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Behold the hybrid copter-robot that struts and leaps like a chicken
Despite their inability to take to the skies, birds like ostriches, emus, and chickens use their wings—they’re actually vital to their everyday movements. And unlike existing biomimetic robots that...
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These fish can mate 19 times per day
For any animal, releasing sperm cells requires a bit of time and energy. Using up so much energy can keep them from the other required work of survival, including finding food and water or sleeping....
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Even ants may hold grudges
It’s not just humans who have trouble making amends—Earth’s 20 quadrillion ants aren’t quick to forgive, either. Ants primarily rely on their fine-tuned olfactory sense to differentiate between the...
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Extremely rare yellow cardinal flies into a Michigan backyard
Just before Christmas, two backyard birders in Michigan were in for the ultimate surprise–a yellow Northern Cardinal. Arlene and John McDaniel spotted the incredibly rare bird in their backyard in...
View ArticleWhy do birds make so many different sounds? 100,000 audio recordings offer...
The planet’s birds make a lot of different sounds communicating a wide variety of messages. The petite Black-capped chickadee emits a high noise that tells predators to scram. Hungry Pileated...
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New colorful species of crayfish discovered in aquarium shipment
When a team of scientists studying the brightly colored and common New Guinea crayfish ordered some new animals for their lab, they were in for a bit of a surprise. They uncovered a species of the...
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16 enthralling wildlife photos spotlighting the need for conservation
Lala locks eyes with Kristi Odom’s camera. The jaguar’s steely stare reveals nothing of her distressing story. Lala survived illegal wildlife trafficking in the Bolivian Amazon and now lives in a...
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New foot-long crustacean named after Darth Vader
A purchase at an urban Vietnamese fish market turned out to be a whole new species of giant isopod–with a bit of a dark side. The foot-long crustacean has been named Bathynomus vaderi and sports a...
View ArticleChernobyl’s feral dogs are genetically unique, but not mutated
Feral dogs living near Chernobyl differ genetically from their ancestors who survived the 1986 nuclear plant disaster—but these variations do not appear to stem from radioactivity-induced mutations....
View ArticleWhen penguins divorce, the whole colony is impacted
Relationships can be fickle. Sometimes they just don’t work out, even in penguins that can mate with the same partner for several years. The little penguins (Eudyptula minor) that live on Phillip...
View ArticlePeeing is contagious for chimpanzees
For chimpanzees, the need to pee appears to be contagious. A study published January 20 in the journal Current Biology finds that when one chimpanzee urinates, the others in a group are more likely to...
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Oyster blood could fight superbugs
In the future, oysters might help in the global fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A protein found in the blood–or hemolymph–of the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) appears to kill...
View ArticleAlpha male baboons’ obsession with females stresses them out
Alpha male baboons may earn the right to preside over their troops, but evidence indicates all that power takes its toll. A past study from Duke University research scientist Laurence Gesquiere, for...
View ArticleDozens of cold-stunned turtles rescued in Florida
The typically toasty Sun Belt has been anything but warm this week, as some unusual weather is gripping the southern United States. The New Orleans area saw up to 10 inches of snow, alligators are...
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15 splashy and stunning underwater wildlife images
Penguins can fly. Not in the sky, but in icy waters. Photographer Jill Crosby’s face was freezing as she watched penguins zip around near the Salisbury Plain in South Georgia (located about 800 miles...
View ArticleAquarium surprised by shark born in a tank without males
The Shreveport Aquarium in Louisiana kicked off 2025 with a mysterious birth. A swell shark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) pup hatched at the facility on January 3, yet the two female sharks present in...
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Finally, scientists get a penguin’s-eye-view of the world
Getting a penguin’s-eye view of the ocean is now a reality. An international team of researchers have developed PenguCams, an new animal-borne camera system that can help track how much prey they need...
View ArticleGreat tits thrive in old-growth forests
After a forest is logged, that land is often re-planted with new saplings. Within a few decades, those trees will have grown pretty big, and the forest will look much like a forest once again, with...
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How do polar bears keep ice off their fur? Grease.
Polar bears need all the help they can get to survive their frosty Arctic environment. One of their biggest survival secrets appears to be greasy hair. The sebum–or hair grease–on their fur makes it...
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Fungus-infected zombie spiders discovered in Northern Ireland
While filming a documentary in Northern Ireland, a team of scientists discovered a new fungus that appears to manipulate spiders’ behavior–and turn them into “zombies.” The fungus named Gibellula...
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