In a blind taste test, eight out of eight pandas agree - sugar is delicious.

Everyday Kiwis could be recruited to help save New Zealand from a swarm of pests costing our economy billions and ravaging our cherished biodiversity, a new report suggests.

New Zealand remains under "intense pressure" from pests, which are costing our economy billions of dollars each year.

Russian forces have completed their takeover of the Ukrainian navy's assets in Crimea with the storming of the minesweeper Cherkessy.

The owners of four dogs which mauled a young girl in their back garden have been charged.

Horses, birds, calves, even crocs - there are many ways kids can get hands-on experience with animals, says Dionne Christian.

The Adelie penguin population in Antarctica's Ross Sea has boomed to an estimated 30-year high, despite signs that climate change is driving population declines elsewhere on the continent.

The familiar scent of its owner lingers like perfume in a dog's brain, US scientists claim.

Dame Vivienne Westwood has admitted she shares bathwater with her husband.

The bizarre use of insects, fish and animals to help cure various ailments has a long history. Here are six of the most popular treatments – some are still in use today.

A rampaging elephant smashed a house to bits in an Indian village, but turned back and rescued a baby trapped in the rubble, a couple have claimed.

Chickens starved to death, dead and decaying bobby calves and the carcasses of four goats were found by SPCA inspectors at a rural West Auckland property.

“If I'm going to cark it, I'm going to have a beer," Australian man Rod Sommerville told himself after being bitten by a deadly snake.

Said to be the largest show of its kind in the world, the Crufts Dog Show is a annual four-day event, features thousands of dogs, with competitors travelling from countries across the globe to take part.

A lifestyle block farmer who bashed two pigs with a heavy steel bar in a "prolonged and violent attack" in front of an upset teenage boy has been jailed today.

A man has been jailed for a year and banned from owning animals for a decade after beating and drowning a dog in an attempt to euthanise it, the SPCA said.

A man sprayed oven cleaner into a dog's face several times while walking in an off-lead area of a park, a jury at Wellington District Court has been told.

An otter has been photographed attacking and eating an alligator at a US wildlife sanctuary.

The Green Party has called for a moratorium on the use of trawl nets around the Auckland Islands, following the Government's announcement this morning of a new threat management plan for the endangered New Zealand sea lion.

Trout, deer, pigs and other exotic species would have to be culled from the Ureweras under a law change before Parliament, fishers and hunters are warning Government.

Parents of dog-attack victims say they relive the nightmare each time they hear of another child suffering horrific injuries when they are mauled by a dog.

Stacey the endangered green turtle, found washed up and emaciated on a New Zealand beach, has been released back into the wild.

A teenager savaged by a dog 11 years ago has spoken out about the frightening attack in Murupara, telling the 7-year-old Japanese victim to "just hold on".

The "right to enjoy owning dogs" has to be protected, even at the cost of 20,000 human victims, writes Brian Rudman.

The four bull terrier crosses which attacked a 7-year-old girl in Murupara yesterday, leaving her in a critical condition, had no history of aggression.

The Japanese girl attacked by four dogs at a Murupara home was due to fly home with her family to Japan tomorrow.