Animals

  1. Animals

    Ant Iron Chefs: Larvae fix dinner but don’t sneak snacks

    Movies of an ant colony show that larvae are the ones that prepare dinner when meat is on the menu. With Video.

    By Susan Milius
  2. Animals

    Face Time: Bees can tell apart human portraits

    Honeybees will learn to zoom up to particular human faces in a version of a facial-recognition test used for people.

    By Susan Milius
  3. Animals

    Unway Sign: Ant pheromone stops traffic

    Researchers have found a new kind of traffic sign on ant trails, a chemical "Do not enter" that keeps foragers from wasting their time on paths that don't lead to food.

    By Susan Milius
  4. Animals

    Tszzzzzt! Electric fish may jam rivals’ signals

    An electric fish appears to sabotage a rival's electric signals as a fight starts. With Audio and Video.

    By Susan Milius
  5. Animals

    Yikes! The Moon! Bat lunar phobia may come from slim pickings

    A study of creatures that fly around at night suggests that scarce food may account for why some bats avoid hunting under a full moon.

    By Susan Milius
  6. Animals

    Beyond Falsetto: Do mice sing at ultrasonic frequencies?

    Male mice may serenade prospective mates at pitches about two octaves higher than the shrillest sounds audible to the human ear. With Audio.

    By Ben Harder
  7. Animals

    Great Galloping Crinoids: Lilylike sea animal takes a brisk walk

    A sea creature called a stalked crinoid may look as motionless as a flower on a stem but a video has revealed it practically jogging across the ocean floor. Video.

    By Susan Milius
  8. Animals

    Cool Birds

    Emperor penguins go to such extremes to cope with life in Antarctica that they've inspired interesting science as well as a hit movie.

    By Susan Milius
  9. Animals

    Proxy Vampire: Spider eats blood by catching mosquitoes

    Researchers studying food preferences among spiders report finding the first one with a taste for vertebrate blood.

    By Susan Milius
  10. Animals

    Baited camera snaps first live giant squid

    For the first time, researchers have photographed a living giant squid in the wild.

    By Susan Milius
  11. Animals

    Looks Matter: If swallows aren’t spiffy, mates’ fidelity is iffy

    If a male barn swallow's plumage is more attractive than that of other males, his mate is less likely to have furtive flings with other wooers.

    By Sid Perkins
  12. Animals

    Balls of Fire: Bees carefully cook invaders to death

    Honeybees that defend their colonies by killing wasps with body heat come within 5 degrees C of cooking themselves in the process.

    By Susan Milius