Animals

More Stories in Animals

  1. Physics

    These insects fly with their legs. Physics explains how

    Phantom crane flies change the angle of their splayed legs to increase or reduce drag, helping them navigate varying winds.

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  2. Animals

    Female giant rainforest mantises grow up to strike harder than males

    Scientists tracked mantis strike force from youth to adulthood, showing females eventually hit far harder than males. Why is a mystery.

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  3. Animals

    Mosquitoes get the ‘I’m full’ signal from their butts, not their brains

    Mosquitoes stop feeding because signals from rectal cells tell them they’re full, offering a target for preventing human bites.

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  4. Animals

    Sharks are ingesting drugs in the Bahamas

    Nearly one third of sharks studied near the Bahamas’ Eleuthera Island were found to have caffeine, painkillers and other drugs in their bloodstreams.

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  5. Animals

    Platypus fur has a surprising feature seen only in bird feathers

    Platypuses are the first mammals known to have hollow melanosomes, pigment-bearing structures found in the hair of many animals.

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  6. Animals

    Wild monkeys invaded Florida. Should people protect them?

    A colony of African vervets in Dania Beach raises big questions about how humans can and should manage nonnative species.

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  7. Genetics

    Why African striped mice can be the best of dads — or the worst

    Environmental cues can flip a molecular switch in the brain, turning males from caregivers to killers.

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  8. Genetics

    The Amazon molly — a sex-skipping fish — hacks evolution

    The Amazon molly reproduces without sex. A genomic copy-and-paste trick called gene conversion may explain how it avoids evolutionary meltdown.

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  9. Animals

    Submerged bumblebee queens breathe underwater

    Submerged bees breathe and use strategies that don’t require oxygen, lab tests show. In nature, that trick could help the bees survive floods.

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