All Stories by Susan Milius
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Ant cheats plant; plant cheats back
An Amazonian tree grows little pouches on its leaves to invite ants to move in and provide guard duty, but the tree drops the pouches from old leaves because ants ravage the flowers.
- Animals
Fish Fraud: Cleaners show off before biting clients
Some of the reef fish that make their living by nibbling parasites off other fish may be luring clients into scams by offering free massages.
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Invaders can conquer Africanized bees
Bees that can take over even an Africanized-bee colony start by conning their nursemaids into giving them royal treatment.
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Buddy power warms tent caterpillars
Tent caterpillars get more heat and insulation than scientists had expected.
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Family success prompts tit divorces
For the first time, researchers have shown that bird pairs are more likely to divorce after raising young than after losing a nest of offspring.
- Animals
Female owls: First to advertise good genes
Swiss researchers find the first case of a female flashing ornaments that advertise her gene quality to choosy males.
- Ecosystems
Insects, pollen, seeds travel wildlife corridors
Strips of habitat boost insect movement, plant pollination, and seed dispersal among patches of the same ecosystem.
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Ah, my pretty, you’re…#&! a beetle pile!
Hundreds of tiny, young blister beetles cluster into lumps resembling female bees and hitchhike on the male bees that they seduce.
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Spying on Plant Defenses: Insects monitor toxin ramp-up
A common caterpillar can sense when a plant is gearing up to manufacture insecticidal toxins and respond by starting up its own detoxification system.
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Tests revise image of kangaroo rats
An ecological study of kangaroo rats has revised thinking about how these desert dwellers cope with their stressful home.
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Chicken Rank: Hen social position shifts egg hormones
A study of leghorn chickens has linked hormone concentrations in a hen's eggs to her rank in the pecking order.
