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A male giant panda named Xiao Liwu at San Diego Zoo, California, the United States. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Giant Pandas Gain More Weight when Eating Bamboo Shoots: Study

Jan 20, 2022 by News Staff

Shifts in the gut microbiota of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in the season when nutritious bamboo shoots become available helps the herbivorous...

Crossota millsae is one of the most colorful residents of the ocean’s midnight zone. Image credit: MBARI.

Psychedelic Jellies Caught on Video in Monterey Canyon

Jan 18, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Marine biologists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have observed several species of the jellyfish genus Crossota in Monterey Bay,...

The nests of the Jonah’s icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah) in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Image credit: Purser et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.12.022.

Marine Biologists Discover Enormous Breeding Colony of Icefish

Jan 17, 2022 by Natali Anderson

A vast breeding colony of a fish species called the Jonah’s icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah) has been discovered in the southern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. The...

The Greta Thunberg’s rainfrog (Pristimantis gretathunbergae). Image credit: Konrad Mebert.

New Rainfrog Species Found in Panama

Jan 13, 2022 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists has described a new species of the rainfrog genus Pristimantis from the cloud forests of Panama and named it after...

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is one of few mammalian species to develop adaptations for scavenging. Image credit: A. Ananda.

Tasmanian Devils are Unique among Scavenging Mammals, Study Shows

Jan 12, 2022 by News Staff

Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) — one of the few mammalian species to have developed physiological and behavioral specializations for scavenging...

Infrared thermographic image taken from FLIR Tools, showing an aggressive encounter between two juvenile pheasants (middle right of the image). The scale at the top indicates the color coding of temperatures, while the red, upwards-pointing triangles automatically pinpoint the maximum temperature within a selection box drawn manually around each pheasant’s head. Here, the aggressor on the left (Bx1), with a maximum head temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius, has just delivered an aggressive peck to the recipient on the right (Bx2), who has a maximum head temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius. The background reference temperature is 26.5 degrees Celsius, taken from a white plastic drinker filled with water (Sp1), suspended above the pen floor (top left of image). Image credit: Sophia et al., doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0442.

Study: Aggressive Interactions Induce Rapid Temperature Changes in Pheasants

Jan 10, 2022 by News Staff

In a new study, researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of Plymouth monitored thermographic changes in captive flocks of juvenile...

Chou et al. found that Bacillus subtilis, a bacterium found in soil, creates concentric rings reminiscent of developmental stripes created by a segmentation clock; they discovered that bacterial biofilms use a clock-and-wavefront process for cell patterning similar to plants and animals. Image credit: Kwang-Tao Chou.

Bacterial Communities are More Advanced than Previously Thought

Jan 6, 2022 by News Staff

Biologists from the University of California San Diego and elsewhere have found that biofilm cells are organized in elaborate patterns, a feature previously...

This SEM image depicts a clump of yellow-colored, spheroid shaped Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that were enmeshed in a blue-colored, filamentous extracellular matrix, which normally binds cells together within the body’s various tissue types. Image credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Appeared in Hedgehogs in Pre-Antibiotic Era, Study Shows

Jan 5, 2022 by News Staff

The discovery of antibiotics more than 80 years ago has led to considerable improvements in human and animal health. Although antibiotic resistance in...

Habitat and large-sized plant of Begonia giganticaulis: (A) habitat showing plants (arrows indicate) growing along stream bank; (B) flowering plant growing along slope of valley; (C) one of the tallest individuals with Professor Dai-Ke Tian. Image credit: Dai-Ke Tian / Shi-Wei Guo / Qing-Gong Mao.

Giant New Species of Begonia Discovered in Tibet

Jan 3, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Scientists have described a huge new species of the genus Begonia from southern Tibet, China. Habitat and large-sized plant of Begonia giganticaulis: (A)...

Grapes (Vitis vinifera). Image credit: Gerhard G.

European Wine Grapes Originated in Western Asia, Study Suggests

Dec 29, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

European wine grapes (Vitis vinifera) originated from the hybridization of western Asian-domesticated table grapes and local wild relatives, according...

Maeda et al. took aerial photos of individual horses that appeared in pre-fixed areas and collected positional data. Image credit: Maeda et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79790-1.

Study: Feral Horses Form Complex Multilevel Societies

Dec 29, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Kyoto University and the Université de Strasbourg has applied drone techniques for the observation of feral horses living in...

Microscopic cysts containing Toxoplasma gondii develop in the tissues of many vertebrates. Here, in mouse brain tissue, thousands of bradyzoites (stained red) are enveloped by a thin parasite cyst wall. Image credit: Jitinder P. Dubey.

New Study Shows How Dormant Toxoplasma Parasites Manipulate Neurons to Survive

Dec 27, 2021 by News Staff

Toxoplasma gondii develops a latent infection in the muscle and central nervous system that acts as a reservoir for acute-stage reactivation in vulnerable...

New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) are particularly careful when handling their most valuable tools. Image credit: James St Clair.

New Caledonian Crows Prefer Hooked Stick Tools, Safely Store Them Underfoot or in Holes

Dec 22, 2021 by News Staff

According to a new study, New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) strongly prefer hooked stick tools made from stems of the ground tamarind (Desmanthus...

Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) on U.S. Route 199 in California, the United States. Image credit: Acroterion / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Coast Redwood

Dec 20, 2021 by News Staff

Researchers have successfully sequenced, assembled and annotated the genome of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), one of the most widely recognized...

Crocidura pallida, one of the 14 new species discovered by Esselstyn et al. Image credit: Kevin Rowe.

Fourteen New Shrew Species Discovered in Indonesia

Dec 17, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has examined 1,368 specimens of shrews from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and found clear, mostly consistent evidence...

The barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma). Image credit: MBARI.

Deep-Sea Fish with Transparent Head Caught on Camera

Dec 16, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A deep-sea fish species called the barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) has been observed with MBARI’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Ventana in Monterey...

The leggiest animal on Earth: a female of Eumillipes persephone with 330 segments and 1,306 legs. Scale bar - 0.5 mm. Image credit: Marek et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02447-0.

New Record-Setting Species of Millipede Has 1,306 Legs

Dec 16, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Eumillipes persephone, the new record-setting species of millipede from Western Australia, is a diminutive (0.95 mm wide and 95.7 mm long) animal with...

Screenshot from the OneZoom tree of life explorer with leaves colored according to extinction risk and showing the ‘spiral’ view of the tree. Image credit: OneZoom.

OneZoom: Researchers Create Interactive Tree of Life

Dec 15, 2021 by News Staff

The interactive tree of life explorer OneZoom maps the connections between 2.2 million living species, the closest thing yet to a single view of all species...

The Adler’s mouse opossum (Marmosa adleri) is much smaller than its sister species (pictured here), the Alston’s mouse opossum (Marmosa alstoni). Image credit: Victor Acosta.

New Species of Mouse Opossum Discovered in Panama

Dec 10, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers from the American Museum of Natural History, Siena College and the Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, has discovered...