Biology News

Crocodiles Love to Play Ball and Surf, Scientist Says

A male crocodile gives a piggyback ride to his lifelong female partner. Image credit: Vladimir Dinets.
Feb 11, 2015 by News Staff

Crocodiles think surfing waves, playing ball and going on piggyback rides are fun, too, according to Prof Vladimir Dinets from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A male crocodile gives a piggyback ride to his lifelong female partner. Image credit: Vladimir Dinets. Prof Dinets has studied crocodiles for ten years. While doing so, he has observed the animals engaging in play-like behavior. To get more data, he conducted an informal survey of crocodilian-themed...

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Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Image credit: Pelican / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Chimpanzees Can Learn Each Other’s Grunts

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have special grunt calls for particular types of foods. By studying what happened after two separate clans of adult chimps...

The water frog Telmatobius ventriflavum. Image credit: Alessandro Catenazzi / CC-BY 4.0.

New Water Frog Species Discovered in Central Peru

Feb 5, 2015 by News Staff

Biologists from the United States and Peru have described a colorful new species of water frog from the Peruvian Andes. The water frog Telmatobius ventriflavum....

The Eastern emerald elysia (Elysia chlorotica). Image credit: Patrick Krug.

Eastern Emerald Elysia Steals Genes from Algae to Live Like Plant

Feb 5, 2015 by News Staff

A new study reported in the Biological Bulletin provides the first direct evidence that the chromosomes of a sea slug called the Eastern emerald elysia...

Northern bald ibises (Geronticus eremita) take turns saving energy by following in another bird's wake. Image credit: M Unsöld.

Northern Bald Ibises Take Turns When Flying in V-Shaped Formation

Feb 3, 2015 by News Staff

A group of ornithologists headed by Dr Bernhard Voelkl of Oxford University has found convincing evidence for ‘turn taking’ reciprocal cooperative...

Halfsider Northern Cardinal in Rock Island, IL. Image credit: Brian Peer / Robert Motz.

Northern Cardinal with Half-Male, Half-Female Plumage Spotted in Rock Island, Illinois

Jan 30, 2015 by News Staff

This Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) has female plumage on its right, and male plumage on its left, a condition known as bilateral gynandromorph. Halfsider...

The feather-legged lace weaver (Uloborus plumipes). Image credit: Olaf Leillinger / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Feather-Legged Lace Weaver Gives Unique Insights into How to Spin Nano-Fibers

Jan 29, 2015 by News Staff

The majority of spiders spin silk threads several micrometers thick, but the orb spider Uloborus plumipes can spin nano-scale filaments. The feather-legged...

Strix aluco, a species of the genus Strix closely related to the Hume’s tawny owl (Strix butleri) and the newly described Desert Tawny Owl (Strix hadorami). Image credit: Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.de / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Desert Tawny Owl: New Species of Bird Discovered

Jan 25, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

A group of ornithologists led by Dr Manuel Schweizer from the Natural History Museum of Bern in Switzerland has described a new cryptic species of owl...

Fish in an estuary beneath the Antarctic ice. Image credit: Deep-SCINI / UNL-Andrill / SMO.

Scientists Find Fish, Crustaceans under 740 Meters of Antarctic Ice

Jan 23, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers from the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project have uncovered a unique ecosystem of fish and invertebrates...

Design of multilayered genetic safeguards: riboregulation, engineered addiction, auxotrophy and supplemental repressors. Image credit: Ryan R. Gallagher et al.

Synthetic Biologists Make GMOs Safer

Jan 22, 2015 by News Staff

A team of synthetic biologists at Yale University has devised a way to ensure genetically modified organisms can be safely confined in the environment. Design...

The Geography cone snail (Conus geographus) attempting to capture fish prey; as the snails approach potential prey, they release a specialized insulin into the water, along with neurotoxins that inhibit sensory circuits, resulting in hypoglycemic, sensory-deprived fish that are easier to engulf with their large, distensible false mouths; once engulfed, powerful paralytic toxins are injected by the snail into each fish. Image credit: Jason Biggs / Baldomero Olivera.

