Flightless terror birds stalked Antarctica after the dinosaurs' demise
Two fossil claws found on Seymour Island reveal that phorusrhacids, or terror birds, lived in Antarctica 50 million years ago and were probably the apex predator
View ArticleBlind cave fish offers lessons in how to survive starvation
Unlike most other animals, the cave-dwelling Mexican tetra doesn’t get a fatty liver when it is malnourished – and its secrets could lead to medical benefits for other species
View ArticleThe surprising ways animals react to a total solar eclipse
When the moon hides the sun in a total solar eclipse, some animals seem to think that it is briefly nighttime, while others pace anxiously or even gaze up at the sky
View ArticlePlants send out 'distress calls'– but can other plants hear them?
Some studies have claimed that plants emit sounds when stressed and might perceive the distress calls of other plants, but a review finds the evidence is lacking
View ArticleGiant sequoia trees are growing surprisingly quickly in the UK
Since their introduction in the 1800s, giant sequoia trees in the UK have grown up to 55 metres tall and capture 85 kilograms of carbon a year on average
View ArticleCity moths may have evolved smaller wings due to light pollution
Populations of moths living in urban places may have evolved smaller wings to limit how much bright city lights disrupt their lives
View ArticlePlant-killing genetic technology could wipe out superweeds
A ‘gene drive’ that spreads through plant populations could be used to wipe out pests such as superweeds, or to help save species by making them resistant to heat or disease
View ArticleIn Frank Herbert’s Dune, fungi are hidden in plain sight
There is more lurking below the surface of Arrakis than sandworms. Dune author Frank Herbert had a keen interest in fungi, and so should we, says Corrado Nai
View ArticleChimp mothers play with their youngsters even when times are tough
Ten years’ worth of observations of a wild chimpanzee community show that most adults stop playing when food is short, but not mothers and their young
View ArticleSaving the world's largest flowers in the Philippines
These stunning photographs, taken by botanist Chris Thorogood, chart the quest to protect species of Rafflesia, which are on the brink of extinction in the Philippines
View ArticleExtinct freshwater dolphin from the Amazon was largest of all time
A dolphin that lived in the Amazon 16 million years ago grew to a length of 3.5 metres – larger than any other freshwater dolphin
View ArticleBlue tits shared a tree hollow with bird-eating bats – and survived
A pair of blue tits were seen nesting in a tree cavity that was also inhabited by about 25 greater noctule bats, which commonly eat blue tits, but the birds lived to tell the tale
View ArticleFluffy beetle discovered in Australia may be the world's hairiest
The exceptionally long white hairs on the newly named longhorn beetle Excastra albopilosa may deceive predators into thinking it is covered in fungus
View ArticleMale and female spiders pair up to look like a flower
Together, a dark-hued male crab spider and a larger, paler female resemble a flower, in what researchers suspect is the first case of cooperative mimicry
View ArticleAnt queens have good reasons for eating their own babies
Feasting on family members may be an unorthodox way for ant queens to keep their fledgling colonies from being overrun by lethal fungi
View ArticleDogs really do understand that words stand for objects
Pet dogs have different patterns of brain activity when they are shown an object that doesn’t match the word they hear, suggesting they have a mental representation of what words mean
View ArticleTiny deer from the dry valleys of Peru recognised as new species
A 38-centimetre-tall deer, found in an arid region in the central Andes, is the first new deer species found in South America for over 60 years
View ArticleBirds make an 'after you' gesture to prompt their mate to enter nest
Japanese tits sometimes flutter their wings in an apparent gesture of encouraging their mate to enter their shared nest first
View ArticleHorses used in therapy often avoid people if they are given a choice
Horses show signs of stress if people touch them while they are tethered, but they appear much less anxious if they are able to walk away
View ArticleIs every species necessary or can we let some die out?
There are thousands of species at risk of extinction, and we can’t save them all – how do conservationists think about which ones to focus on?
