WEIRD ANIMALS
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 …
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 …
