A mysterious disease has been turning sea stars into goo since 2013. Now, there’s a leading suspect behind the killings — a bacterium called Vibrio pectenicida, researchers report August 4 in Nature Ecology &…
Category: Animals
Some probiotics could feed, rather than fend off, infections
Probiotics aren’t universally gut-friendly, a study in mice suggests. At least one type of usually beneficial gut bacteria may invite an unwanted guest. A single dose of Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria,…
Some killer whales hunt in pairs to maximize their bounty
Grabbing a meal with a friend is way better than dining solo — and killer whales agree. The whales prefer to hunt for herring in pairs, researchers report July 3…
This desert beetle runs to cool off
In the hot dunes of Southern Africa’s Namib Desert, the black beetle Onymacris plana runs fast for its tiny size. Turns out, the speed not only helps the beetles find…
Some penguins save energy by riding ocean currents
Sometimes, the best thing for a penguin is to go with the flow. Magellanic penguins change their strategy for navigating home based on the strength of ocean currents, researchers report…
A dog’s taste for TV may depend on its temperament
Maybe your Pomeranian is a little too into The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Your pit bull says he likes mixed martial arts, but really, he’s curled up in a…
A newly discovered cell helps pythons poop out the bones of their prey
Burmese pythons and other carnivorous snakes are well-known for swallowing their prey whole. But what comes out the other end doesn’t resemble what went in. There’s not a bone to…
Greenland sled dog DNA is a window into the Arctic’s archaeological past
A millennium-long story about Greenland is written in the genes of the island’s sled dogs. A new genomic analysis, published July 10 in Science, suggests that humans (and their sled dogs)…
As bird flu evolves, keeping it out of farm flocks is getting harder
H5N1 bird flu isn’t going away. In fact, the virus continues to spin off new versions that outcompete their predecessors, posing a challenge for keeping it from jumping into people,…
This bug’s all-in helicopter parenting reshaped its eggs
Parents will fret, even among bugs. And even among bugs, it’s complicated. Ferociously protective parenting has evolved four times among the pointy-faced, wide-bodied little leaf dwellers called shield bugs, researchers…
