Do you peel bananas from the top or bottom? One elephant goes with a third option. When handed a slightly browning banana, Pang Pha, an Asian elephant at Zoo Berlin,…
Category: Animals
A massive cavern beneath a West Antarctic glacier is teeming with life
The coastal plain of the Kamb Ice Stream, a West Antarctic glacier, hardly seems like a coast at all. Stand in this place, 800 kilometers from the South Pole, and…
Comb jellies have a bizarre nervous system unlike any other animal
Shimmering, gelatinous comb jellies wouldn’t appear to have much to hide. But their mostly see-through bodies cloak a nervous system unlike that of any other known animal, researchers report in…
Northern elephant seals sleep just two hours a day at sea
Northern elephant seals are the true masters of the power nap. On long trips out to sea, the seals snooze less than 20 minutes at a time, researchers report in…
Urchins are dying off across the Caribbean. Scientists now know why
Since early 2022, sea urchins have been mysteriously dying off across the Caribbean. Now scientists say they have identified the main culprit: a type of relatively large, single-celled marine microorganism…
Octopus, squid and cuttlefish arms evolved to ‘taste’ different compounds
People have different tastes. It turns out that octopuses, squid and cuttlefish do too. These soft-bodied cephalopods have proteins on suckers along their tentacles that allow them to “taste” by…
Hibernating bears don’t get blood clots. Now scientists know why
People stuck sitting in tight airplane seats for an entire long-haul flight are at risk of dangerous blood clots. But somehow immobile, hibernating bears are not. Now scientists know why.…
Freshwater leeches’ taste for snails could help control snail-borne diseases
Leeches might seem like relics of a bygone age of medicine, but they haven’t outlived their usefulness to people yet. The freshwater leech Helobdella austinensis can eat its weight in…
The last leg of the longest butterfly migration has now been identified
Every year, painted lady butterflies born in Europe embark south on an epic journey to Africa. Now, researchers know exactly where on the continent these long-haul travelers spend their winter…
This sea cucumber shoots sticky tubes out of its butt. Its genes hint at how
Some lizards shed their still-wriggling tails to distract predators, but sea cucumbers take this sort of strategy to the next level. Some startled sea cucumbers shoot a silky — and…
