Animals

  1. Animals

    Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!

    Hungry chicks cheeping in their nest have inspired a whole branch of scientific inquiry.

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  2. Animals

    Social Cats

    Who says cats aren't social? And other musings from scientists who study cats in groups.

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  3. Animals

    Even deep down, the right whales don’t sink

    A right whale may weigh some 70 tons, but unlike other marine mammals studied so far, it tends to float rather than sink at great depths.

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  4. Animals

    It’s a snake! No, a fish. An octopus?

    An as-yet-unnamed species of octopus seems to be protecting itself by impersonating venomous animals from sea snakes to flatfish.

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  5. Animals

    Big woodpeckers trash others’ homes

    Pileated woodpeckers destroy in an afternoon the nesting cavities that take endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers 6 years to excavate.

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  6. Animals

    When rare species eat endangered ones

    To cut down on their salmon smolt catch, Caspian terns were encouraged to move from one island to another in the Columbia River.

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  7. Animals

    Oops. New feathers turn out lousy

    Going to the trouble of molting doesn't really get rid of a bird's lice after all.

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  8. Animals

    Stinking decorations protect nests

    The common waxbill's habit of adorning its nests with fur plucked from carnivore scat turns out to discourage attacks from predators.

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  9. Animals

    20/20 lenses coat body of sea creature

    The skeleton of brittlestars doubles as an array of optically precise lenses that rival plastic microlenses designed by engineers.

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  10. Animals

    Smart tags show unexpected tuna trips

    The first report on Atlantic bluefin tuna wearing electronic tags reveals much more dashing across the ocean than expected.

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  11. Animals

    Bat bites bird. . .in migration attacks

    The largest bat in Europe may hunt down migrating birds.

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  12. Animals

    Roach gals get less choosy as time goes by

    As their first reproductive peak wanes, female cockroaches become more like male ones, willing to mate with any potential partner that moves.

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