Society for Science & the Public, which publishes Science News, uses cookies to personalize your experience and improve our services. For more information on how we use cookies on our websites, visit our Cookie Policy.
News in Brief Animals

Termites, not fairies, cause plant circles in African deserts

Underground insect engineers create water traps, allowing rings of green grasses in the sand

By Susan Milius

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Animals

  1. coral reef environment
    Life

    Climate change may be throwing coral sex out of sync

    By Susan Milius
  2. white-crowned sparrow
    Agriculture

    Birds fed a common pesticide lost weight rapidly and had migration delays

    By Maanvi Singh
  3. dogs
    Life

    Human meddling has manipulated the shapes of different dog breeds’ brains

    By Laura Sanders
  4. crane fly fossil
    Life

    Fly fossils might challenge the idea of ancient trilobites’ crystal eyes

    By Susan Milius
  5. gecko underside
    Life

    50 years ago, scientists thought they knew why geckos had sticky feet

    By Kyle Plantz
  6. koala
    Life

    Fecal transplants might help make koalas less picky eaters

    By Carolyn Wilke
  7. spiders in a tree
    Animals

    Why one biologist chases hurricanes to study spider evolution

    By Susan Milius
  8. Life

    Big and bold wasp queens may create more successful colonies

    By Carolyn Wilke

From the Nature Index

Paid Content