WEIRD ANIMALS
Lobsters, birds and some primates use quarantine to ward off infections. Credit: Nick Kilner – In Brief – Despite how unnatural social distancing may feel to people, it is very much a part of the natural world, practiced by mammals, fishes, insects and …
Polina Bright / Shutterstock – By Tracey Anne Duncan Updated: 2020 Jul 13 – When my now 10-year-old cat, Cabbage, was but a wee kitten, I tried to teach her to walk on a leash. She would slink under cars and pull and …
Scientists have developed a new formula for calculating the physical age of dogs. pitrs10/Depositphotos – By Nick Lavars 2020 Jul 05 – For a rough idea of a dog’s physiological age, a popular approach is to simply multiply its actual age by seven, but …
In a study of 78 kitties, researchers concluded our feline friends can differentiate their names out of a series of random words. Skippy, the author’s cat, is generally an attentive listener. (Courtesy of Linda Burakoff) – By Maddie Burakoff 2019 Apr 05 – …
Researchers found that wild rufous hummingbirds could remember which flower in a sequence held nectar. A Rufous Hummingbird sips on the nectar from an Orange Justicia plant in California (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times via Getty Image) – By Theresa Machemer, SmithsonianMag.Com …
Possible outbreaks in China and Mongolia have brought bans on hunting and eating the rodents, which can carry the disease. Marmots in western China. Authorities in Mongolia have warned the animals may be carrying bubonic plague. Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters – Reuters, last modified …
Image from Shutterstock – By Ian M. Mackay, Adjunct assistant professor, The University of Queensland 2020 Jul 01– Researchers have found a new strain of flu virus with “pandemic potential” in China that can jump from pigs to humans, triggering a suite of …
White polka-dotted black zebra foal spotted in Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. This portrait… Frank Liu – By GrrlScientist, Senior Contributor Science Rare Zebra Foal — With Polka-Dots!! — Spotted In Kenya | @GrrlScientist – A newborn zebra foal with bizarre …
By Michael Irving, 2020 Jun 17 – An artist’s impression of a mosasaur laying a soft-shelled egg, with a hatchling born soon after – Francisco Hueichaleo, 2020 – A strange fossil discovered in Antarctica almost a decade ago has finally been identified. Researchers …
Experiments reveal the tiny birds can see “non-spectral” colors that blend ultraviolet light with colors humans can see to create distinct hues we can’t. A male Broad-tailed Hummingbird photographed at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, where researchers conducted field experiments …
