Animals
- Animals
Winged robots may shed light on fly aerobatics
After years of trying, researchers create flapping machines that can hover and perform rudimentary flight maneuvers.
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- Animals
Deep-sea worms drop acid to get dinner
Bone-eating worms produce chemicals to dissolve and feed on skeletons.
- Animals
Fossil illuminates ancestry of swifts and hummingbirds
Spectacularly preserved remains suggest that the two avian groups' predecessors got small before splitting and developing their flying chops.
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- Animals
Termites, not fairies, cause plant circles in African deserts
Underground insect engineers create water traps in the soil, allowing rings of green grasses in the sand.
- Animals
Native pollinators boost crop yields worldwide
Farms with crops from coffee to mangoes don’t get the best yields if they rely solely on honeybees.
- Animals
How weaver ants get a grip
Strong sticking power and quick reaction time help the insects stay put in trees.
- Animals
Sea slug carries disposable penis, plus spares
A hermaphroditic gastropod sheds its penis after one use, then uncoils another.
- Animals
Compared with rodents, bat species carry more viruses
Viruses that can jump from animals to people may find the flying mammals a fine place to lurk.
- Animals
Mole sniffs the world in stereo
Nostrils of the common mole recognize slight differences in smells to steer it toward its food.
- Animals
Cats kill more than one billion birds each year
New analysis doubles estimate of avian death tolls, revealing that hunting felines take bigger bite out of wildlife than expected.
