Animals
- Animals
This moth species may use the Milky Way as its guiding star
Bogong moths migrate up to 1,000 kilometers from Australian plains to mountain caves to escape the summer heat. The stars may help them get there.
- Animals
Fewer scavengers could mean more zoonotic disease
Scavenger populations are decreasing, a new study shows. That could put human health at risk.
- Animals
This spider’s barf is worse than its bite
Most spider species subdue dinner by injecting venom from their fangs. Feather-legged lace weavers swathe prey in silk, then upchuck a killing brew.
- Animals
Preemptively cutting rhinos’ horns cuts poaching
Comparing various tactics for protecting rhinos suggests that dehorning them drastically reduces poaching.
- Animals
Probiotics helped great star corals fend off a deadly disease
A probiotic paste prevented the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease, but the treatment is still a proof-of-concept, not a cure.
- Animals
Flamingos create precise water vortices in a shrimp-hunting frenzy
Nashville Zoo flamingos reveal the oddball birds generate many types of vortices to eat. The swirls could be an inspiration to human engineers.
- Animals
Aussie cockatoos use their beaks and claws to turn on water fountains
Parrots living in Sydney have learned how to turn on water fountains for a drink. It's the first such drinking strategy seen in the birds.
- Animals
How luna moths grow extravagant wings
Warm temperatures, not just predator pressure, may favor luna moths’ long bat-fooling streamers, a geographic analysis of iNaturalist pics shows.
- Animals
Genetics might save the rare, elusive saola — if it’s not already extinct
A new genetic study could help saolas survive by enabling better searches through environmental DNA. But some experts fear they may be extinct already.
- Animals
Bedbugs may have been one of the first urban pests
Common bedbugs experienced a dramatic jump in population size about 13,000 years ago, around the time humans congregated in the first cities.
- Life
The first cicada concert was 47 million years ago
A 47-million-year-old cicada fossil from Germany’s Messel Pit could teach us about the evolution of insect communication.
- Climate
Penguin poop gives Antarctic cloud formation a boost
Penguin poop provides ammonia for cloud formation in coastal Antarctica, potentially helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the region.
