Animals
- Animals
No Tickling: Common caterpillars deploy defensive hair
The caterpillars of the European cabbage butterfly have a chemical defense system that scientists haven't documented before.
- Animals
Dogged Dieting: Low-cal canines enjoy longer life
The first completed diet-restriction study in a large animal shows that labrador retrievers fed 25 percent less food than those allowed to eat as much as they desired tend to live longer and suffer fewer age-related diseases.
- Animals
Rebranding the Hyena
Zoologists are hoping that long-term ecological studies of the spotted hyena will assist in dispelling the animal's undeservedly bad reputation.
- Animals
Big-Eyed Birds Sing Early Songs: Dawn chorus explained
Researchers report a strong relationship between eye size and the light intensity at which birds start to sing in the morning.
- Animals
Maneless lions live one guy per pride
The male lions of Tsavo National Park don't grow manes but they're no wimps—they're the only male lions found so far that rule big prides of females alone, without help from some buddies.
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- Animals
Toxic Tools: Frogs down under pack their own poison
An Australian frog can synthesize its own protective poison, rather than obtain it from the insects it eats.
- Animals
Lamprey Allure: Females rush to males’ bile acid
An unusual sex attractant has turned up in an analysis of sea lampreys, and it may inspire new ways to defend the Great Lakes against invasive species.
- Animals
Real pandas do handstands
A giant panda that upends itself into a handstand may be sending a message that it's one big bamboo-thrasher and not to be messed with.
- Animals
Nephews, Cousins . . . Who Cares? Detecting kin doesn’t mean favoring them
New tests of the amazing nose power of Belding's ground squirrels has solved a 25-year-old puzzle about doing dangerous favors for relatives.
- Animals
Lemonade from Broken Amber
The fossilized microbes found inside termites that have been encased in amber for 20 million years are remarkably similar to those found within the ancient insects' modern cousins.
- Animals
Cold Hamsters: Wild species boosts immunity for winter
Hamsters that have to survive winter outdoors in Siberia rev up their immune systems, including their response to psychological stress, when days grow short.
