Animals
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Animals
Male butterflies are driven to drink
Monarch butterflies that winter in California, especially males that had a demanding day, search out dewdrops as a water source.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Flight puts the fight back into crickets
Researchers are just discovering what gamblers in China have known for centuries—flying can make a losing cricket fight again.
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Animals
When Ants Squeak
In the past 20 years, researchers studying sound communication in ants have discovered a sort of ant-ernet, zinging with messages about lost relatives, great food, free rides for hitchhikers, caterpillars in search of ant partners, and impending doom.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Bees log flight distances, train with maps
After decades of work, scientists crack two problems of how bees navigate: reading bee odometers and mapping training flights.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Slithering on Air: Flying snakes glide through the treetops
The paradise tree snake flies by flattening its body and slithering through the air.
By Kristin Cobb -
Animals
Strong Medicine: Over-the-counter remedy snags snakes
Acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol—vanquishes brown tree snakes, the bane of Guam.
By Janet Raloff -
Animals
Hyena androgens exact high cost
Blocking androgens for spotted hyenas before they're born shows that the exposure of a female fetus to male hormones normally takes a heavy physical toll when females bear their own pups.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Deer littermates have different dads
Twin fawns may not have the same dad—the first time multiple paternity has turned up in a large, free-ranging hoofed mammal.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Dragonfly Glitter
Dragonflies bring a lot of glitter to glamour shots. Texas A&M’s entomology program offers a variety of stunning images to illustrate the considerable diversity of dragonfly species. A video captures a female laying eggs, and a sequence of images shows how junior grows up. Go to: http://stephenville.tamu.edu/~fmitchel/dragonfly/index.html
By Science News -
Animals
Redder is healthier in squawking birds
When barn swallow nestlings open wide for food, their parents may be looking for the healthiest throats.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Why don’t racing horses fry their brains?
Lumpy sacs bulging out of a horse's auditory tubes may solve the mystery of how such an athletic animal keeps its brain from overheating during exercise.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Altruistic Sperm: Mouse gametes team up to power one winner
The sperm of wood mice hook together by the thousands to form high-speed teams racing toward an egg, even though only one of the pack will get the prize.
By Susan Milius