Be it an arched eyebrow, a shaken head or a raised finger, humans wordlessly communicate complex ideas through gestures every day. This ability is rare in the animal kingdom, having…
Category: Animals
Dogs know words for their favorite toys
Dogs may know more than they let on. Pet dogs’ brains displayed neural signs of surprise when their owners showed them an unexpected toy. The findings, published March 22 in…
American bullfrogs may be threatening a rare frog species in Brazil
American bullfrog DNA has turned up not far from the only known habitat of Pithecopus rusticus — a small, critically endangered tree frog that lives in Brazil. Bullfrogs are native…
Daddy longlegs look like they have two eyes. That doesn’t count the hidden ones
Despite its two-eyed appearance, Phalangium opilio has six peepers. The four optical remnants shed light on the arachnids’ evolutionary history.
Male dragonflies’ wax coats might protect them against a warming climate
Some male dragonflies have a waxy coat that keeps them cool while pursuing mates and may also help the insects shrug off a warming climate. U.S. dragonfly species that produce…
Male mammals aren’t always bigger than females
The idea that male mammals tend to be larger than females has been scientific dogma since Darwin. Bigger bodies, the thinking goes, are better in the battle to win the…
Newfound bee species help solve a decades-old mystery
In 1965, renowned bee biologist Charles Michener described a new species of masked bee from “an entirely unexpected region,” the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia. Michener named the bee Hylaeus…
Older monarch caterpillars binge on toxic milkweed goo
Maybe science has misunderstood the dining style of big monarch butterfly caterpillars. What insect watchers have called defense against the toxic latex a milkweed plant oozes may not be avoidance…
This is the first egg-laying amphibian found to feed its babies ‘milk’
In the middle of the night in a humid coastal rainforest, a litter of pink, hairless babies snuggle with their mother. They stir and squeak for milk, their mother obliges,…
How air pollution can make it harder for pollinators to find flowers
Air pollution may blunt the signature scents of some night-blooming flowers, jeopardizing pollination. When the aroma of a pale evening primrose encounters certain pollutants in the night air, the pollutants…
