Animals
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Paleontology
Fossil shows first all-American honeybee
Nevada find contradicts long-held view of Europe and Asia as the native land of all honeybees.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Toucan’s bill gives big chill
Bird’s supersized bill can switch personal air conditioning on and off, new research suggests.
By Susan Milius -
Health & Medicine
Chimpanzees die from primate version of HIV
A new study links the simian immunodeficiency virus to serious AIDS-like illness in a wild population.
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Life
Web decorating with garbage
Spider webs adorned with decaying food remains attract more attacks, but maybe there’s a defensive trade-off at work.
By Susan Milius -
Earth
Bird deaths blamed on vitamin deficiency
Shortage of thiamine may have been killing birds in the Baltic and possibly elsewhere for some 25 years.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Turtles make sense after all
The odd bodies of turtles add a wrinkle to standard land-dwelling vertebrates.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Megafish Sleuth: No Steve Irwin
There's no reason a scientist can't be an action hero — even if his damsels in distress have fins.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Monster stingrays: Field notes from a global wrangler
A megafish biologist shares what he's learning about a rare freshwater species.
By Janet Raloff -
Life
Climate change shrinks sheep
Milder winters help small, weak lambs survive but more competition for food slows growth.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Bat face shapes sound
An oversized appendage in Bourret’s horseshoe bats may aid in long-distance signals.
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Life
Beetle philandering doesn’t work out for the ladies
A common idea about the benefits of multiple matings for females turns out to be wrong for seed beetles.
By Susan Milius -
Life
Mosquito fish count comrades to stay alive
New experiments indicate that mosquito fish can count small numbers of companions swimming in different groups, an ability that apparently evolved to assist these fish in avoiding predators.
By Bruce Bower