All Stories by Susan Milius
- Plants
Stalking the Green Meat Eaters
Pitcher plants in a New England bog hold little ecosystems in their leaves, and also act as indicators of the bog's ecological health.
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Jungle Down There: What’s a kelp forest doing in the tropics?
Kelp, algae that grow in cold water, turn out to be surprisingly widespread in tropical seas.
- Animals
Honeybee mobs smother big hornets
Honeybees gang up on an attacking hornet, killing it by blocking its breathing.
- Animals
Hybrid Power: Salamander invader ups survival of rare cousin
Mixed offspring of the endangered California tiger salamander and an invasive cousin survive better than either pure-bred species, raising tricky questions for conservationists.
- Animals
Fish Switch: Salmon make baby trout after species, sex swap
Salmon implanted with trout reproductive tissue bred to produce a generation of normal rainbow trout.
- Animals
Hive Scourge? Virus linked to recent honeybee die-off
A poorly understood virus seems to have a connection to the recent widespread demise of honeybees.
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Rethinking Bad Taste
Many animals use mimicry to gain a competitive advantage, but are there degrees of cheating?
- Animals
High Volume, Low Fidelity: Birds are less faithful as sounds blare
In noisy surroundings, normally faithful female zebra finches flirt with unfamiliar males.
- Animals
Tail singers
The male Anna's hummingbird impresses females and intimidates other males by making a whipping sound with its tail feathers.
- Animals
What’s so great about ‘chuck’?
A particular flourish in a male frog's call attracts extra interest from predators as well as female frogs, and researchers now have an idea why.
- Animals
Badly matched birds make troubled parents
Cockatiel pairs that don't cooperate well have trouble raising their chicks.
- Animals
Ferrets Gone Wild: Reintroduced animals coming back in Wyoming
A Wyoming population of endangered black-footed ferrets, started from captive-bred animals, has survived difficulties and is doing well.
