Animals
- Life
Animal origins shift to comb jellies
Genetic data confirm the marine predators have more ancient origin than simpler sponges.
- Animals
Lizard breath has surprising birdlike flow
Decades of assumptions may be wrong about the evolution of reptile lungs.
- Animals
Leaping land fish avoids predators by blending in
The Pacific leaping blenny avoids being eaten by predators by blending into its rocky habitat.
- Animals
Grizzly bears get stressed from salmon decline
Grizzlies in coastal British Columbia bulk up on salmon in the fall, but they experience stress when the fish are scarce.
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- Animals
Dazzle camouflage may fool a locust
The bold zig-zag patterns that adorned naval ships during the world wars also appear in nature and may bewilder locusts, a new study suggests.
- Animals
How the ghost shark lost its stomach
The lack of a digestive organ in fish and other animals is linked to genetics.
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- Animals
DNA study reveals new wild cat species in Brazil
A new small cat species, Leopardus guttulus, was discovered in Brazil, hiding in plain sight. The oncilla, researchers say, is really two kinds of cat.
- Animals
Insect form of sexual frustration takes toll
Smelling female fruit flies but not mating with them can actually shorten males’ lives.
- Ecosystems
Cannibalistic mantis invades New Zealand, eats natives
Native male New Zealand mantises try to mate with females of an invasive species, only to find out the hard way that those females eat their mates.
- Animals
To study turkey instincts, consider robot turkeys
In 2004, Australian researchers built robot turkeys to study the instincts of Australian brush turkey chicks. Robots can be a useful way of learning more about animals, but the use of robots has yet to take over in animal behavior studies.
