Animals
-
Life
Suppress-the-mob gene found in queen termites
Gene may help keep workers from illicit, royalty-threatening reproduction.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Basking sharks head south for winter
Satellite-tagging data suggest that basking sharks migrate south to the Caribbean in winter.
-
Life
Birds bust a move to musical beats
Parrots and possibly other vocal-mimicking animals can synchronize their movements to a musical beat, two new studies suggest.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
Caterpillars’ chirp could be scary
Larvae of great peacock moths might signal that they’ll put up a fight.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Swarm Savvy
How bees, ants and other animals avoid dumb collective decisions
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Ants do real estate the simple way
Tracking ants with anti-shoplifter RFID tags has inspired a new, simplified view of how a colony finds a home
By Susan Milius -
Plants
Yo, aphid, I’m red and I’m bad
Apple trees support the idea that red fall colors are a warning signal to insects.
By Susan Milius -
Life
Early land arthropods sported shells
Ancient ocean-dwelling arthropods may have worn shells to enable their transition to land.
By Sid Perkins -
Animals
Oh, he’s such a lab bird
Bold flycatchers may be more likely than shy birds to get trapped for lab studies.
By Susan Milius -
Life
Male chimps exchange meat for sex
A long-term study of chimps living in western Africa indicates that males hunt down monkeys not only to eat their meat, but also to exchange the meat for sex with female chimps.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
Sonar causes rock-concert effect in dolphins
Test of recorded sonar causes temporary hearing impairment in dolphins.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Chimps ambidextrous when digging wells
A survey of water-collection holes dug on the banks of an African river by wild chimpanzees indicates that, unlike people, these apes don’t have a preference for using either the right or left hand on manual tasks.
By Bruce Bower