WEIRD ANIMALS
Researchers suspect a genetic mutation may have gifted the giant fish, named Inspector Clouseau, his rosy hue. Inspector Clouseau, the world’s only known pink manta ray (Kristian Laine / Instagram). By Katherine J. Wu, smithsonianmag.com – Just in time for the rosiest holiday …
By Joanna McKittrick and Jae-Young Jung – Slamming a beak against the trunk of a tree would seem like an activity that would cause headaches, jaw aches and serious neck and brain injuries. Yet woodpeckers can do this 20 times per second and …
By Nick Lavars – The idea of seals clapping may not seem all that surprising, but it has never been observed underwater in the wild before. Paradoxdes/Depositphotos. – Different creatures seek to attract mates in different ways, whether that be a peacock spreading …
By Michael Irving – A honeybee with a parasitic Varroa mite attached to its back. Alex Wild / University of Texas at Austin. – The world is losing huge numbers of honeybees to colony collapse disorder (CCD), which has devastating implications for global ecosystems …
By Scottie Andrew, CNN – So — some sharks walk. Just not the scary ones. While great whites haunt the deep, walking sharks are content to scuttle in the shallows. – They’ve been walking, or something close to it, for at least 9 …
Stunned by chilly weather, the invasive lizards were dropping out of trees in the Sunshine State. Despite how this iguana looks, it is actually not dead, just cold-stunned. It will likely thaw-out as the sun warms it back up. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel …
Thousands of bodies washed up on North America’s Pacific coast. Study finds common murres probably died of starvation. Dead common murres lie washed up on a rocky beach in Whittier, Alaska, on 7 January 2016. Photograph: Mark Thiessen/AP – By Kenya Evelyn in …
A new study has found that the animals use distinct vocalizations across a range of emotional contexts. Researcher Alexandra Green, recording cows (Lynne Gardner/University of Sydney). By Brigit Katz, Smithsonianmag.com – Should you encounter a herd of cows munching on a field of …
Toxoplasma gondii infections don’t just make mice afraid of cats. They get reckless with all sorts of other stuff, too. For decades, researchers have known that mice infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii lose their fear of cats. But there may be more …
It’s the first time magnetoreception has been discovered in animals, researchers claim. By Philip Perry – Migrating geese. Credit: Getty Images. One of the longest running mysteries is exactly how birds navigate when they fly south for the winter or back come …
