Animals
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Animals
It’s not just his croak
Male tree frogs with redder vocal sacs prove more popular with females, even at night.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Dogs show a fetching communication savvy
In a sign of understanding that one object can be used to represent another, border collies fetch toys after being shown replicas or, in some cases, photos of those toys.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
Public tantrums defeat monkey moms too
Rhesus macaque moms are more likely to give in to screaming babies when bystanders are watching and reacting
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Climate change discourages second families
Birds out of sync with local baby food supply of caterpillars aren’t nesting a second time.
By Susan Milius -
Plants
Animals’ jaundice pigment found in plants
Bilirubin, a compound well known in animals, gives seed fuzz its intense orange.
By Susan Milius -
Genetics
Dog gene heeds call of the wild
Domesticated dogs passed a gene for dark fur color to their wild cousins.
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Life
A Most Private Evolution
The most dramatic examples of the power of evolutionary theory may come from the strange and ugly stuff — biology too dumb to have been designed.
By Susan Milius -
Life
Capuchin monkeys choose the right tool for the nut
New field experiments indicate that wild capuchin monkeys choose the most effective stones for cracking nuts, suggesting deep evolutionary roots for the use of stone tools.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
Dolphins wield tools of the sea
A long-term study of dolphins living off Australia’s coast finds that a small number of them, mostly females, frequently use sea sponges to forage for fish on the ocean floor.
By Bruce Bower