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The effects of climate change on food stock quality is well documented, yet a new study suggests that climate change might not only affect survival rates of marine life, but also how it tastes too. The findings came after an international team of researchers sought to see how high water acidity affects the sensory quality of shrimp.
Unfortunately, Derby the husky cross wasn’t born like other dogs. While her back paws are normal and well developed, a deformity caused him to be born with small and very twisted forelegs. He couldn’t walk at all. But Derby caught a break when she was adopted by Tara Anderson, who works for a 3D printing company called […]
These cute furry rodents almost went extinct in the 19th century, but conservation efforts have proven successful and right now, the world has a solid beaver population. But a new study conducted by Canadian researchers found that this increase in population also has some unforeseen consequences: beaver damming generates climate-changing methane emissions. First of all, it has […]
Species on Earth are disappearing at a never-before seen rate in human history. The stark threat hangs over all species – mammals, reptiles, birds, insects – and researchers are still trying to figure out the extent of this potential mass extinction. Now, a new analysis conducted by Nature found that 41% of all amphibians on the planet now […]
The warm, humid Amazonian forests hold a stunning biodiversity; somewhere, deep in that magnificent area, a pretty normal looking gray bird makes its way to a nest made from dried leaves, to feed its offspring. It would seem that the nest has been devastated by a giant, toxic, bright orange caterpillar… but something magical happens – […]
The world isn’t just fight or flight, there’s also a third option: hide. The reef-dwelling fish (Oxymonacanthus longirostris), also known as the harlequin filefish, is a true master of disguise that not only blends with its environment to avert itself from the gaze of a hungry predator, it also dissimulates its odor. In other words, the fish not […]
When under threat, the pufferfish quickly inflates into a spherical shape to help it ward off and escape predators. Until now, biologist had thought that in this state the pufferfish – also known as the blowfish, toadfish or sea squab – holds its breath all the while, but this assumption has been overturn by the findings […]
The Electric Eel, a scaleless fish from the Amazon possesses an electroshock system very similar to a Taser. Not only can it stun its prey with the shock, but it can also make it twitch involuntarily, revealing its position. The electric eel is able to generate powerful electric shocks of up to 650 volts, which it uses […]
Ants often get a lot of bad rep for being “pests” in the city, but a new study has shown that ant populations are actually very helpful in urban environments. Scientists researching the behavior of ants have found that they dispose of garbage with remarkable efficiency, keeping rats and other garbage-dependent pests at bay. “Urban green […]
Have you ever wondered why you crave for a drink from time to time or why you can drink alcohol in the first place, for that matter? Our ability to ingest and metabolize ethanol can be traced back to a common primate ancestor who lived some 10 million years ago, according to US researchers who […]
There’s no more faithful companion than a dog, nor more messier. If you thought dog’s make a mess when they drink water just because they don’t care, think again. Using high-speed cameras and fluid dynamics, researchers found that dogs use their tongues in a different way than cats, pets adorned for their neatness. Lick, lick […]
We’re used to hearing how elephants are driven off by habitat lost, but never the other way around. Researchers at University of Florida claim that as overhunting has dramatically cut the number of elephants in the wild, but since these also disperse seeds, it seems like dominant tree species are also dying off. Along with the trees, […]
This amazing animal is the pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta), a native to the freshwater rivers, streams and lagoons of the Northern Territory in Australia and parts of southern New Guinea. With its delicate piggy snout, webbed flippers and beautiful colors, this turtle gives to show yet again why Australia is home to some of the world’s […]
An international team of more than 100 scientists has undertaken a most complex and challenging task: they’ve determined the timings and patterns of evolution for most of the insect family tree, until they arrived at at the original insect foremother which lived some 500 million years ago. Thus, the researchers were able to pinpoint when the […]
*This is a guest post written by professor Tim Birkhead. I will also add my personal opinions at the end of the article. There are several million fewer individual birds in Europe today than there were fifty years ago. We are living in a rapidly deteriorating environment. For our own sakes we should be concerned […]
Take a look at this magnificent fanged deer – this is not some Hollywood production or imaginary creature, this is a genuine Kashmir Muskdeer (Moschus cupreus), previously thought to be extinct, and now observed for the first time in 60 years in the forests of Afghanistan. There are actually several species of fanged deer, the most […]
Europe has an estimated 421 million fewer birds than it did 30 years ago, a startling study has found. The current trends show an unsustainable development, and if things continue with ‘business as usual’, we can expect even more decrease and even extinctions. Some of the birds that have suffered the most alarming declines are […]
Zookeepers in Japan have learned that no matter how hard you try and no matter what some Arnold Schwarzenegger movies tell you, two males can’t have offspring. In what seems like an article taken straight from The Onion, staff at Maruyama Zoo in the northern city of Sapporo spent four years trying to get two […]
