731 results
- Life
Bizarre caecilians may be the only amphibians with venomous bites
Microscope and chemical analyses suggest that, like snakes, caecilians have glands near their teeth that secrete venom.
- Earth
A volcano-induced rainy period made Earth’s climate dinosaur-friendly
New physical evidence links eruptions 234 million to 232 million years ago to climate changes that let dinosaurs start their climb to dominance.
- Life
Fires may have affected up to 85 percent of threatened Amazon species
Since 2001, fires in the Amazon have impacted up to about 190,000 square kilometers — roughly the size of Washington state.
- Animals
These spiders may sew leaves into fake shelters to lure frogs to their doom
Madagascar’s huntsman spiders use silk to turn two leaves into a cool hollow. Such microhabitats may appeal to the spiders’ prey, a study suggests.
- Animals
This praying mantis inflates a strange pheromone gland to lure mates
Researchers stumbled across a first among mantises: an inflatable organ that spreads pheromones, helping mates find each other in the dark rainforest.
- Animals
Clearing land to feed a growing human population will threaten thousands of species
Changing where, how and what food is grown could largely avoid biodiversity losses, scientists say.
- Animals
Octopus sleep includes a frenzied, colorful, ‘active’ stage
Four wild cephalopods snoozing in a lab had long stretches of quiet napping followed by brief bursts of REM-like sleep.
- Life
Water beetles can live on after being eaten and excreted by a frog
After being eaten by a frog, some water beetles can scurry through the digestive tract and emerge on the other side, alive and well.
- Animals
Glowing frogs and salamanders may be surprisingly common
A widespread ability to glow in striking greens, yellows and oranges could make amphibians easier to track down in the wild.
- Paleontology
The first frog fossil from Antarctica has been found
An ancient amphibian from Antarctica gives new insight into when the continent got so cold.
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- Animals
This snake rips a hole in living toads’ stomachs to feast on their organs
A particularly gruesome way to kill may help small-banded kukri snakes avoid toxins secreted from the neck and backs of some toads.
