Animals
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Animals
Chimps may be aware of others’ deaths
Reactions of chimps to dead companions and infants suggest a basic realization of what death entails.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
Male spiders have safe(r) sex with siblings
In a cannibalistic species, brothers minimize risk when mating with their sisters.
By Susan Milius -
Ecosystems
Pigeons usually let best navigator take the lead
One bird usually leads the flock, but sometimes another gets a turn at the helm.
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Health & Medicine
Cats attracted to ADHD drug, a feline poison
Since 2004, drugs designed for use by people have been the leading source of poisonings among companion animals, according to the national Animal Poison Control Center in Urbana, Ill. And among cats, Adderall – a combination of mixed amphetamine salts used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – has quickly risen to become one of the most common and dangerous of these pharmaceutical threats.
By Janet Raloff -
Life
Evolutionary genetic relationships coming into focus
Researchers have filled in about 40 percent of the tree of life for mammals and birds, but other vertebrates lag behind.
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Earth
Green-ish pesticides bee-devil honey makers
Pesticides are agents designed to rid targeted portions of the human environment of undesirable critters – such as boll weevils, roaches or carpenter ants. They’re not supposed to harm beneficials. Like bees. Yet a new study from China finds that two widely used pyrethroid pesticides – chemicals that are rather “green” as bug killers go – can significantly impair the pollinators’ reproduction.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Fowl surprise! Methylmercury improves hatching rate
A pinch of methylmercury is just ducky for mallard reproduction, according to a new federal study. The findings are counterintuitive, since methylmercury is ordinarily a potent neurotoxic pollutant.
By Janet Raloff -
Animals
Whale hunts: Discussions on lifting the ‘ban’
The International Whaling Commission will formally address its future, next week, at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla. Once comprised of whaling nations, the IWC now includes member states just as likely to condemn any hunting of cetaceans. That internal tension is guiding the meeting’s agenda. On it’s plate: whether to overturn the organization’s long-standing moratorium on commercial whaling.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Florida’s big chill may have hammered corals near shore
January cold snap caused rare wintertime coral bleaching and die-offs for Florida’s coral reefs.
By Susan Milius -
Humans
Pet tarantulas can pose a hairy threat
A new medical case report reaffirms why even largely non-venomous tarantulas can make questionable pets. Some respond to stress by expelling a cloud of barbed hairs that can lodge in especially vulnerable tissues. Like your eyeball.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
For coots, hatching order is crucial ID
When birds sneak eggs into others' nest, mom and dad can learn to find their own.
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Life
Bird feeding, migration could be splitting a species
German birds that spend the off-season at U.K. birdfeeders now look slightly different from neighbors that migrate to Spain
By Susan Milius