Animals

Animals

Genetically modified mosquitoes could be tested in California soon

The EPA also OK’d more trials in Key West, Fla. Both states now get their say in whether to release free-flying Aedes aegypti to sabotage their own kind.

Genetics

An extinct rat shows CRISPR’s limits for resurrecting species

Scientists recovered most of the Christmas Island rat’s genome. But the missing genes signal a problem for using gene editing to de-extinct species.

Animals

Mirror beetles’ shiny bodies may not act as camouflage after all

Hundreds of handmade clay nubbins test the notion that a beetle’s metallic high gloss could confound predators. Birds pecked the lovely idea to death.

Animals

Culturally prized mountain goats may be vanishing from Indigenous land in Canada

As fewer mountain goats are spotted along British Columbia’s central coast, First Nations people team up with biologists to assess the population.

Paleontology

Scientists are arguing over the identity of a fossilized 10-armed creature

An ancient cephalopod fossil may be the oldest ancestor of octopuses, but the interpretation hinges on the identification of one feature.

Oceans

Some deep-sea octopuses aren’t the long-haul moms scientists thought they were

Off California’s coast, some octopuses lay eggs in the warmer water of geothermal springs in the “Octopus Garden,” speeding up their development.

Animals

This newfound tarantula is the first known to make its home in bamboo

Bamboo stems provide the spider with ready-made burrows and nests, but the arachnid must rely on other animals or natural forces to gain entry.

Animals

How lizards keep detachable tails from falling off

A hierarchical structure of micropillars and nanopores allows the tail to break away when necessary while preventing it from easily detaching.

Animals

A diamondlike structure gives some starfish skeletons their strength

Electron microscope images of knobby starfish’s calcite skeletons reveal an unexpected architecture that compensates for the mineral’s brittleness.

Animals

Deep-sea Arctic sponges feed on fossilized organisms to survive

Slow-moving sponges, living deep in the Arctic Ocean where no currents deliver food, scavenge a carpet of long-dead critters.

Animals

Male elephant seals aim to get huge or die trying

Males will risk death to eat and grow as large as possible, since only the biggest males mate. But females aim for long-term survival.

Animals

Gory footage confirms orca pods can kill adult blue whales

For the first time, three recorded events show that orcas do hunt and eat blue whales using coordinated attacks that have worked on other large whales.