Carnivorous Marine Snails Use Insulin to Disable Their Prey

Jan 20, 2015 by News Staff

Fish-hunting cone snails add a unique form of insulin to the venom cocktail they use to disable their fish prey, according to a new study. The Geography...

The newly discovered Inia araguaiaensis, in appearance, resembles the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), shown in this photo.

Top 20 New Species Discovered in 2014

Jan 18, 2015 by Natali Anderson

Sci-News.com compiles an annual list of the top 20 new species of animals, plants and insects found in the past twelve months. 1. Araguaian boto (Inia...

Bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India. Image credit: J.M.Garg / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study Reveals How Bar-Headed Geese Cope with Flying over Himalayas

Jan 16, 2015 by News Staff

Bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) perform a sort of roller coaster ride through the mountains, essentially tracking the underlying terrain even if this...

The marine defaunation experience is much less advanced, even though humans have been harvesting ocean wildlife for thousands of years; the recent industrialization of this harvest, however, initiated an era of intense marine wildlife declines. If left unmanaged, scientists predict that marine habitat alteration, along with climate change, will exacerbate marine defaunation. Image credit: Jenny Huang / CC BY 2.0.

Era of Intense Marine Wildlife Declines is Beginning, Scientists Say

Jan 16, 2015 by News Staff

A group of scientists led by Prof Douglas McCauley from the University of California, Santa Barbara, has found that the same patterns that led to the collapse...

Ant drinking nectar from the peristome of a Raffles' pitcher-plant (Nepenthes rafflesiana). Image credit: NepGrower / CC BY 2.5.

Carnivorous Pitcher Plants Use Clever Strategy to Lure Their Prey

Jan 14, 2015 by News Staff

Insect-eating plants of the genus Nepenthes temporarily switch off their traps in order to lure more prey into danger, according to a new study published...

The Dampier Peninsula goanna (Varanus sparnus). Image credit: R. Ellis.

New Species of Varanus Discovered in Australia

Jan 5, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr Stephen Donnellan of the University of Adelaide has described a new species of Varanus lizard from the Dampier Peninsula,...

The Rqc2 protein (yellow) binds tRNAs (dark blue, teal) which add amino acids (bright spot in middle) to a partially made protein (green); the complex binds the ribosome (white). Image credit: Janet Iwasa / University of Utah.

Scientists Discover New Mechanism of Protein Synthesis

Jan 4, 2015 by News Staff

A team of researchers co-led by Prof Adam Frost from the University of Utah and the University of California, Prof Onn Brandman of Stanford University,...

The newly-discovered bird, the Cryptic treehunter, was formerly confused with the Alagoas foliage-gleaner (photographed November, 2007 in Frei Caneca, Brazil). Image credit: © Ciro Albano, NE Brazil Birding / via Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia.

New Bird Species Discovered in 2014

Jan 3, 2015 by News Staff

A cryptic species of treehunter from northeastern Brazil, a small passerine bird from the Brazilian state Bahia and two tiny birds from Indonesia are among...

Limnonectes larvaepartus is unique among frogs in having both internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles. Top: male, left, and female. Bottom: an adult male observed calling while perched on the edge of a small pool 2 m away from a 2 m wide stream; several tadpoles were present in the pool including the two visible within the yellow circle. Image credit: Jimmy McGuire.

Limnonectes larvaepartus: Scientists Discover Tadpole-Bearing Species of Frog in Indonesia

Jan 3, 2015 by News Staff

The newly-discovered species of fanged frog, Limnonectes larvaepartus, from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the only frog known that gives direct...

A strolling leopard in the Bandipur National Park and Tiger Reserve seems to have a camera trap strapped to its back. Image credit: WCS India.

Best Camera-Trap Pictures of 2014

Jan 3, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society have released their favorite camera-trap pictures of 2014. They use camera traps as a non-invasive tool...

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