Animals

  1. Animals

    No Tickling: Common caterpillars deploy defensive hair

    The caterpillars of the European cabbage butterfly have a chemical defense system that scientists haven't documented before.

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  2. Animals

    Dogged Dieting: Low-cal canines enjoy longer life

    The first completed diet-restriction study in a large animal shows that labrador retrievers fed 25 percent less food than those allowed to eat as much as they desired tend to live longer and suffer fewer age-related diseases.

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  3. Animals

    Rebranding the Hyena

    Zoologists are hoping that long-term ecological studies of the spotted hyena will assist in dispelling the animal's undeservedly bad reputation.

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  4. Animals

    Big-Eyed Birds Sing Early Songs: Dawn chorus explained

    Researchers report a strong relationship between eye size and the light intensity at which birds start to sing in the morning.

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  5. Animals

    Maneless lions live one guy per pride

    The male lions of Tsavo National Park don't grow manes but they're no wimps—they're the only male lions found so far that rule big prides of females alone, without help from some buddies.

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  6. Animals

    Wild Hair

    The technique of studying animals through genetic analysis of their fur gained fame with a political furor over lynx, but scientists have applied the technique to many other animals.

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  7. Animals

    Toxic Tools: Frogs down under pack their own poison

    An Australian frog can synthesize its own protective poison, rather than obtain it from the insects it eats.

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  8. Animals

    Lamprey Allure: Females rush to males’ bile acid

    An unusual sex attractant has turned up in an analysis of sea lampreys, and it may inspire new ways to defend the Great Lakes against invasive species.

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  9. Animals

    Real pandas do handstands

    A giant panda that upends itself into a handstand may be sending a message that it's one big bamboo-thrasher and not to be messed with.

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  10. Animals

    Nephews, Cousins . . . Who Cares? Detecting kin doesn’t mean favoring them

    New tests of the amazing nose power of Belding's ground squirrels has solved a 25-year-old puzzle about doing dangerous favors for relatives.

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  11. Animals

    Lemonade from Broken Amber

    The fossilized microbes found inside termites that have been encased in amber for 20 million years are remarkably similar to those found within the ancient insects' modern cousins.

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  12. Animals

    Cold Hamsters: Wild species boosts immunity for winter

    Hamsters that have to survive winter outdoors in Siberia rev up their immune systems, including their response to psychological stress, when days grow short.

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