Wild Things
The weird and wonderful in the natural world
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Cats and foxes are driving Australia’s mammals extinct
Since the arrival of Europeans in Australia, a startling number of mammal species have disappeared. A new study puts much of the blame on introduced cats and foxes.
- Animals
Toads prefer to bound, not hop
The multiple hops made by toads are really a bounding motion similar to movements made by small mammals.
- Plants
Huge, hollow baobab trees are actually multiple fused stems
The trunk of an African baobab tree can grow to be many meters in diameter but hollow inside. The shape, researchers say, occurs when several stems fuse together.
- Climate
Warming Arctic will let Atlantic and Pacific fish mix
The ultra-cold, ice-covered Arctic Ocean has kept fish species from the Atlantic and Pacific separate for more than a million years — but global warming is changing that.
- Animals
Ant-eating bears help plants
A complex web of interactions gives a boost to rabbitbrush plants when black bears consume ants.
- Animals
If pursued by a goshawk, make a sharp turn
Scientists put a tiny camera on a northern goshawk and watched it hunt. The bird used several strategies to catch prey, failing only when its targets made a sharp turn.
- Animals
Cringe away, guys — this spider bites off his own genitals
After sex, a male coin spider will chew off his own genitals, an act that might help secure his paternity.
- Animals
Lemurs aren’t pets
The first survey of lemur ownership in Madagascar finds that thousands of the rare primates are held in households.
- Animals
Paternity test reveals father’s role in mystery shark birth
A shark pup was born in a tank with three female sharks but no males. A genetic study finds that the shark must have stored sperm for nearly four years.
- Animals
How many wildebeest? Ask a satellite
High-resolution satellite imagery could offer a reliable way to count large mammals in open habitats from space.
- Animals
Little African cats need big parks
Protecting African wildcats requires large protected areas free of feral cats to avoid the risk of the wild species disappearing through hybridization.
- Animals
China’s reindeer are on the decline
A small, semi-domesticated population of reindeer found in northern China is suffering due to threats ranging from inbreeding to tourism.
