Animals

  1. Animals

    ‘The Curious Life of Krill’ is an ode to an underappreciated crustacean

    A new book makes the case that Antarctic krill and the dangers they face deserve your attention.

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  2. Archaeology

    Footprints prove humans hunted giant sloths during the Ice Age

    Footprints of humans and giant sloths show a dramatic chase sequence from more than 10,000 years ago.

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  3. Genetics

    Cicadas on different schedules can hybridize

    A new genetic study suggests that cicadas that emerge every 17 years have swapped genetic material with those that emerge every 13 years.

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  4. Animals

    Male fruit flies enjoy ejaculation

    Red light exposure made some genetically engineered fruit flies ejaculate, spurring a surge of a brain reward compound — and less desire for booze.

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  5. Animals

    These seals haven’t lost their land ancestors’ hunting ways

    Clawed pawlike forelimbs help true seals hunt like their land-dwelling ancestors.

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  6. Animals

    These hummingbirds aim their singing tail feathers to wow mates

    Acoustic cameras reveal how male Costa’s hummingbirds can aim the sound produced by fluttering tail feathers during courtship dives.

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  7. Paleontology

    Colorful moth wings date back to the dinosaur era

    Microscopic structures that scatter light to give color to the wings of modern butterflies and moths date back almost 200 million years.

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  8. Animals

    In a colony, king penguins behave like molecules in a 2-D liquid

    Positions of king penguins in a breeding colony resemble molecules in a 2-D liquid.

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  9. Animals

    Flying insects tell tales of long-distance migrations

    Researchers are asking big questions about animal movements and pest control by tracking tiny insects in flight.

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  10. Genetics

    Birds get their internal compass from this newly ID’d eye protein

    Birds can sense magnetic fields, thanks to internal compasses that likely rely on changes to proteins in the retina.

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  11. Animals

    How honeybees’ royal jelly might be baby glue, too

    A last-minute pH shift thickens royal jelly enough to stick queen larvae to the ceiling of hive cells.

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  12. Animals

    The truth about animals isn’t always pretty

    The Truth About Animals digs up surprising stories about sloths, pandas, penguins and other wildly misunderstood wildlife.

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