Animals

Animals

Coyotes have the face muscles for that ‘sad-puppy’ look

The ability to make heart-melting stares may not be the fruit of dog domestication if their still-wild cousins have the power to do it too.

Animals

Bird nests made with a toxic fungus seem to fend off attacking ants

Two species of birds in Costa Rica build nests in trees defended by ants. Ants that encounter the horsehair fungus in the nests develop odd behaviors.

Animals

‘Night Magic’ invites you to celebrate the living wonders of the dark

In the book ‘Night Magic,’ Leigh Ann Henion writes of encounters with salamanders, bats, glowworms and other life-forms nurtured by darkness.

Animals

This fish has legs — and it uses them for more than just walking

Some sea robins have taste buds on their six crablike legs that help the fish ferret out prey buried in sand as they walk.

Animals

Scientists have just turned giant panda skin cells into stem cells

If the pluripotent stem cells can be turned into precursors to egg and sperm cells, the feat could potentially be a big deal for giant panda conservation.

Animals

Ants changed the architecture of their nests when exposed to a pathogen

Black garden ants made tweaks to entrances, tunnels and chambers that may help prevent diseases from spreading.

Neuroscience

Some healthy fish have bacteria in their brains

Animals including mammals usually protect their brains from infiltrating microbes that can cause disease. But some fish seem to do just fine.

Life

Mega El Niños kicked off the world’s worst mass extinction

Long-lasting, widespread heat and weather extremes may have caused the Great Dying extinction event 252 million years ago.

Animals

Bumblebees lose most of their sense of smell after heat waves

A few hours in high temps reduced the ability of antennae to detect flower scents by 80 percent. That could impact the bees’ ability to find food.

Animals

Scientists piece together clues in a shark ‘murder mystery’

A missing porbeagle shark was likely killed by a great white. It’s the first known case of adult porbeagles being hunted by a predator, scientists say.

Animals

Here’s how an arthropod pulls off the world’s fastest backflip

While airborne, globular springtails can reach a spin rate of 368 rotations per second, high-speed camera footage shows.

Animals

In a first, these bats were found to have toes that glow

Hairs on the toes of Mexican free-tailed bats fluoresce under UV light, a new study reports. The function of the toe glow is unknown.