Animals
- Tech
Soft robots go swimming
A new robotic fish can wiggle and writhe like the real thing.
By Meghan Rosen - Animals
See-through shrimp flex invisible muscle
Much of the body of a Pederson’s transparent shrimp looks like watery nothing, but it’s a superhero sort of nothing.
By Susan Milius - Animals
Young vervet monkeys look to mom when learning
Among vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops), behaviors are passed from mother to child, a new study finds.
- Animals
The Thing With Feathers
In the new book, "The Thing With Feathers," Noah Strycker brings people nose to beak with the plumed creatures he knows so well.
- Animals
Pandas enjoy the sweet life
Unlike many of their carnivore relatives, bamboo-loving pandas can taste natural, and some artificial, sugars.
- Animals
Zebra stripes may be mainly defense against flies
The function of zebra stripes may not be for camouflage or cooling, a new analysis finds.
By Susan Milius - Animals
As their homes warm, salamanders shrink
Many species of salamanders respond to climate change by getting smaller.
- Animals
Giant pandas like sweets, but prefer the natural ones
Despite sustaining themselves on bamboo, which isn't very sweet, giant pandas will indulge in a bit of sugar, if they can.
- Animals
Bats’ dinner conversation may go over your head
Hunting big brown bats do more than echolocate. When male bats compete for a single prize, they send social calls to keep other bats at bay.
- Animals
Skewed gender ratios turn bird world into a soap opera
Infidelity, divorce and polygamy become more common among birds when one sex is rarer and has more choice in partners.
- Animals
Mama frog’s care includes a gift of poison
Strawberry poison frog tadpoles get defensive chemicals through unfertilized, nutritious eggs provided by mom.
- Animals
A parasitic cuckoo can be a good thing
Great spotted cuckoo chicks show that brood parasites may benefit their hosts.
By Susan Milius