Suni, a 37-year-old northern white rhino and only the second male of his kind left in the world, died recently of natural causes in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy reserve in Kenya. After his death merely six other specimens are now alive that still carry the legacy of this subspecies. Conservation efforts were heavily direct towards Suni, but now that the […]
Acting tougher than you really are is not uncommon in the natural world – but this moth has taken it to the next level. The Hornet Moth (Sesia apiformis) has evolved to mimic not only the look, but also the mannerisms of a real hornet. The Hornet Moth is a large moth with a wingspan […]
Paleontologists have identified the first known animals that used internal fertilization instead of spawning – armor-coated swimmers, called antiarchs, which lived around 385 million years ago in lakes in what is now Scotland. The discovery is truly monumental since its the earliest known example of sexual dimorphism or differences in appearance between the sexes in the […]
Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, or so the old adage goes, but how different are men and women? I won’t go into debates like whether or not men and women are neurologically the same – it’s a far too exhaustive and exhausting subject for such a short article. Clearly, however, men […]
The single most threatening species to U.K.’s biodiversity is a species of mussels – the quagga mussel. Coming from the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in Eastern Europe, the quagga mussel came with four other freshwater invaders which have now become a huge danger for Britain’s wildlife. The quagga mussel, scientific name Dreissena rostriformis […]
Chimps, our closest relatives, can pass down knowledge and skills, like using a new tool for instance, and establish cultural communities, according to a recently study published in PLOS Biology. Communicating and passing down skills, inventions and knowledge is considering a pre-requisite to what we commonly refer to as human culture, and the findings suggest that […]
When people think of sharks, the most immediate response might be jaws, fright or blood, but if you're willing to set prejudice aside you might find that these animals aren't that different from most of us; at least in one important respect: social interactions.
As if dolphins weren’t special enough, scientists have added another quality to the list: they can sense our planet’s magnetic field. A surprising variety of animals can sense the Earth’s magnetic field – bees, birds, salmon, frogs, sea turtles, salamanders, lobsters, and rodents; now, you can also add dolphins to that list. French researchers have shown […]
Some 100,000 people die each year from venomous snakes bites. Most die because there's not enough antivenom.
President Obama has signed a proclamation which will make the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument the largest marine reserve in the world. Up until now, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was a group of unorganized, mostly unincorporated United States Pacific Island territories managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. They host many important species, including corals, […]
The Mantis Shrimp has some of the most amazing eyes in the animal kingdom. Researchers have shown that among others, it is able to detect a variety of cancers and visualize brain activity. Now, scientists from Queensland University have studied how the mantis shrimp’s eyes are superbly tuned to detect polarized light, and literally see cancers. Professor Justin […]
Scientists have discovered a toxic, brightly colored and extremely small dart frog in the hilly areas near the Caribbean coast. Measuring just 12.7 millimeters in length, the newly described Andinobates geminisae is quite mysterious. The first strange thing about it is that it looks very different from its closest genetic relatives; namely, it’s bright orange. Andrew Crawford, a […]
Radars picked up a “strange cloud” with a bizarre shape above the US Midwest. Upon a closer look, it was revealed that the cloud was actually monarch butterflies traveling from Canada to Mexico – an iconic migration which has been less and less visible in recent years, but may make a resurgence in 2014. Monarch butterflies […]
Smaller, yet heavier then their legendary brethren, the giant squid, the colossal squid is an elusive animal that lives deep in the Antarctic waters. Scientists have known of their existence since the 1920s, judging from scraps found inside whales and sucker imprints on whale skin. It wasn’t until 2007 that the first complete specimen was found, […]
Tokyo announced a new round of culls in the Southern Ocean despite the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banning them from doing that. Sadistic hunts Despite sparking international outrage due to whaling, Japan shows no signs of stopping. A UN ban didn’t stop them, and apparently, neither will and IWC one. The 65th meeting of the world’s whale conservation […]
We often report how many species around the world are becoming extinct, but it’s heart warming to report from time to time that some conservation efforts really do work. For instance, a new report found that Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), the largest animals on Earth, have steadily increased in population around the Californian waters to the […]
For most people, it would seem clear that humans are the smartest creatures on the face of the Earth, but is this really the case? We are the ones who control the world, we create art, we understand our bodies and how the universe works – but are we innately more intelligent? A group of […]
From the tropics to the poles, bird populations all over the world are facing a sharp decline, cornered by climate change and exposure to man-made biochemicals, namely pesticides. According to to BirdLife International, one in eight species (more than 1,300 species) of birds are under serious threat of becoming extinct. The list includes iconic birds of pray and song like eagles, vultures, swifts or swallows, but also seabirds like sandpipers, pelicans or storks.
