Animals
-
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.
By Susan Milius -
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.
By Susan Milius -
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.
By Susan Milius -
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.
By Susan Milius -
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.
-
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.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Bat bites bird. . .in migration attacks
The largest bat in Europe may hunt down migrating birds.
By Susan Milius -
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.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Don’t look now, but is that dog laughing?
Researchers have identified a particular exhalation that dogs make while playing as a possible counterpart to a human laugh.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Condor chicks hatch in zoo and wild
Newly hatched California condor chicks indicate that reproduction is again taking place in the wild.
By Janet Raloff -
Animals
Microbe lets mite dads perform virgin birth
A gender-bent mite—in which altered males give birth as virgins—turns out to be the first species discovered to live and reproduce with only one set of chromosomes.
By Susan Milius -
Animals
Fruit flies hear by spinning their noses
Drosophila have a rotating ear—and odor-sensing—structure that's new to science.
By Susan Milius