The discovery of bird flu in dairy cow milk highlighted a previously overlooked target for the H5N1 virus: mammary glands. A new study suggests it’s not unique to cows. An…
Category: Animals
The last woolly mammoths offer new clues to why the species went extinct
Four thousand years ago, on an island off the coast of what is now Siberia, the world’s last woolly mammoth took its final breath. Living on that island, isolated from…
Beneficial bacteria help these marine worms survive extreme cold
Antarctic marine worms survive with a little help from their bacterial friends. Close relatives of earthworms, polychaetes are some of the most common animals on the ocean floor, but how…
Can leeches leap? New video may help answer that debate
A chance video by a grad student relishing her first big field trip might help resolve an argument that’s raged among biologists for more than a century. The question: Can…
‘Cull of the Wild’ questions sacrificing wildlife in the name of conservation
In his new book, ecologist Hugh Warwick seeks middle ground in the waging battle that is wildlife management.
Fossil finds amplify Europe’s status as a hotbed of great ape evolution
Two lines of ancient apes, including what may be the smallest great ape yet, lived alongside each other in Europe, fossils discovered in a Bavarian clay pit indicate. It’s the…
Horses may have been domesticated twice. Only one attempt stuck
Horse power may have revved up about four millennia ago. Horses were domesticated at least twice, researchers report June 6 in Nature. Genetic data suggest Botai hunter-gatherers in Central Asia…
Bird flu can infect cats. What does that mean for their people?
Cats are getting — and dying of — bird flu. That’s sparking worries about the risk that the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza poses for these feline…
A built-in pocket protector keeps sawfish from ‘sword fighting’ in the womb
Smalltooth sawfish develop their signature, long, tooth-lined snout while still in the womb. The needle-sharp teeth are encased in a specialized sheath that prevents the rays from cutting up their…
Human body lice could harbor the plague and spread it through biting
Rats and their fleas take the rap for spreading the plague, but lice that infest people may share the blame. Human body lice can harbor plague-causing bacteria and can transmit…
