Animals
- Animals
Tough policing deters cheating in insects
In insect societies that have tough police, it's coercion, rather than kinship, that's preventing crime.
- Animals
Chicken Speak: Birds pass test for fancy communication
The chicken may be the first animal other than primates that's been shown to make sounds that, like words, represent something in the environment. With audio.
- Animals
Hey, that’s me!
A test with a jumbo-size mirror suggests that Asian elephants may be among the few species that can recognize their own images.
- Animals
Ivory-billed hopes flit to Florida
There's no photo, but a team of ornithologists says that its sightings suggest that a few ivory-billed woodpeckers still live along the Choctawhatchee River in Florida.
- Animals
Why Play Dead?
Common wisdom dictates that playing dead discourages predators, but researchers are now thinking harder about how, or whether, that strategy really works.
- Animals
Tropical diversity came with time
Species in richly diverse tropics don't evolve faster than do species in temperate zones.
- Animals
Courting Costs: Male prairie dogs seem too busy mating to dodge predators
Male prairie dogs get so distracted during mating season that predators find them easy pickings.
- Animals
Krill kick up a storm of ocean mixing
Scientists have measured living creatures' contribution to the stirring of ocean water, and they found that little kicking krill legs do a lot.
- Animals
Silky feet
Zebra tarantulas can secrete silk from their feet, a feat that may help them better adhere to surfaces.
- Animals
Scent Stalking: Parasitic vine grows toward tomato odor
A wiry orange vine finds plants to raid for nutrients by growing toward their smell. With video.
- Animals
Mother deer can’t ID their fawns by call
Fawns can distinguish their mom's voice from another deer's, but a mom can't pick out her fawn's call.
- Animals
Crickets on Mute: Hush falls as killer fly stalks singers
Within just 5 years, singing has nearly died out among a population of cricket on a Hawaiian island.
