Animals

  1. Animals

    Mates or survival: Which explains a bird’s color?

    When male birds are brightly colored, we assume that’s because their plumage attracts the gals. But a new study with thousands of museum specimens shows that sometimes survival is just as important a factor behind bird color.

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  2. Animals

    Scientists Say: Irruption

    Sometimes populations of animals can suddenly increase. The word for that is irruption.

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  3. Animals

    Why you’ll never see a dirty gecko

    By knowing how a gecko’s skin works, could self-cleaning, water-repelling, antibacterial clothes be far behind?

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  4. Animals

    News Brief: Rabbit-hunting pythons are altering Everglades

    Rabbits may breed rapidly, but not fast enough to compensate for the huge summer appetites of huge pythons roaming Florida’s Everglades.

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  5. Animals

    Finding out why birds are out of range

    Sometimes people see large numbers of birds outside of their normal range. A student examined how to predict these excursions.

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  6. Animals

    The social lives of whales

    New tools are giving scientists an unprecedented glimpse into the behaviors of whales and dolphins. And these new data are upending long-held assumptions.

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  7. Animals

    Where an ant goes when it’s gotta go

    The black garden ant has been spotted defecating inside its own nest. Scientists now characterize these spots as ant toilets.

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  8. Animals

    Penguins? How tasteless

    Penguins may look all dressed up in tuxedo-wear, but their taste buds are the bare minimum. This means that the birds will never sense more than a hint of their meals’ true flavors.

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  9. Physics

    Eyelashes: The ‘sweet’ length

    New mathematical and aerodynamics studies find what seems to be the optimal length for eyelashes — the length that protects best. And surprise: Longer is not always better.

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  10. Animals

    Ocean animals have mushroomed in size

    Compared to a half-billion year ago, sea creatures are, on average, roughly 150 times bigger, a new study finds.

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  11. Animals

    Cats and foxes are eating up Australia’s mammals

    Since the arrival of Europeans in Australia, a startling number of mammal species have disappeared. A new study puts much of the blame on cats and foxes introduced by the early settlers.

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  12. Animals

    Orangutans take the low road

    Cameras spotted orangutans walking down logging roads to get around. That may be a good sign that they can adapt to changes in their woodsy environment.

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