Animals
- Animals
Song Fights
Birds settle many of their disputes by some rough-and-tough singing bouts, and recording equipment now lets researchers pick a song fight, too.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Grow-Slow Potion: Pheromone keeps bee youngsters youthful
Researchers have identified a compound made by the senior workers in a honeybee colony that prolongs the time that teenage bees stay home babysitting.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Color at Night: Geckos can distinguish hues by dim moonlight
The first vertebrate to ace tests of color vision at low light levels—tests that people flunk—is an African gecko.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Birds may inherit their taste for the town
Tests switching cliff swallow nestlings to colonies of different sizes suggest the birds inherit their preference for group size.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Elephant Voices
Elephants are highly social animals and have a well-developed method of communicating with each other. For nearly 30 years, scientists at a national park in Kenya have been studying elephants and their behavior. The researchers have found that these intelligent beasts use more than 70 kinds of vocal sounds and 160 different visual and tactile […]
By Science News - Animals
Poison Source: Toxic birds may get chemical from beetle
When some poisonous New Guinea birds eat certain tiny beetles, they may be stocking up on the toxic substance they use to defend themselves.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Hide and See
A new look at fish on coral reefs considers the possibility that all that riotous color has its inconspicuous side.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Dangerous Times: Guppies don’t follow rules for old age
A study of wild guppies suggests that life in a dangerous place does not automatically push evolution toward rapid aging as previously thought.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Familiar face calms stressed-out sheep
The sight of the face of a familiar sheep seems to reduce stress in troubled sheep.
By Susan Milius - Animals
When bluebirds fight, bet on the bluest
The male bluebirds with the bluest (and most ultraviolet) plumage turned out to be the toughest competitors in a study of who won the rights to prime nest boxes.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Will Mr. Bowerbird Fall for a Robot?
Push a button and she turns her head. But can she turn his?
By Susan Milius - Animals
First mammal joins the eusocial club
Because naked mole rats exhibit permanent physical traits that distinguish certain castes of a colony, they belong to the same grouping as so-called eusocial insects such as bees, ants, wasps, and termites.
By Laura Sivitz