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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

Kelsey McKinney

Oh No! The Big, Beautiful Owl Got Out!

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

A domestic pigeon that has been dyed pink with hair dye.

Justice For Flamingo, Who Did Not Consent To Being Dyed Pink

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

Canadians Jubilant Despite Unexpected Death Of Weather-Predicting Rodent Fred La Marmotte

An extremely fluffy gray cat called the Pallas Cat snarling at the camera

World’s Crankiest Cat Found On World’s Tallest Mountain

A paleoart illustration of the pterosaur Balaenognathus maeuseri, showing a creature with a long bill that tapers to a flat end, lots of tiny verticle teeth, and a red beady eye staring out from an orange and blue face.

Now That’s What I Call Teeth!

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 26: Sophomore Paige James, center, touches a hippo statue for luck as she leads admitted George Washington University students and their parents on a tour of the campus before deciding on whether or not to enroll on April, 26, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Death To The NCAA

Official George Washington University Statement: Hippos Are Not Free To Be Bold

A. Frog is a freelance writer living in Japan.

A. Frog

A Caravaggio-esque photo of a tree frog being stung inside the mouth by the two-pronged genital spines of a wasp. Ouch!

I Messed Up

Barry Petchesky

Free P-22!

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

Matt Ufford

A Bird Idiot’s Guide To Winter Birding

A lady lifts a comically small Shetland pony out of a van in Germany.

Pumuckel The 20-Inch Pony Has Other Mini-Horses Quaking In Their Hooves

Folks, We’ve Got A New Animal Friendship

Annie Rauwerda is a writer and comedian from Michigan. She loves Wikipedia, digital archives, and her cat.

Annie Rauwerda

Life's Rich Pageant

In Search Of A Hot Pink Bitch Named Breakfast

on a high-altitude cliff, a mountain goat intimidates a trio of bighorn sheep

Mountain Goats Keep Winning

Lauren Theisen

I’m Sorry About Stuffing The Ballot Box For My Favorite Fat Bear

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Laura Wagner

We Saw A Bear

A tiny orange frog sitting by a pool of water inside the leaf of a bromeliad plant.

Nowhere Is Safe From Our Garbage

JAKARTA, INDONESIA: Indonesian boys swim on a river to catch ducks as part of game show in Jakarta, 17 August 2006, to celebrate country's 61st independence day anniversary. Outside a house in central Jakarta on the morning of August 17, 1945, a small group of nationalists gathered for a simple ceremony to declare independence for the remains of the former Dutch East Indies empire and Indonesia was born. After three centuries of Dutch colonial rule and three years of Japanese occupation, the world's largest archipelago had been declared one nation, although it was another four years before the Dutch abandoned their attempts to retake their former possession and recognised Indonesia. AFP PHOTO/Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP via Getty Images)

The Sports Highlight Of The Day Is A Duck Winning “Find The Duck”

Freya The Walrus Should Still Be Alive

Two brown-lipped snails, cepea nemoralis, on the concrete.

I Must Protect The Snails In My Backyard From Myself

A screenshot of a pink spaghetti worm glimpsed on the deep sea by a Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute ROV

Do You Dare Twirl Your Fork In The Spaghetti Worm?

ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN - JULY 27: Dan Campbell, head coach of the Detroit Lions during the Detroit Lions Training Camp on July 27, 2022 in Allen Park, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

What Creature Does Dan Campbell Think Would Be Great At Football?

A straight line of rectangular holes in the seafloor, with the metal parts of a remotely operated vehicle visible at the bottom of the image.