Turns out there is rest for the wicked: Sleepy mosquitoes are more likely to catch up on missed z’s than drink blood, a new study finds. Most people are familiar…
Category: Animals
How mammals took over the world
The Rise and Reign of the MammalsSteve BrusatteMariner Books, $29.99 In my opinion, the most satisfying science documentary TV series ever made was a 1970s British production called Connections. Hosted…
Trained dogs sniff out COVID-19 as well as lab tests do
Dogs are as reliable as laboratory tests for detecting COVID-19 cases, and may be even better than PCR tests for identifying infected people who don’t have symptoms. A bonus: The…
An ‘acoustic camera’ shows joining the right boy band boosts a frog’s sex appeal
Loud sounds matter in both car design and frog flirting. So New Hampshire biologists lugged an acoustic camera used by car designers to springtime frog-mating pools to explore female preferences.…
High altitudes may be a climate refuge for some birds, but not these hummingbirds
Cooler, higher locales may not be very welcoming to some hummingbirds trying to escape rising temperatures and other effects of climate change. Anna’s hummingbirds live no higher than about 2,600…
‘Wandering’ salamanders glide like skydivers from the world’s tallest trees
In one of the tallest trees on Earth, a tan, mottled salamander ventures out on a fern growing high up on the trunk. Reaching the edge, the amphibian leaps, like…
These dolphins may turn to corals for skin care
On her deep-sea dives, wildlife biologist Angela Ziltener of the University of Zurich often noticed Indo-Pacific bottlenosed dolphins doing something intriguing. The dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) would line up to take…
A ‘mystery monkey’ in Borneo may be a rare hybrid. That has scientists worried
Six years ago, tour guide Brenden Miles was traveling down the Kinabatangan River in the Malaysian part of Borneo, when he spotted an odd-looking primate he had never seen before.…
Experiments hint at why bird nests are so sturdy
To build its nest, a bird won’t go for any old twig. Somehow, birds pick and choose material that will create a cozy, sturdy nest. “That’s just totally mystifying to…
Baby marmosets may practice their first distinctive cries in the womb
Cradled inside the hushed world of the womb, fetuses might be preparing to come out howling. In the same way newborn humans can cry as soon as they’re born, common…
