News in Brief Animals

Watch a desert kangaroo rat drop-kick a rattlesnake

High-speed cameras reveal the complexity of the rodents’ defensive maneuvers

Kangaroo rat

KANG FU FIGHTING  Desert kangaroo rats like this one can avoid deadly snake bites with remarkable agility — and powerful aerial kicks.

Clark Lab/San Diego State University

By Mike Denison

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. Indiana bats
    Animals

    Why bat scientists are socially distancing from their subjects

    By Jerimiah Oetting
  2. diabolical ironclad beetle
    Animals

    The diabolical ironclad beetle can survive getting run over by a car. Here’s how

    By Maria Temming
  3. Naked mole-rats in a pile
    Animals

    Naked mole-rats invade neighboring colonies and steal babies

    By Jake Buehler
  4. fire ants building syphons
    Animals

    Fire ants build little syphons out of sand to feed without drowning

    By Aayushi Pratap
  5. Hainan gibbon on a rope bridge
    Animals

    A rope bridge restored a highway through the trees for endangered gibbons

    By Carolyn Wilke
  6. tardigrade glowing blue
    Animals

    Glowing blue helps shield this tardigrade from harmful ultraviolet light

    By Jonathan Lambert
  7. Torquigener albomaculosus
    Animals

    Pufferfish may be carving mysterious ‘crop circles’ near Australia

    By Jake Buehler
  8. Rose-breasted grosbreak male on one side and female on other
    Animals

    This rare bird is male on one side and female on the other

    By Aayushi Pratap

From the Nature Index

Paid Content