Scientists have long known that crows are exceedingly intelligent animals, but new evidence shows they may be getting smarter and evolving right before our eyes. Researchers at University of St. Andrews and University in Edinburgh in the UK tested a group of New Caledonian crows on their ability to make and use tools to acquire […] More
Well, we know who we’re inviting to our next rave. A recent study found that chameleon bones glow under UV light, in the first known instance of bone-based fluorescence in a vertebrate. A team of German researchers tested the UV light on 31 species of Calumma chameleons, which are native to Madagascar. They observed a bright blue glow […] More
Snow leopards are no longer officially an endangered species — but that doesn’t mean the cat is out of the woods yet. Scientists at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which maintains a “red list” of endangered species around the globe, recently reclassified the leopard species as “vulnerable,” because there are actually more snow […] More
And you thought raising human newborns was tough! Across Europe, Africa and Asia, Stegodyphus spiders reproduce in large nests that are home to a number of spider families. Among them, one species native to South Africa, Stegodyphus dumicola, feed their young in a pretty gruesome way. As females take longer to mature than males, only about 40 percent of the females reproduce. […] More
The Ili pika might be the cutest animal in the world. The teensy mammal, which looks something like a cross between a hamster, a bunny and a teddy bear, was first discovered in China’s Tianshan Mountains in the early 1980s. A scientist named Li Weidong found the first Ili pika in 1983 while studying infectious diseases […] More
Image: Wikimedia Commons There are big, bad things happening on our ice shelves. Emphasis on the big. In 2012, documentarians in Greenland filming the award-winning film “Chasing Ice” witnessed a 75-minute long record-breaking calving event. “Calving” is the term for a huge chunk of ice breaking off an ice sheet. The piece that broke off […] More
When you think migration, you may picture birds or whales. The largest migration on earth, though, includes much smaller creatures — a lot of them. A study published in the journal Science covers the seasonal migration of insects, which is almost eight times larger than the annual migration of birds that migrate from Britain to […] More
For millennia, humans have been comparing themselves to wolves. It’s not a big stretch; the way wolves behave in their packs isn’t too different from the way human social structures work in tribes and families. But there’s one comparison we’ve been getting wrong. The “alpha-male” stereotype conjures up aggression and strong, loud leadership. It’s someone […] More
Image: Wikimedia Commons Even when they find themselves in unfamiliar waters, sea turtles have a remarkable ability to find their way home. Now, scientists have a pretty amazing theory about their navigational skills; They may be using the sun to set their very accurate internal compasses. Scientists at James Cook University in Australia tagged 22 […] More
Sonograms are just adorable, right? Scientists have upped the cuteness (or maybe creepiness) by capturing the first-ever shark sonogram. Researchers Neil Hammerschlag of the University of Miami and James Sulikowski of the University of New England teamed up to perform an ultrasound on “Emily,” a 12-foot tiger shark who was pregnant with 20 tiny, squirmy, […] More
As if you needed a new reason to love elephants, they may soon be saving human lives. Scientists have replicated a protein found in the blood of elephants that may have cancer-curing properties. At the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah, oncologist Doctor Joshua Schiffman has been working with the protein for years. “Elephants almost never […] More
A warning for arachnophobes: there are very, very big spiders in this post. The Goliath birdeater tarantula is found in the South American rainforest and is the largest spider in the world. The size of a Goliath birdeater According to biologists, despite the name, it only rarely preys on adult birds. That makes sense, though. You need […] More
