Wild Things
The weird and wonderful in the natural world
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
With Tasmanian devils gone, possums come down from the trees
In areas where Tasmanian devils have largely disappeared, their prey is becoming more adventuresome, a new study finds.
- Animals
Could the dinos of ‘Jurassic World’ become invasive?
Even if they escaped their island home, the giant reptiles of ‘Jurassic World’ probably wouldn’t survive on the mainland. But the movie’s plants are another story.
- Animals
Chimps get buzzed on fermented tree sap
Scientists have documented the first case of chimpanzees drinking ethanol in the wild.
- Animals
Camera traps provide treasure trove of African animal pics
Scientists set up hundreds of cameras across Serengeti National Park to capture images of predators and their prey.
- Animals
‘Virgin births’ won’t save endangered sawfish
Sawfish are the first wild vertebrates found to reproduce via parthenogenesis.
- Animals
African herbivores share space but not diet
Large herbivorous mammals on the plains of Kenya have distinctive diets, a new study finds.
- Animals
Wealth of cephalopod research lost in a 19th century shipwreck
Nineteenth-century scientist Jeanne Villepreux-Power sent her research papers and equipment on a ship that sank off the coast of France, submerging years’ worth of observations on cephalopods.
- Animals
Wild dogs cause problems for people in Nepal
The endangered dhole has a reputation for killing livestock, but its taste for blue sheep could also be an issue, a new study finds.
- Animals
These birds provide their own drum beat
Male Java sparrows use bill clicks in their songs, which they learn from their dads.
- Animals
Rising temperatures may cause problems for cold-blooded critters
Ectotherms cannot easily handle extreme temperatures, a new study finds.
- Animals
A summer challenge: Observe nature
Opportunities for observing nature are plentiful, no matter where you live.
- Animals
An island in the Maldives is made of parrotfish poop
Coral-eating parrotfish create much of the sediment that a reef island is made of, a new study finds.