It’s one of the most remarkable adaptations in the animal world – growing a tail or a limb. Some lizards do it, salamanders do it, and by learning how they do it, we may soon be able to do it as well; with technology, that is. A team of researchers have discovered the genetic “recipe” for […]
While most of the hype is centered around biotech efforts that try to engineer human organs from scratch in the lab, a better idea might be to grow human-compatible organs in foreign hosts. Researchers at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health genetically modified pig hearts with some human […]
Most societies in Africa are leading an uphill battle in their attempt to ensure safety, good health and food security. But for African animals, it’s even worse. Poachers alone killed an estimated 100,000 elephants across Africa between 2010 and 2012, raising new concerns about the species’ survival. Poaching in Africa is huge – the term […]
I’ve given up on watching TV years ago – the occasional documentary or football game (guilty) once in a blue moon will do for me. But recently, there are fewer and fewer quality documentaries being shown on TV; not to say that there aren’t any awesome ones being made – there’s excellent documentaries coming out […]
Just like squirrels set aside some nuts for winter, so do arctic foxes – they hoard bird eggs and bury them in the Arctic permafrost for when they don’t have enough food. “It appears as if cached eggs are used as a backup for unpredictable changes in lemming numbers,” lead study author Gustaf Samelius of […]
After cleaning the Hudson River, which spills into New York harbor, marine biologists report increased sightings of whales and sharks around the Big Apple’s waters. The cleaner waters now harbor more fish and nutrients, which in turn has led to a surge in numbers. Dolphins and seals are also on the rise. The Hudson River used […]
A new study investigated the circumstances under which a 15-year-old kitesurfing male died after a tiger shark attacked him in the South Pacific. Their analysis suggests that attack took place mostly likely because the kitesurfer's motion was confused by the shark with a bird overtaking the water. In light of other similar shark attack cases, the researchers advise any kitesurfing in waters known to harbor sharks should be made with extreme care.
Scientists have managed to make the coloring of a butterfly species evolve from brown to purple in just six generations. This study shows that even complex coloring mechanisms can undergo fast rearrangements, potentially adapting quickly to outside stimuli.
An exceptional Biologists duo who have studying an ecosystem from the Galapagos Islands for the past 40 years have made one of the most important discoveries in evolutionary biology - the birth of a new species!
One can argue that zoos have no place in a civilized society; cheap entertainment with little educational value at the expense and suffering of countless animals. But let’s face it – they’re not going away any soon. So instead of abolishing them altogether how about radically transforming them? Bjarke Ingels is set on doing just that. […]
Scientists previously misclassified a golden bat which lives in Bolivia. This new study reemphasizes the importance of museum specimens, which can be used to draw new information about species thought to be understood.
Ruscosmos, the Russian space agency, recently launched geckos in space to see how zero gravity affects mating. The findings have much broader implications that extend humanity's ultimate goal of reaching for the stars.
Babies can learn what to fear from the first days of life simply by smelling their distressed mothers, a new study has shown. This doesn’t only work after the pregnancy, but also during it and even before – if a mother experiences something specific which makes her fearful. It’s the first direct observation of this […]
One of the oddest behavior biologists have witnessed is Inclusion Body Disease (IBD) – a fatal disease that affects captive pythons and boas causing them to tie themselves in knots they can’t untangle out of. The source of this extremely erratic and suicidal behavior was unknown until recently when researchers have found it is caused by […]