View ArticleWhy ivy growing on your walls may actually be beneficial
Long considered damaging to walls, a living coating of ivy can actually stabilise temperature and humidity and lower your energy bills, finds James Wong
View ArticleSnakes show signs of self-recognition in a smell-based 'mirror test'
Garter snakes may recognise their own scent and react differently when it is altered, hinting at self-awareness in reptiles
View ArticleLife’s vital chemistry may have begun in hot, cracked rock
Amino acids and other molecules important to the origin of life can be enriched within networks of rocky fractures, which would have been common on the early Earth
View ArticleClimate change can disturb the accuracy of trees’ biological clocks
Trees use circadian genes to time photosynthesis and reproduction – but as temperatures rise, the clocks may not work as well
View ArticleLeft-handed monkeys prompt rethink about evolution of right-handedness
A popular idea links primates living on the ground with a tendency for right-handedness, but findings from urban langurs in India cast doubt on the idea
View ArticleSuppressing wildfires is harming California’s giant sequoia trees
California’s rare sequoias rely on high heat to disperse their seeds, and efforts to reduce the size of wildfires may be damaging their ability to reproduce
View ArticleNorthern white rhino could be saved from extinction using frozen skin
We have enough genetic material to bring back the northern white rhino, but doing so won’t be easy
View ArticleFractal pattern identified at molecular scale in nature for first time
An enzyme in a cyanobacterium can take the unusual form a triangle containing ever-smaller triangular gaps, making a fractal pattern
View ArticleA bacterium has evolved into a new cellular structure inside algae
A once-independent bacterium has evolved into an organelle that provides nitrogen to algal cells – an event so rare that there are only three other known cases
View ArticleThe photographer who captured shots of nature daily for over a decade
Since 2012, Mary Jo Hoffman has taken one snap a day of the natural objects around her. She explains what lies behind two of them - and what the "art of noticing" has brought to her life
View Article‘Peaceful’ male bonobos may actually be more aggressive than chimps
Bonobos have long been regarded as the peaceful ape, in sharp contrast with violent chimpanzees, but a study based on thousands of hours of observations suggests the real story is more nuanced
View ArticleSee inside an endangered California condor egg just before it hatches
The hatching of the 250th California condor chick at the San Diego Zoo marks a notable milestone for a species that narrowly evaded extinction
View ArticleAre panda sex lives being sabotaged by the wrong gut microbes?
Conservationists think tweaking pandas’ diets might shift their gut microbiomes in a way that could encourage them to mate
View ArticleTiny nematode worms can grow enormous mouths and become cannibals
One species of nematode worm turns into a kin-devouring nightmare if it grows up in a crowded environment with a poor diet
View ArticleStarfish have hundreds of feet but no brain – here's how they move
Starfish feet are coordinated purely through mechanical loading, enabling the animals to bounce rhythmically along the seabed without a central nervous system
View ArticleSleeping bumblebees can survive underwater for a week
A serendipitous lab accident revealed that hibernating bumblebee queens can make it through days of flooding, revealing that they are less vulnerable to extreme weather than previously thought
View ArticleColonies of single-celled creatures could explain how embryos evolved
We know little about how embryonic development in animals evolved from single-celled ancestors, but simple organisms with a multicellular life stage offer intriguing clues
View ArticleA cicada double brood is coming – it's less rare than you think
Up to 17 US states could be peppered with more than a trillion cicadas this spring, and though it has been a while since these two specific broods emerged at once, double broods are not that rare
View ArticleTurning plants blue with gene editing could make robot weeding easier
Weeding robots can sometimes struggle to tell weeds from crops, but genetically modifying the plants we want to keep to make them brightly coloured would make the job easier, suggest a group of...
View ArticleAncient marine reptile found on UK beach may be the largest ever
The jawbone of an ichthyosaur uncovered in south-west England has been identified as a new species, and researchers estimate that the whole animal was 20 to 25 metres long
View ArticleFossil snake discovered in India may have been the largest ever
The vertebrae of Vasuki indicus, a snake that lived 47 million years ago, suggest it could have been as long as 15 metres
View ArticleSongs that birds 'sing' in their dreams translated into sound
By measuring how birds’ vocal muscles move while they are asleep and using a physical model for how those muscles produce sound, researchers have pulled songs from the minds of sleeping birds
View ArticleNocturnal ants use polarised moonlight to find their way home
An Australian bull ant is the first animal known to use the patterns produced by polarised moonlight to navigate its environment
View ArticleSome scientists say insects are conscious – it doesn't settle anything
A group of around 40 scientists signed a declaration calling for formal acknowledgement of consciousness in a range of animals, including insects and fish – but the evidence is still lacking
View ArticleExquisite fossils of Cretaceous shark solve mystery of how it hunted
Six full-body fossils of Ptychodus sharks have been formally analysed for the first time, revealing that they were fast swimmers that preyed on shelled creatures
View ArticleHuge dinosaur footprints belonged to one of the largest raptors ever
A set of large, distinctive footprints suggest a raptor dinosaur that lived in East Asia 96 million years ago grew to a length of 5 metres
View ArticleHuge genetic study redraws the tree of life for flowering plants
Using genomic data from more than 9500 species, biologists have mapped the evolutionary relationships between flowering plants
View ArticleCulling predatory starfish conserves coral on the Great Barrier Reef
Targeted culling of crown-of-thorns starfish has resulted in parts of the Great Barrier Reef maintaining and even increasing coral cover, leading researchers to call for the programme to be...
View ArticleModern rose hybrids have a worrying lack of genetic diversity
Intensive breeding since the 19th century has created thousands of varieties of rose, but a reduction in genetic diversity could leave them vulnerable to diseases and climate change
View ArticleWasps use face-recognition brain cells to identify each other
The neurons in wasp brains that help them recognise hive mates are similar to those in the brains of primates, including humans
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