Animals

  1. Animals

    Whale Haunt: Nursing, feeding spot found off south Chile

    A survey along the coast of southern Chile has turned up a previously undocumented blue whale hangout that seems to be a feeding ground.

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  2. Animals

    Not-So-Great Hunter: Said the spider to the fly—Eek! I’m outta here

    The poisonous brown recluse spider may turn out not to be a fearsome hunter so much as a scavenger.

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  3. Animals

    First Impressions: Early view biases spider’s mate choice

    In a new wrinkle on how females develop their tastes in males, a test has found that young female wolf spiders that see a male's courtship display grow up with a preference for that look in mates.

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  4. Animals

    Your Spiral or Mine? Snail gene reverses coil, makes new species

    A snail with a shell spiraling to the right can't mate readily with a lefty, so changes in the single gene that controls shell direction have created new snail species.

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  5. Animals

    Bad Bubbles: Could sonar give whales the bends?

    Odd bubbles of fat and gas have turned up in the bodies of marine mammals, raising the question of whether something about human activity in the oceans could give these deep divers decompression sickness.

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  6. Animals

    Carnivores in Captivity: Size of range in wild may predict risk in zoo

    A survey of zoo reports of troubled animals suggests that the minimum size of a species' range predicts how well it will adapt to captivity.

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  7. Animals

    Leashing the Rattlesnake

    Even in the 21st century, there's still room for old-fashioned, do-it-yourself ingenuity in experimental design for studying animal behavior.

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  8. Animals

    Risk of egg diseases may rush incubation

    Bird eggs can catch infections through their shells, and that risk may be an overlooked factor in the puzzlingly early start of incubation.

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  9. Animals

    Skin Chemistry: Poison frogs upgrade toxins from prey

    For the first time, scientists have found a poisonous frog that takes up a toxin from its prey and then tweaks the chemical to make it a more deadly weapon.

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  10. Animals

    To Bee He or She: Honeybees use novel sex-setting switch

    After more than a decade of work, an international team has found the main gene that separates the girls from the boys among honeybees.

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  11. Animals

    Snapping shrimp whip up a riot of bubbles

    High-speed video and fancy math demonstrate that snapping shrimp make so much noise by popping bubbles.

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  12. Animals

    Musical Pairs: Egg-deploying bird species divide for a song

    A new genetic analysis bolsters the idea that musical taste, rather than geography, split Africa's indigobirds into multiple species.

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