Animals

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.

Animals

Slithering on Air: Flying snakes glide through the treetops

The paradise tree snake flies by flattening its body and slithering through the air.

Animals

Strong Medicine: Over-the-counter remedy snags snakes

Acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol—vanquishes brown tree snakes, the bane of Guam.

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.

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.

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

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.

Animals

Pesticides Mess with Immunity: Double whammy promotes frog deformities

Agricultural pollutants may conspire with parasites to cause the epidemic of limb deformity that's sweeping through North America's frog populations.

Animals

Wasp Painting: Do insects know each other’s faces?

A researcher who dabbed tiny stripes on the faces and abdomens of paper wasps says that she's found the first evidence that the insects can recognize individuals by their markings.

Animals

Oops. Woodpecker raps were actually gunshots

The knock-knock noises recorded last winter that raised hopes for rediscovering the long-lost ivory-billed woodpecker in Louisiana turn out to have been gunshots instead of bird noises.

Animals

Marine Mules: Near-sterile hyrids boost coral diversity

Reef corals that spawn in great mixed-up soups of many species may be maintaining their diversity because their hybrids are sterile mules.

Animals

Bay leaves may make rat nests nicer

Wood rats may be fumigating their nests with bits of California bay leaves, sprigs that killed flea larvae in lab tests.