Animals
- Genetics
For penguins, it’s a matter of no taste
Penguins lack taste genes for bitter, sweet and umami.
- Life
To deal with sexual conflict, female bedbugs get flexible
Female bed bugs evolved an elastic underbelly to tolerate violent mating, a new study suggests.
- Animals
Fertile hermit crabs turn shy
Male hermit crabs that aren’t carrying much sperm are bolder than their more fertile brethren, a new study finds.
- Paleontology
Earliest tree-dweller, burrower join mammal tree of life
Fossils show mammal ancestors did a lot more than cower in dinosaurs’ shadows.
- Animals
Tiger swallowtail genome gives clues to insect’s stinky defense
Clues within the genetic code of the Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) explain how it developed a smelly defense against predators.
- Animals
When you’re happy and you show it, dogs know it
A new test using pictures of halves of human faces challenges dogs’ abilities to read people’s emotions.
- Animals
Wasps may turn ladybugs into zombies with viral weapons
Parasitic wasps may use a neurological virus to make ladybugs their minions, a study posits.
- 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.
- Ecosystems
Noise made by humans can be bad news for animals
Animals live in a world of sounds. Clever experiments are finally teasing out how human-made noise can cause dangerous distractions.
- Animals
‘The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins’ offers window into cetacean societies
Dolphins and whales pass cultural knowledge to one another, the authors of a new book argue.
- 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.
- Animals
Rainforest frogs flourish with artificial homes
A rainforest frog population grew by about 50 percent when scientists built pools for tadpoles that mimic puddles made by other animals.
