Animals
Let’s learn about animals’ bizarre sleep schedules
From reindeer that snooze while chewing to penguins that take thousands of naps each day, the animal kingdom has some truly weird sleep patterns.
HS-LS4-3
Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support explanations that organisms with an advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait.
More Stories in HS-LS4-3
- Animals
Horned lizards and snakes tend to ambush their prey
The reptiles’ horns could help or hinder during foraging, depending on how they hunt. This might be why horns evolved in some species and not others.
- Animals
Sleeping glass frogs go into stealth mode by hiding red blood cells
Glass frogs snoozing among leaves blend in by hiding almost all their red blood cells in their liver.
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These lemurs take nose-picking to a new level
A nose-picking aye-aye’s spindly middle digit probably pokes all the way into the back of the throat, CT scans show.
- Animals
When it’s hot, echidnas blow snot bubbles to cool off
These spiky Australian mammals have a trick to moisten their noses, allowing them to survive hot temperatures that should kill them.
- Animals
How can Baby Yoda be 50 years old?
Animals with wings, big bodies or other protections from predators are more likely to evolve long lifespans.
- Animals
Some young fruit flies’ eyeballs literally pop out of their heads
The first published photo shoot of developing Pelmatops flies shows how their eyes rise on gangly stalks in the first hour of adulthood.
- Health & Medicine
Should we use a genetic weapon against mosquitoes carrying malaria?
One gene drive to eliminate malaria seems to work in the lab. Now it’s time to ask local people if they want it released in the wild.
- Animals
Living mysteries: This critter has 38 times more DNA than you do
The genomes of salamanders are bloated with genetic “parasites.” That extra DNA slows down their lives and strands them in perpetual childhood.
- Animals
Analyze This: Bulky plesiosaurs may not have been bad swimmers after all
Long-necked plesiosaurs were thought to be slow swimmers. But new research suggests the animals’ large size helped them overcome water resistance.
