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Here’s a sneak peek straight from our latest issue of Eco Kids Planet, Wonders Beyond Earth. Wildlife News is where Rhona and Rusty round up the wildest real-world stories from across the planet. Enjoy the read!
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year team gave me a sneak peek at some of their best pictures so far — and wow! They’re showcasing 100 powerful nature photos at the Natural History Museum, London, from 17 October. This year smashed records with over 60,000 entries from around the world!
© Emmanuel Tardy/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
One standout shot, No Place Like Home, was captured by Emmanuel Tardy in Costa Rica. He snapped this brown-throated, three-toed sloth in El Tanque, Costa Rica. Emmanuel watched traffic kindly slow to a crawl as the sloth crossed the road and found a fence post to grip on to. As their habitats get further apart because of tree loss, sloths have to make more risky ground crossings like that to find the next tree. This important photo reminds us of that!
© Sitaram Raul/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Another jaw-dropping entry came from Sitaram Raul in India. He worked in total darkness to capture fruit bats flying out of a ruined monument — and yes, the bats kindly “decorated” him and his camera on their way out!
© Jamie Smart/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
I knew you’d want to see some highly commended entries by young people, too. Ten-year-old Jamie Smart snapped this red deer stag giving a mighty bellow in Bradgate Park, England. It’s to display how strong he is, attract a female mate, and drive away his rivals.
Jamie walked up and down a path there at a safe distance from the stag. Then, she stretched herself upwards above the long grass to get a clear view.
© Parham Pourahmad/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Yes, you really are seeing two coyotes there! This photo, by 14-year-old Parham Pourahmad from California, USA, is an optical illusion. That’s a female coyote’s tail framing the eyes of a male – probably her brother.
Parham followed the pair for a couple of hours across a rocky hillside, quickly snapping his image before the male turned to nuzzle the female.
Hey, no wonder Parham’s name rings a bell. He was last year’s 11-14s winner! He just loves freezing the action of the natural world with his photos.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.
Newt News – Great crested newts were found in a pond at Melrose Golf Club in my wonderful country, Scotland. The club is spending £16,000 to buy new equipment to manage the course in a way that supports them! 
That's more of a newts-flash, Rhona.
Kindly keep your jokes to your own page, Rusty!
After a tree dies, it might remain on the forest floor or standing upright for anywhere from three to 750 years!
Photographer Andy Rouse believes he's snapped the world's happiest elephant herd in Kenya, Africa. He said its playful little calves spent their time running towards his vehicle pretending to charge it, chasing birds and playing tug-of-war with branches!
© SWNS
Those elephants adore their younger brothers. Rhona could learn so much from them!
© SWNS
Recently, train passengers in Portsmouth were startled to see a live crab sitting calmly on a seat! The train staff had no idea how he got there, but they safely dropped 'Craig the crab' off at a pond in Southsea.
But 'Craig' isn't the only animal to recently stow away on UK trains.
A pair of squirrels caused chaos on a Great Western Railway service from Reading to Gatwick Airport in September 2024. They ran around the carriages hassling passengers – who had to keep moving. Staff tried to lure them off with peanuts at Redhill, but one refused to leave, so the train service had to be cancelled!
And in July 2023, a bright orange (harmless) corn snake slithered through carriages on a Yorkshire service.
Last issue, Rusty reported on wildlife you can see through train windows. I’ve topped him by reporting on wildlife insidetrains!
Did Craig pinch anyone’s seat? Pinch, get it?? With his pincers!
I wish I could ‘train’ you not to make terrible puns, Rusty. (Now, that’s an example of a good pun!)
Early Harvest – After the warmest summer on record, the UK’s berries ripened a month early. Bad news for birds who visit for winter – our own wildlife and earlier visitors may already have scoffed the lot!
Not fair for visiting fieldfares!
New in UK Waters – A colourful nudibranch sea slug (sometimes called a hair curler slug) discovered on Cornwall's shore is possibly the first one ever spotted in UK waters. They're usually only found in much warmer climates, like the Caribbean.
Back to the Beavers – Locals near Loch Ness in Scotland are being asked if they’d like beavers brought back to the area – after over 400 years! River Ness has a great network of beaver-friendly habitats, from wetlands to woodlands.
We've just discovered that octopuses are incredible multitaskers. That means they can do lots of different jobs at the same time. I'm a great multitasker, too. I can play my Jurassic World video game, eat my annoying sister Rhona's biscuits, and stroke our cat Luke Skywhisker with my foot all at once!
Well, octopuses use all their arms to perform different tasks, including tiptoeing (like me sneaking to nick Rhona's biscuits), eating and grasping. They mostly use their front arms for exploring and their back ones to move around. They can make them shorter and longer, and bend and twist them in all sorts of weird ways. (I'd use them to tickle sharks.)
Octopuses could even help us build robots that rescue people from collapsed buildings or deliver food and drink through tiny spaces! I don't mean we'll have octopus engineers writing their software. I mean builders can study their limbs to create soft, bendy robot arms.
What's all this got to do with outer space? I discovered that a few years ago, over 30 researchers published a paper claiming octopuses were so unusual they probably came from another world. It said their frozen eggs landed here on meteors!
Sounds likely, don't you think? Except almost every scientist ever said that's a load of rubbish. I guess octopuses probably aren't aliens, then.
But spiders are definitely aliens that crashed here on space rocks!!!
Rusty
No, Rusty, they definitely are not!!
From adventurous sloths to joyful elephants and aliens-inspired octopuses, our planet never runs out of surprises. What’s your favourite wildlife headline this month?
This story first appeared in Eco Kids Planet magazine – inspiring earth-loving kids every month! 🌍✨
Loved this peek inside Eco Kids Planet? Our monthly magazine is packed with curious creatures, real science and hands-on fun for young nature lovers.
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We asked you to dive deep into your imagination and invent a mysterious sea creature – and you didn’t disappoint! From glowing krakens and ancient owls to daring underwater adventures, your stories were packed with suspense, surprises and creativity. Thank you to everyone who took part – we’re thrilled to announce our four winning stories.
From dragon spit to moonbeam dew – our readers brewed up some truly magical nature potions this month! We’re thrilled to reveal the winning entries of our latest competition. Discover the most imaginative ingredients, spellbinding names, and powerful nature-inspired concoctions created by our talented young Eco Kids.
We received so many fantastic entries to our Time-Travelling Animal Adventure competition – thank you to everyone who took part! We loved seeing your creative ideas, colourful drawings and exciting stories. From racing dinosaurs to rescuing baby pterodactyls, your time-travel tales truly brought the past to life.
