Animals

Animals

Three simple rules guide fire ants in building towers

Fire ants build towers of ants to protect themselves during a flood. New research reveals the simple rules that guide how they do this, no foreman needed.

Ecosystems

As trees come down, some hidden homes are disappearing

Animals such as frogs, toucans and possums live in tree hollows. But as people have cut down trees, a wildlife housing shortage has developed in some places.

Fossils

Camo might have helped this armored dinosaur avoid becoming lunch

An armored dinosaur the size of a Japanese sedan also wore camouflage, a new analysis of its skin suggests.

Animals

Whales feast when hatcheries release salmon

Humpback whales are visiting sites where hatcheries release juvenile salmon in Alaska. It’s a dining bonanza for the huge whales.

Animals

Scientists Say: Dire wolf

Dire wolves are an extinct species of wolf that roamed North America from about 300,000 to 12,000 years ago.

Animals

These sharks get help swallowing from their shoulders

Some sharks suck in food by snapping open their jaws. But to gulp it all the way down, they’ve got to give their shoulders a workout.

Animals

What do animals do during a solar eclipse?

A citizen-science experiment used the Great American Eclipse of 2017 to gather the largest dataset ever of animal responses to a sun-block.

Animals

Giant Antarctic sea spiders breathe really strangely

Sea spiders have many bizarre body systems. Scientists have now discovered that they breathe and circulate oxygen in a way never seen before.

Animals

This tiny animal is apocalypse-proof

Microscopic animals called water bears can survive nearly any kind of apocalypse, from asteroids and nuclear war to exploding stars.

Animals

Humpbacks flap their flippers like underwater birds

Surprising new video shows humpback whales flapping their front flippers to move their massive bodies toward their prey.

Animals

Could a dragonfly’s wings be alive — and breathing?

Highly magnified image showing what looks like breathing tubes suggests the morpho dragonfly’s wings may be unexpectedly alive.

Environment

Night lights have a dark side

Artificial light at night not only affects our view of the night sky, but also has the ability to impair animal behaviors — and probably our health.