skirt, stupid blouse, wristwatch and boots seated at a cluttered desk in a faux office, typing on a red typewriter. (Photo by Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty Images)

Point/Counterpoint: Monkeys Typing Shakespeare

A. Frog is a freelance writer living in Japan.

A. Frog

A female green and gold bell frog eating the leg and holding the leg of a male frog

I’ve Never Messed Up So Bad

Matt Ufford is the head of video and audio at Yahoo Sports.

Matt Ufford

A yellow-headed caracara close to reasonably priced children’s clothes and locked-up deodorant. Photo: Matt Ufford

Wings Week

Let The World Come To You On The Wings Of Vagrant Birds

Peanut Butter the dog gets going on his speedrun attempt

Video Games

Peanut Butter The Dog Hits A Two-Run Blast, And The Crowd Goes Wild

Greenfinches and Goldfinches on and around a bird feeder.

You’re A Birder, James Hetfield

Kelsey McKinney

Life Lessons

Berry Thief, My Enemy; Berry Thief, My Friend

Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including Point B. Handsomest man in the world.

Drew Magary

I Have Become A Crazy Dog Person

Albert Burneko

A Huge Frickin’ Swarm Of Honeybees Came To My House!

Honeybee drinking nectar from a flower in Markham, Ontario, Canada, on September 10, 2022. (Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto)

The Sports Highlight Of The Day Is The First Honeybee Ever To Pull A String

Ray Ratto

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 02: The shadow of a cemetery worker is cast on reclaimed gravestones in London City Cemetery on March 2, 2009 in London, England. The cemetery is piloting a scheme whereby graves over 75 years old become eligible for reclamation. New interments will be placed into the existing graves, the headstones will be turned around and re-used, carving the names of the newly deceased. Once a grave has been earmarked by English heritage the cemetery must wait one year to see if family members claim the existing grave. By conserving as many memorials as possible the City of London hopes to maintain the historic cemetery landscape and sustain buriel provisions for the future. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Elder Wisdom

Defunct Is Still Undefeated

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

Diana Moskovitz

A photo of Lilly the cat. She's smokey with black and white coloring, a little white bib, and green eyes. She's sitting atop a blanket atop our couch looking quite regal.

For Lilly, Always There

Eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) collects pollen from a flowering goldenrod plant in Markham, Ontario, Canada, on September 03, 2023.

Damn Us Both To Hell, The Carpenter Bees Are Back

A saltwater fish called a cero looking concerned

This Parasite Has Become A Full-Time Booger

Two adult male humpback whales. one whale has its penis inserted into the genital opening of the whale below it An injury is visible on the mandible of the whale underneath.

Fleeting Joy, Unexpected Despair, And Eventual Peace; Or, The Time I Learned About Two Gay Humpback Whales

Flaco Never Escaped

Flaco, a brown and black Eurasian eagle owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo, roosts in a tree in New York's Central Park with a squirrel nearby.

Flaco Gave Us A Willingness To See The World

A round stingray (Urolophus halleri) I photographed in shallow water at Bolsa Chica wetlands (Southern California). The clouds of sand around the eyes and and body were formed as the stingray flapped and positioned deeper in the sand, expelling water. You can see the spiracles behind the eyes.

Charlotte The Ray Did NOT Have Sex With A Shark, So Stop Asking!

opossum, Red-Tailed Hawk, Raccoon (Photo by Dick Loek/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

This Is So Stupid

Critter Or Varmint?

a stuffed specimen of a swamp antechinus, which is a small brown marsupial, against a green background

The Sex Fest Keeps Getting Worse and Worse

A female Tasmanian Devil yawns in an enclosure at the Night Safari Singapore nocturnal zoo in Singapore o