Animals

  1. Animals

    Frog-hunting bats have ‘cocktail party effect’ workaround

    Test with robotic frogs finds bats that hunt amphibians switch their attention to other clues if outside noise masks the mating chorus.

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  2. Life

    Rattlesnakes have reduced their repertoire of venoms

    The most recent common ancestor of today’s rattlesnakes had a huge set of toxin-producing genes. Modern rattlesnake species have independently ditched some of these genes.

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  3. Animals

    Hawaiian crows ace tool-user test

    The almost-extinct Hawaiian crow joins the small, select flock of birds shown to use sticks tools routinely and well to wiggle bits of food out of crevices.

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  4. Animals

    Sandboxes keep chicken parasites at bay

    Fluffing feathers in sand and dust prevents severe mite infections in cage-free hens.

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  5. Animals

    Kauai’s native forest birds are headed toward extinction

    Kauai’s honeycreepers are losing their last refuges from mosquito-borne diseases that are spreading due to climate change. Some could become extinct within a decade.

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  6. Paleontology

    Pterosaurs weren’t all super-sized in the Late Cretaceous

    A 77-million-year-old flying reptile may be the smallest pterosaur of the Late Cretaceous.

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  7. Animals

    As IUCN votes on ivory trade, elephants’ future looks bleak

    As the IUCN prepares to debate an end to the ivory trade, two new reports show just how poorly Africa’s elephant species are faring.

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  8. Animals

    Tiny structures give a peacock spider its radiant rump

    Peacock spiders use pigments and complex nanostructures to achieve bright dance costumes.

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  9. Paleontology

    Preteen tetrapods identified by bone scans

    Roughly 360 million years ago, young tetrapods may have schooled together during prolonged years as juveniles in the water.

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  10. Paleontology

    Jurassic ichthyosaur dubbed ‘Storr Lochs Monster’ unveiled

    A rare, 170-year-old skeleton discovered in Scotland is one of the best-preserved ichthyosaur fossils from the Middle Jurassic.

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  11. Life

    California’s goby is actually two different fish

    One fish, two fish: California’s tidewater goby is two species.

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  12. Animals

    Dwarf lemurs don’t agree on sleep

    Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs’ surprising hibernation-sleep doesn’t show up in ground-hibernating relatives.

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