On a hot day, a few glugs from a park drinking fountain can be a major relief — and some of Sydney’s cockatoos agree. The brainy city-dwelling parrots have figured…
Category: Animals
How luna moths grow extravagant wings
For the first time, biologists have linked the ribbony “tails” streaming from big, green luna moths’ hind wings with, of all things, a cozy climate. Those dangling wing tails rank…
Genetics might save the rare, elusive saola — if it’s not already extinct
It’s not looking good for the saola. If it still exists, it is one of the world’s rarest large mammals — a deerlike creature from the mountainous rainforests of Vietnam…
Bedbugs may have been one of the first urban pests
The earliest cities may have had plenty of parasitic, six-legged tenants. Common bedbugs (Cimex lectularius) experienced a dramatic jump in population size around the time humans congregated in the first…
The first cicada concert was 47 million years ago
The oldest known fossil of a singing cicada reveals that these insects were making music during the Eocene epoch — long before humans existed. The fossil represents a new cicada…
Penguin poop gives Antarctic cloud formation a boost
Penguins’ poop may be making Antarctica cloudier — and helping mitigate the regional impacts of climate change. Gases emitted from the birds’ guano are supplying key chemical ingredients to form…
Juvenile capuchins are kidnapping infants of another monkey species
There’s a serious case of stranger danger unfolding on an island off the coast of Panama. A gang of five juvenile capuchin monkeys living on Jicarón Island has started abducting…
A ‘talking’ ape’s death signals the end of an era
Kanzi showed apes have the capacity for language, but in recent years scientists have questioned the ethics of ape experiments.
Some science seems silly, but it’s still worthwhile
The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating FrogCarly Anne YorkBasic Books, $30 What’s the purpose of your study? It’s the question many basic-science researchers dread. And it’s the question that Carly…
What gene makes orange cats orange? Scientists figured it out
Researchers found the gene and genetic variation behind orange fur in most domestic cats, solving a decades-long mystery.
