Ever since a deadly and extremely contagious facial tumor in Tasmanian devils was discovered in 1996, the marsupials’ population has dropped by 91 percent.

To help save the species, officials on the Australian island now have selected a group of 14 healthy devils from breeding programs around Australia to get a fresh start on Maria Island, a nature sanctuary off Tasmania’s east coast.

Researchers from the University of Guelph in Ontario,Canada, worked with 29 captive mink in an effort to determine whether caged animals get bored.

One group was given nothing to do, while the other group had plenty of things to stimulate them, such as climbing structures and toys. The researchers found that when they were introduced to new things, the animals who lived in the boring cages showed more interest.

When Denise Richards volunteered to promote disaster relief efforts after Superstorm Sandy, we're guessing she had no idea the gig would come with a new puppy.

According to the North Shore Animal League, Richards visited the Long Island shelter to champion adoptions and ask for help for animals affected by Sandy. The actress is well known for her animal welfare work.

A National Geographic team studying green-rumped parrotlets in Venezuela found some very rare behavior: The parents seem to name their fledglings.

By listening to recordings of the birds’ chatter, explorer Karl Berg’s team found that the baby birds appeared to recognize and learn individual calls made specifically for them by the adults.

The Ramat Gan Safari park in Tel Aviv has welcomed two endangered baby Western Lowland gorillas in the last two weeks — though they were only expecting one.

Keepers knew that Anya, who gave birth to baby Amelia two weeks ago, was pregnant, but the birth of another newborn this week to mom Lia was a surprise.

Both babies have the same father, silverback Lucas, but the staff hasn’t yet determined the gender of the second baby.

A week after an impressive third-place finish in the Virginia Senate race — where he received nearly 7,000 votes — 9-year-old Hank is considering his options.

The Maine coon’s fans are clamoring for him to jump into the state’s 2013 gubernatorial race, but his owners are “not sure about that.” They don’t want things to “go on for too long and cheapen the whole experience,” they said.

Following Chinese tradition, the San Diego Zoo waited until after its sixth panda cub was 100 days old before holding a traditional naming ceremony for him.

On Tuesday, officials announced that mom Bai Yun’s youngest cub would be called Xiao Liwu, which means “little gift.” [Pronunciation is sshyaoww (falling then rising tone) lee (falling then rising tone) woo (falling tone).]

Clearly underestimating social media’s love of cats and kids, a Newton, Mass., couple told their son, Remi, 7, and daughter, Evelyn, 1, they could get a cat if a picture of them with a sign pleading for one got 1,000 likes on Facebook.

“We figured our friends and maybe their friends would be nice and kind and share [the photo] with each other,” mom Marisa Urbano told ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday.