Animals News

August 20, 2016

Calls to Eggs Help Birds Adapt to Warmer World?

Removing Invasive Species Saves Island Animals

How Small Populations Fight Back

Pre-Hispanic Mexicans Bred and Managed Rabbits

Latest Headlines

updated 11:50am EDT

'Ecosystem Canaries' Provide Early Warning Signs of Catastrophic Changes to Ecosystems

Aug. 18, 2016 — 'Ecosystem canaries' can provide early warning signals of large, potentially catastrophic, changes or tipping points in ... read more

How Norovirus Gets Inside Cells: New Clues

Aug. 18, 2016 — Researchers have identified the protein that norovirus uses to invade cells. Norovirus is the most common viral cause of diarrhea worldwide, but scientists still know little ... read more

Insecticide Treatment of Cattle to Kill Sand Flies and Combat Leishmaniasis

Aug. 18, 2016 — With an estimated 500,000 human infections and 50,000 deaths annually, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the second most prevalent parasitic killer, behind malaria. Leishmania parasites are transmitted ... read more

Mix of Marine Zones Matters Most for Prey Fish

Aug. 17, 2016 — In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists have discovered a mosaic mix of marine zones could benefit populations of prey ... read more

Canine Babesiosis Outbreak in UK Under Control, but Needs Monitoring

Aug. 18, 2016 — Scientists are using the health records of dogs to monitor the status of a potentially fatal tick-borne disease that appears to have been imported into the ... read more

Two Barbados Bird Species Enter the Select Club of String-Pullers

Aug. 17, 2016 — The Barbados bullfinch and Carib grackle can pass the popular animal cognition test of string-pulling, but this ability may be unrelated to performance on six other cognitive ... read more

Snake Eyes: New Insights Into Visual Adaptations

Aug. 16, 2016 — New insights into the relationship between ultraviolet (UV) filters and hunting methods in snakes is one of the findings of the first major study of visual pigment genes and ... read more

Neonicotinoid Insecticides Linked to Wild Bee Decline Across England

Aug. 16, 2016 — Exposure to neonicotinoid seed treated oilseed rape crops has been linked to long-term population decline of wild bee species across the English countryside, according to ... read more

Female Fish Can Favor Sperm from Preferred Males Despite External Fertilization

Aug. 16, 2016 — Biologists studying a small, colorful fish in the Mediterranean Sea have discovered a new way in which a female can choose ... read more

New Species of Extinct River Dolphin Discovered in Smithsonian Collection

Aug. 16, 2016 — A fossil that has been in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History since it was discovered in 1951 is today helping scientists piece together ... read more

Vienna Zoo Hails Rare Birth of Tiny Giant Panda Twins

An English Zoo Says It Is The First To Breed This Rare Type Of Spider

The Heat In NYC Means Cockroaches Are Flying, So That's Horrifying

Rare Tarantulas Hatch in Captivity at Chester Zoo

Elbows of Extinct Marsupial Lion Suggest Unique Hunting Style

Aug. 16, 2016 — Scientists have proposed that the long extinct marsupial lion hunted in a very unique way - by using its teeth to hold prey before dispatching them with its huge ... read more

Luna Moth's Long Tail Could Confuse Bat Sonar Through Its Twist

Aug. 15, 2016 — A detailed look at how sound waves bounce off a flying moth’s body offers new clues for how its long, twisted tail might help it evade predatory ... read more

Bug Collecting: Mapping North American Groups of Plant-Feeding Insects

Aug. 12, 2016 — Amateur and professional entomologists are experts at their own version of Pokémon Go. After all, part of their job is to search for and collect rare insect species that are stored in the archives ... read more

The Aztec Treasure Unearthed: New Earth Snake Species Discovered in Mexico

Aug. 11, 2016 — A new gem has been added to the vast treasure of Mexican reptiles. Scientists recently described a new and strikingly colored species of earth snake from the mountains of Puebla and Veracruz in ... read more

Rain Frog That Turned Into a Sleeping Beauty Is a New Species from the Peruvian Andes

Aug. 11, 2016 — A new species of rain frog was discovered in the premontane forests of the Peruvian central Andes. Referring to the mountain chain's local name, the amphibian's name translates to ... read more

Lions in West and Central Africa Apparently Unique

Aug. 11, 2016 — Lions in West and Central Africa form a unique group, only distantly related to lions in East and Southern Africa, biologists have ... read more

Orangutan Able to Guess a Taste Without Sampling It, Just Like Us

Aug. 11, 2016 — Without having tasted a new juice mix before, an orangutan in a Swedish zoo has enough sense to know whether it will taste nice or not based on how he recombined relevant memories from the past. Only ... read more

Surveys of Corn, Soybean Fields Reveal Implications for Pollinator Conservation

Aug. 11, 2016 — What kind of insect pollinators are commonly found in corn and soybean fields? The answer to that question can be found in a new article, say researchers who used modified pan traps to compare the ... read more

Many Endangered Species Face Long Waits for Protection

Aug. 10, 2016 — The Endangered Species Act was enacted by Congress in 1973 to protect species threatened with extinction. To receive protection, a species must first be listed as endangered or threatened. A two-year ... read more

First Validated Canine Behavioral Genetics Findings of Nine Fear, Aggression Traits in Dogs

Aug. 10, 2016 — Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness in the United States. And while much is understood about the biochemistry of anxiety, little is known about the genetic variation ... read more

Total Number of Neurons -- Not Enlarged Prefrontal Region -- Hallmark of Human Brain

Aug. 10, 2016 — New study has determined that the total number of neurons, not an enlarged prefrontal region, differentiates the human brain from those of other ... read more

New Analysis Shows Threats to 8,000 Red List Species

Aug. 10, 2016 — Less than a month away from the kick-off the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii, a team of scientists reports that three quarters of the world's threatened species are imperiled because ... read more

How Climate Change Will Hurt Humanity's Closest Cousins

Aug. 10, 2016 — The consequences of climate change are an increasing concern for humans around the world. How will we cope with rising sea levels and climbing temperatures? But it's not just humans who will be ... read more

Galápagos Faces First-Ever Bird Extinction

Aug. 10, 2016 — Scientists have discovered a new species of colorful songbird in the Galápagos Islands, with one catch: it's extinct. Researchers used molecular data from samples of museum specimens to ... read more

Stress Bites! Researchers Study Mosquito/bird Interactions

Aug. 10, 2016 — When researchers investigated how the stress hormone, corticosterone, affects how birds cope with West Nile virus, they found that birds with higher levels of stress hormone were twice as likely to ... read more

Tracing the Evolution of Bird Reproduction

Aug. 10, 2016 — What really came first -- the chicken or the egg? Birds' reproductive biology is dramatically different from that of any other living vertebrates, and scientists have long wondered how and when ... read more

Stowaway Frogs Being Stopped by Border Security

Aug. 10, 2016 — An analysis of stowaway frogs coming into Australia has shown that strict biosecurity measures at borders and within the country are reducing the risk of introduction of new diseases by up to 50 ... read more

Study Pushes Back the Origin of HIV-Related Retroviruses to 60 Million Years Ago

Aug. 9, 2016 — A research group has used genomic data from the exotic Malayan flying lemur (colugo) to uncover the oldest lentivirus ever identified, whose first emergence may date to as early as 60 million years ... read more

Many More Species at Risk from Southeast Asia Tree Plantations, Study Finds

Aug. 9, 2016 — As more of Southeast Asia's forests are cleared for tree plantations, a study finds that 42 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species endemic to the region's forests face a higher risk ... read more

Why Are New England's Wild Blue Mussels Disappearing?

Aug. 9, 2016 — The Gulf of Maine coastline, historically home to one of the richest shellfish populations in the US, is undergoing a dramatic change, with once-flourishing wild blue mussels all but disappearing, ... read more

Tuesday, August 16, 2016