Animals
- Animals
Some bacteria are suffocating sea stars, turning the animals to goo
For years, researchers thought an infectious pathogen was behind sea star wasting disease. Instead, bacteria deplete the starfishes’ oxygen.
- Life
Monitor lizards’ huge burrow systems can shelter hundreds of small animals
Two species of Australian monitor lizards dig nests four meters deep. Now scientists reveal that the burrows are home to far more than their creators.
- Animals
Some electric eels coordinate attacks to zap their prey
Electric eels were thought be to solitary hunters, until researchers observed over 100 eels hunting together, releasing coordinated electric attacks on corralled prey.
- Plants
Rats with poisonous hairdos live surprisingly sociable private lives
Deadly, swaggering rodents purr and snuggle when they’re with mates and young.
- Paleontology
Newborn megalodon sharks were larger than most adult humans
Preserved pieces of backbone suggest that megalodon sharks were about 2 meters long at birth.
- Neuroscience
Mice may ‘catch’ each other’s pain — and pain relief
Healthy mice mirror a companion’s pain or morphine-induced relief. Disrupting certain connections in the brain turns off such empathetic behaviors.
- Animals
Brown tree snakes use their tails as lassos to climb wide trees
A never-before-seen climbing technique could inspire the creation of new serpentine robots to navigate difficult terrains.
- Animals
These spiders may sew leaves into fake shelters to lure frogs to their doom
Madagascar’s huntsman spiders use silk to turn two leaves into a cool hollow. Such microhabitats may appeal to the spiders’ prey, a study suggests.
- Animals
Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated
Murder hornets sightings in the Pacific northwest inspired a mix of concern and delight.
- Animals
Clearing land to feed a growing human population will threaten thousands of species
Changing where, how and what food is grown could largely avoid biodiversity losses, scientists say.
- Animals
Bonobos, much like humans, show commitment to completing a joint task
Experiments with bonobos suggest that humans aren’t the only ones who can feel a sense of mutual responsibility toward other members of their species.
- Animals
A mink in Utah is the first known case of the coronavirus in a wild animal
A U.S. mink is so far the only known free-ranging animal to have contracted the coronavirus and likely got infected from a nearby mink farm.
