Animals

Animals

Looking for, not catching, prey drains big cats’ energy

For some big cats, ambushing prey in quick attacks may ease the high energy cost of hunting, new studies show.

Animals

Crabs guard coral from army of sea stars

Coral guard-crabs proved their worth during a 2008 outbreak of crown-of-thorns sea stars, with many successfully protecting their coral from being eaten.

Animals

Monarch butterflies’ ancestors migrated

The earliest monarch butterflies originated in North America and were migratory. Some of the insects later lost that ability as they moved into the tropics, a genetic analysis finds.

Animals

Baby fish are noisier than expected

Gray snapper larvae may be able to communicate in open water using tiny knocks and growls.

Animals

Dolphins appear to perceive magnetic fields

Bottlenose dolphins take less time to start exploring a magnetized block, suggesting they can sense magnetic fields.

Animals

Videos hint at why tree bats may die at wind turbines

Using heat-sensitive cameras, scientists were able to watch how tree bats interact with wind turbines and determine what behaviors may lead to their deaths.

Animals

Blind cavefish got no (circadian) rhythm

Eyeless Mexican cavefish have lost their circadian rhythm and become more efficient in the dark, a new study finds.

Animals

Even on remote islands, busy ports mean more invasives

Islands with lots of trading ties are more likely to be colonized by invasive species, even when they are geographically remote, a new study of anoles reveals.

Life

Fledgling birds change rules for caterpillar color

An unusual experiment shows that larvae lose the advantage of warning colors during the seasonal flush of naïve predators.

Animals

Sneaky little giraffe weevils beat big rivals

A little stealth gives smaller giraffe weevil males a leg up when competing with big ones for mates.

Animals

Chimps raised among humans may have problems as adults

Chimpanzees taken away from their mothers and raised to be pets or entertainers have problems relating to other chimps later in life.

Ecosystems

‘Where Do Camels Belong?’ explores invasive species

Ecologist Ken Thompson takes a closer look at the impacts (or lack thereof) of invasive species.