Animals
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AnimalsWolf vs. Raven? Thieving birds may drive canines to form big packs
A previously underappreciated reason why wolf packs get so big could be the relentless food snitching of ravens.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsThe Social Lives of Snakes
A lot of pit vipers aren't the asocial loners that even snake fans had long assumed.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsRoad rage keeps ants moving smoothly
Streams of ants manage to avoid traffic gridlock by a bit of strategic pushing and shoving.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsHornbills know which monkey calls to heed
Hornbills can tell the difference between two kinds of alarm calls given by monkeys.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsSecond bird genus shares dart-frog toxins
Researchers have found a second bird genus, also in New Guinea, that carries the same toxins as poison-dart frogs in Central and South America.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsNew Green Eyes: First butterfly that’s genetically modified
Scientists have genetically engineered a butterfly for the first time, putting a jellyfish protein into a tropical African species so that its eyes fluoresce green.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsJungle Genes: First bird genome is decoded
Researchers have unveiled a draft of the first bird genome to be sequenced, a vintage chicken.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsFox Selection: Bottleneck survivors show surprising variety
Foxes native to a California island—famous for the least genetic diversity ever reported in a sexually reproducing animal—have some variation after all.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsFeral breed lacks domestic dogs’ skill
Wild dogs that haven't lived with people for 5,000 years share little of the capacity of their domesticated cousins for interpreting human gestures.
By Ben Harder -
AnimalsFlesh Eaters: Bees that strip carrion also take wasp young
A South American bee that ignores flowers and collects carrion from carcasses has an unexpected taste for live, abandoned wasp young.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsHow blind mole rats find their way home
The blind mole rat is the first animal discovered to navigate by combining dead reckoning with a magnetic compass.
By Susan Milius -
AnimalsWhere’d I Put That?
Birds that hide and recover thousands of separate caches of seeds have become a model for investigating how animals' minds work.
By Susan Milius