Owning a Dire Wolf
Real dire wolves (Canis dirus) died out 10,000 years ago. They were more robustly built than modern gray wolves, weighing a quarter more, and able to take down the megafauna prey of their time. The...
View ArticleFemales and Eating Disorders
Females are four to 10 times more likely than males to have an eating disorder — presumably because of social pressure to be thin. But female rats are also much more likely than male rats to have an...
View ArticleThe Complex and Pathogen-Laden World of Ticks
Carl Zimmer examines the complex and pathogen-laden world of ticks: Foxes were originally very abundant in the eastern United States, where they feasted on small mammals like white-footed mice. But the...
View ArticleWild Game
In 1903, the King of Chefs, Chef of Kings, Auguste Escoffier, wrote his 646-page cookbook, Le Guide Culinaire. When hunter Steven Rinella got a copy, he decided to plan a feast: I scoured the pages of...
View ArticleCrazy Ants Are Displacing Fire Ants
Crazy ants are displacing fire ants — and people want their fire ants back: The Tawny crazy ant invasion is the most recent in a series of ant invasions from South America brought on by human movement....
View ArticleNavy dolphins discover Howell torpedo off Coronado
The US Navy trains dolphins and sea lions to find mines — something I noted, good Lord, over a decade ago! — and recently some Navy dolphins discovered a Howell torpedo off Coronado: Until recently...
View ArticleTime Passes Very Slowly
Paul Templar worked as a guide on the Zambezi river near Victoria Falls, and he knew the local hippos: That day I’d taken clients out with three apprentice guides — Mike, Ben and Evans — all in kayaks....
View ArticleA Glamorous Killer Returns
A glamorous killer returns to its ancestral hunting grounds: Long ago the Inca called them puma, but today — though they belong to only one species — they have many names. In Arizona they are known as...
View ArticleGenetically Loaded Pupfish
The Devils Hole pupfish is dying out, and the only solution is heresy: West of Pahrump, Nevada, in a corner of the Mojave Desert a couple thousand feet above Death Valley, a warm aquifer provides a...
View ArticleDietary Fructose Causes Liver Damage in Monkeys
Dietary fructose causes liver damage in monkeys: In a previous trial which is referenced in the current journal article, Kavanagh’s team studied monkeys who were allowed to eat as much as they wanted...
View ArticleArchaeopteryx Plumage
Archaeopteryx had light feathers with dark edges and tips, rather than all-black feathers, a new x-ray study suggests: Only 11 specimens of Archaeopteryx have been found, the first one consisting of a...
View ArticleThe Nearly Effortless Flight of the Albatross
The wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) travels long distances over open water with no thermal updrafts through a process of dynamic soaring: Just watch an albatross, and you can easily discriminate...
View ArticleThree-soda-a-day sugar habit could be toxic
It’s hard to believe, I know, but a three-soda-a-day sugar habit could be toxic: Researchers found that male mice fed a diet with 25 percent extra sugar — equivalent to about an additional three cans...
View ArticleWhy does a rabbit flash its white tail when its being chased?
Some prey animals, like rabbits and deer, feature flashy white tails, because they confuse predators: Because these white tails are very noticeable, predators focus on these bright spots — but at the...
View ArticleSingle gene change increases mouse lifespan by 20 percent
Researchers at NIH have extended the lifespan of mice by 20 percent by lowering the expression of a single gene, the mTOR gene: The researchers engineered mice that produce about 25 percent of the...
View ArticleMigaloo the White Humpback Whale
Migaloo the white humpback whale was first spotted in 1991 along the Queensland coast in Australia and has since gained a following:
View ArticleThe Jellies Are Taking Over
The jellies are taking over! In November 2009 a net full of gigantic jellyfish, the largest of which weighed over 450 pounds, capsized a Japanese trawler, throwing the three-man crew into the ocean....
View ArticleCamera Traps
Linda Kerley of the Zoological Society of London and Jonathan Slaght of the Wildlife Conservation Society have been using camera traps for six years to monitor Amur tigers in the Lazovskii State Nature...
View ArticleGiant-Hornet Attacks
Dozens have died and hundreds have been injured in giant-hornet attacks in central China: The hornet attacks are a recurring problem in the area from May to as late as November. According to Ankang...
View ArticleToad vs Bat
A park ranger at Peru’s Cerros de Amotape National Park spotted a bat flying into a cane toad’s open mouth: The toad failed to swallow the bat whole, and it flew away.
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