Wild Things
The weird and wonderful in the natural world
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Chimps raised among humans may have problems as adults
Chimpanzees taken away from their mothers and raised to be pets or entertainers have problems relating to other chimps later in life.
- Animals
Mama deer respond to the cries of human babies
Deer mothers approached a speaker playing distress calls of young mammals when the frequency fell into the same range as fawns.
- Animals
Rhinoceros beetle’s horn shape reflects fighting style
The elaborate horns of rhinoceros beetles vary in subtle ways that allow each species to handle the stress and strain of its specific style of battle.
- Plants
Helping trees adapt to climate change possible but a huge task
A new study finds that it would be possible to assist the migration of trees and help them adapt to climate change, but the scale of such a project would be massive.
- Animals
A brief history of animal death in space
The Russian “sexy space geckos” join a long list of creatures that have died after humans sent them into space.
- Animals
Ducks may like water, but they don’t use it to navigate
Scientists tracking ducks in Illinois with radar found that the waterfowl didn’t bother using a river to navigate their way south.
- Animals
Spiders get bigger in the big city
City-living golden orb-weaving spiders tend to be bigger than those that live in the countryside, a new study finds.
- Animals
Magpies don’t like shiny things
Magpies’ reputation as thieving birds that will steal shiny objects is all wrong, a new study finds.
- Animals
These lizards may be able to learn from each other
An experiment with skinks provides the first evidence of social learning in lizards.
- Animals
Zebra finches go mad with mercury, and other animal updates
Mercury exposure makes zebra finches bold and hyperactive, and additional research from the 2014 Animal Behavior Society Meeting.
- Animals
Aboriginal lizard hunting boosts kangaroo numbers
An aboriginal technique for hunting lizards with fire in Western Australia feeds wallaroo populations.
- Animals
New dolphin species gets a name
A species of humpback dolphin from Australia has now received its proper name.
