Animals
- Paleontology
Katydids had the earliest known insect ears 160 million years ago
Fossils from the Jurassic Period show katydid ears looked identical to those of modern katydids and could pick up short-range calls.
- Life
A parasite makes wolves more likely to become pack leaders
In Yellowstone National Park, gray wolves infected with Toxoplasma gondii make riskier decisions, making them more likely to split off from the pack.
- Animals
A new book asks: What makes humans call some animals pests?
In an interview with Science News, science journalist Bethany Brookshire discusses her new book, Pests, and why humans vilify certain animals.
- Animals
A natural gene drive could steer invasive rodents on islands to extinction
A few genetic tweaks to a readily passed-on chunk of DNA could sterilize a mouse population, eliminating them in as little as 25 years.
- Paleontology
Mammoths may have gone extinct much earlier than DNA suggests
Ancient DNA in sediments may be leading paleontologists astray in attempts to figure out when woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos died out, a new study argues.
- Animals
Dry pet food may be more environmentally friendly than wet food
The environmental cost of wet pet food is higher than dry food, scientists say. That may be because wet food gets most of its calories from animals.
- Neuroscience
Rats can bop their heads to the beat
Rats’ rhythmic response to human music doesn’t mean they like to dance, but it may shed light on how brains evolved to perceive rhythm.
- Animals
Long considered loners, many marsupials may have complex social lives
Some marsupials may be more sociable than previously thought, opening the door to a possible deep legacy of social organization systems in mammals
- Animals
These devices use an electric field to scare sharks from fishing hooks
SharkGuard gadgets work by harnessing sharks’ ability to detect electric fields. That could save the animals’ lives, a study suggests.
- Ecosystems
Tiger sharks helped discover the world’s largest seagrass prairie
Instrument-equipped sharks went where divers couldn’t to survey the Bahama Banks seagrass ecosystem.
- Animals
A clam presumed extinct for 40,000 years has been found alive
The reappearance of living Cymatioa cooki clams places it among a group of back-from-the-dead creatures dubbed the Lazarus taxa.
- Animals
Some harlequin frogs — presumed extinct — have been rediscovered
Colorful harlequin frogs were among the hardest hit amphibians during a fungal pandemic. Some species are now making a comeback.
