WEIRD ANIMALS
By Loz Blain – An artist’s impression of Elpistostege as it may have looked nearly 400 million years ago. Katrina Kenny. – Described as “the missing evolutionary link in the fish to tetrapod transition,” a fascinating Canadian fossil reveals an ancient fish species with …
By Nick Lavars – Scientists have found that gut bacteria in waxworms is a key driver of their appetite for plastic. Brandon University. – Plastic pollution is a monumental issue and one that isn’t going away anytime soon, but researchers are opening …
By Nick Lavars – A new study has revealed that dogs can sense radiant heat using their noses. loriklaszlo/Depositphotos. – It is well known that dogs boast an incredible sense of smell, but new research has uncovered another way our four-legged friends use their …
By Ellen Welti, Postdoctoral Researcher of Biology, University of Oklahoma – Grasshoppers, like many insects around the world, are declining. Dave Rintoul, CC BY-ND. – The big idea – Grasshopper populations, like those of many other insects, are declining. My colleagues and I …
By David Szondy – A CT scan of the skull of Oculudentavis, which means eye-tooth-bird, so named for its distinctive features. Lars Schmitz. – A tiny, 99-million-year-old skull found in a piece of Burmese amber in Myanmar may not only be the smallest known …
Alba, who was captured and caged in 2017, underwent nearly two years of rehabilitation. (BOSF 2020/Indrayana) – By Brigit Katz, SmithsonianMag.Com – Last month, conservationists released three rehabilitated orangutans into Indonesia’s Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park. While monitoring one of the primates, …
By Anthony Wood – A foraging bumblebee. Tara Cox / Imperial College London. – Pesticide contamination may be responsible for triggering abnormal brain development in baby bumblebees, according to the results of a new scientific paper. Researchers scanned the brains of 92 worker bees …
There have been only two other documented instances of interspecies adoption—and never between animals that strongly compete for resources in the wild. The mother lion, her lion cubs and her adopted spotted leopard baby, all got along just fine. (Dheeraj Mittal/Deputy Conservator of …
It’s changing the definition of what an animal can be. By Scottie Andrew, CNN – These are the spores of a game-changing parasite called Henneguya salminicola. It’s the first animal found that doesn’t breathe oxygen. – You’d think all animals would need oxygen …
By Joel Berger, Colorado State University and Jon Beckmann, University of Nevada, Reno – Bighorn sheep on grassland in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Joel Berger, CC BY-ND. – In the grip of winter, the North American prairies can look deceptively barren. But many …
