All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
One bold, misinformed spider slows a colony’s ability to learn
Incorrect ideas prove more dangerous in bold velvet spiders than in shyer ones.
- Animals
Male peacocks keep eyes low when checking out competition
Eye-tracking technology shows peacocks barely gaze at the full height of other males magnificent eyespot feather spreads.
- Animals
How a trap-jaw ant carries a baby
Powerful jaws make the Odontomachus brunneus ant a skilled escape artist.
- Animals
Why whistling caterpillars scare birds
Caterpillars that whistle when birds peck at them may be giving phony avian warning calls.
- Animals
Pregnant male pipefish not so great at giving embryos oxygen
During male pregnancy, pipefish embryos can get stunted by low oxygen in dad’s brood pouch.
- Animals
Octopuses can ‘see’ with their skin
Eyes aren’t the only cephalopod body parts with light-catching molecules.
- Animals
Vampire squid take mommy breaks
The vampire squid again defies its sensationalist name with a life in the slow lane.
- Life
Male stag beetles face weighty problem for flight
Male stag beetles need enormous mandibles to fend off other males and find a mate, but computer simulations show that the giant jaws make running and flying very difficult.
- Animals
Ants snap jaws, shoot skyward, escape death
Emergency trap jaw launchings help some ants pass death tests.
- Animals
Deepwater dweller is first known warm-hearted fish
The opah, a deep-diving fish, can keep much of its body warmer than its surroundings, making it similar to warm-blooded birds and mammals.
- Animals
Nighttime light pollution sabotages sex pheromones of moths
Artificial lighting at night can trick female moths into releasing skimpy, odd-smelling sex pheromones.
- Animals
Pruning bug genitals revives puzzle of extra-long males
Surgical approach highlights question of length mismatch in his and hers morphologies.
