Animals
- Animals
Biologists aflutter over just where monarchs are declining
Citizen science data fuel debate over whether weed control ruined monarch habitat and whether the butterflies are failing to reach their Mexican winter refuge.
- Animals
Simple change to fishing nets could save endangered whales’ lives
Making industrial fishing ropes weaker would reduce humpback and right whale bycatch by almost three-quarters
- Animals
Boa suffocation is merely myth
Boa constrictors don’t suffocate prey; they block blood flow, says a new study that shatters a common myth about the snakes.
- Animals
Power of pupils is in their shape
Horizontally or vertically stretched pupils may provide predators and prey with visual advantages.
- Animals
Gibbons have been disappearing from China for centuries
Gibbons are now found in only a small area of southwestern China. But they once thrived across much of the country, records show.
- Animals
First known venomous frogs stab with toxin-dripping lip spikes
Two Brazilian frogs jab foes with venoms more deadly than pit vipers'.
- Animals
Parasitic wasp larva gets more than a meal from its spider host
Parasitic wasps coerce spiders to construct strong supports for cocoons.
- Chemistry
Plants’ ‘don’t-eat-me’ chemicals no problem for earthworms
Newly discovered gut compounds called drilodefensins allow earthworms to pack in plant debris loaded with hazardous chemicals.
- Animals
LED lights make moths easy targets for bats
Bright LED lights may bewilder moths, making them vulnerable to predator attacks.
- Animals
Don’t let Cecil the lion distract from the big conservation challenges
Cecil the lion’s death rocketed across the news and social media. But there are bigger conservation challenges that need attention, too.
- Animals
How bears engineer Japanese forests
In Japanese forests, black bears climb trees, breaking limbs. Those gaps in the forest provide light to fruiting plants, a new study finds.
- Animals
Where salamanders should be very afraid
Three zones of North America at high risk if the salamander-killing fungus disease Bsal invades.
