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Photographs of Bruce handling objects larger than his preening pebbles, namely: (a) a slice of carrot, (b) a stone, (c) a piece of bark, (d) a black token used in previous cognitive experiments he was a part of; a close-up image (e) demonstrates how he uses his tongue and lower mandible to hold these objects. Image credit: Bastos et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97086-w.

Kea Parrots are Capable of Innovating Self-Care Tooling, New Study Shows

Sep 13, 2021 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides empirical evidence for deliberate self-care tooling in a species of bird. Photographs...

Left: a 3D illustration of the nucleus representing the classical theory of DNA organization at its center. Right: microscopic image of the nucleus of a fruit fly larva’s muscle cell; the long chains of DNA (red) are attached to the nuclear lamina (green) -- the inner layer of the nuclear membrane. Image credit: Weizmann Institute of Science.

New Images Reveal 3D Chromatin Organization in Live Cell Nuclei

Sep 10, 2021 by News Staff

Chromatin is a substance within a chromosome consisting of DNA and protein. The major proteins in chromatin are histones, which help package the DNA in...

In the study, male cats showed a left-side bias for natural behaviors, females a right-side bias. Image credit: Jan Mallander.

Researchers Identify Seven Behavior and Personality Traits in Cats

Sep 9, 2021 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Helsinki has studied cat personality and behavior by collecting a large dataset of 4,316 cats from 56 different...

Khairuloconcha lunbawangorum and Khairuloconcha sahanae. Image credit: Zieritz et al., doi: 10.1002/aqc.3695.

Two New, Rare Freshwater Mussel Species Discovered

Sep 7, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has discovered two new species of freshwater mussels endemic to the island of Borneo and established a new genus for...

Colombelli-Négrel et al. demonstrate a capacity to perceive and learn to recognize sounds in ovo, as evidenced by habituation, even in bird species that were previously assumed to have little, if any, vocal production learning. Image credit: Barbara Fraatz.

Avian Vocal Learning Begins Before Birth, Study Says

Sep 7, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by Flinders University has found evidence of prenatal auditory learning in embryos of three vocal learning species...

Southern California hummingbird foraging nectar from a flower. Image credit: David Rankin / University of California, Riverside.

Hummingbirds Use Sense of Smell to Make Foraging Decisions: Study

Sep 6, 2021 by News Staff

Avian olfaction is not just limited to vultures and a few other bird species, according to new research from the University of California, Davis, and Riverside. Southern...

The Galápagos pink land iguana (Conolophus marthae). Image credit: Gabriele Gentile & Howard L. Snell, doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.2201.1.1.

Galapagos Pink Land Iguanas on Verge of Extinction, Experts Say

Sep 3, 2021 by News Staff

A critically endangered species of lizard called Conolophus marthae is in dire need of conservation action, according to researchers from Galápagos Conservancy...

Padana, a female orangutan at Leipzig Zoo, continued to use wooden hammers to crack nuts for some time after the end of the study. Image credit: Claudio Tennie.

Orangutans Observed Using Hammer Tools to Crack Nuts

Sep 1, 2021 by Natali Anderson

New research from the University of Tübingen demonstrates that nut-cracking can emerge in Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus) orangutans...

The egg, as one of the most traditional food products, has long attracted the attention of mathematicians, engineers, and biologists from an analytical point of view. Image credit: Designer Coleman.

Researchers Find Universal Formula for Egg Shape

Sep 1, 2021 by News Staff

The new mathematical formula can describe any bird’s egg existing in nature, says a team of scientists from the United Kingdom and Ukraine. The egg,...

Scientists Discover New Wood Lizard Species in Peru

Aug 31, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered a new species of the lizard genus Enyalioides living in the premontane forest of the Río Huallaga...

Hypsibius exemplaris. Image credit: Tarushika Vasanthan & Jonathon Stone, doi: 10.22120/jwb.2020.96855.1037.

Tardigrades Walk in Manner Most Closely Resembling that of Insects, New Study Shows

Aug 30, 2021 by News Staff

Tardigrades utilize a tetrapod-like stepping pattern remarkably similar to that observed in insects, despite significant disparities in size and skeletal...

Linne et al. report several coffee compounds that contribute to the feeling of coffee coating the inside of the mouth, as well as astringency and chalkiness sensations. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Chemists Pinpoint Compounds Responsible for Coffee Body

Aug 27, 2021 by News Staff

Body is one of ten attributes defined by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) that contributes to the overall quality rating of coffee, and, consequently,...

Craniovertebral skeleton of the Commerson’s frogfish (Antennarius commerson). Image credit: Ariel L. Camp, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1091.

Fish Can Generate Neck-Like Motion, New Study Finds

Aug 26, 2021 by News Staff

Trout and frogfish can bend their spines and heads upwards, despite having different anatomy from humans and other land-dwelling vertebrates, according...

Tetragonula carbonaria combs. Image credit: Tobias Smith.

Researchers Solve Mystery of How Stingless Bees Produce Trehalulose-Rich Honey

Aug 26, 2021 by News Staff

Organic chemists at the University of Queensland have found that an unusual bioactive disaccharide called trehalulose, which is a feature of stingless...

Mother-pup pair of the greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata) in their daytime roost. The pup (dark fur color) is holding on to the mother’s belly (light fur color). Image credit: Michael Stifter.

Bat Pups Babble Like Human Infants, Researchers Find

Aug 20, 2021 by News Staff

Babbling is a production milestone in infant speech development. Evidence for babbling in non-human mammals is scarce. In a new study, researchers from...

Snyder et al. show that distinct populations of phagocytic cells in cauliflower corals (Pocillopora damicornis) and starlet sea anemones (Nematostella vectensis) engulf bacteria, fungal antigens, and beads. The image shows a cauliflower coral cell challenged with Staphylococcus aureus. Yellow arrow shows an internalized, pH-activated Staphylococcus aureus particle that fluoresces bright green at a low pH. White arrows indicate the cocci bacterial particles. Staphylococcus aureus particles are fluorescent after the fusion of the bacteria with the lysolitic vesicle, which leads to lowered pH. Scale bar - 10 μm. Image credit: Snyder et al., doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.662803.

Marine Biologists Find Live Immune Cells in Corals and Sea Anemones

Aug 19, 2021 by News Staff

Corals and sea anemones have at least two populations of immune cells and that these specialized cells make up about 3% of the total cell population, according...

Hantak et al. tested three hypotheses of body size variation across urbanization gradients: urban heat island effects, habitat fragmentation, and resource availability. Image credit: TeeFarm.

Urbanization is Causing Mammals to Grow Bigger, New Study Says

Aug 18, 2021 by News Staff

A research team led by Florida Museum of Natural History scientists has compiled 140,499 body size records of over 100 North American mammals to test how...

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.

Life on Earth Arose Multiple Times and in Multiple Ways, New Theory Says

Aug 17, 2021 by News Staff

In a new theoretical paper, researchers from the Santa Fe Institute provide a new perspective on the origin of life by arguing that life has emerged many...

Domestic cats (Felis catus) would rather eat from a tray of easily available food rather than work out a simple puzzle to get their food. Image credit: Delgado et al., doi: 10.1007/s10071-021-01530-3.

Cats Prefer Freely Available Food over Food that Requires Effort, Study Says

Aug 17, 2021 by News Staff

When tested, many animals will work for food when similar food is freely available, a phenomenon known as contrafreeloading. In a new study published in...