Biology News | Sci.News

The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). Image credit: Merrill Gosho / NOAA.

Female Western Gray Whale Sets Record for Longest Mammal Migration

Apr 16, 2015 by News Staff

Varvara, a female western gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), swam from northeastern Sakhalin Island to Mexico and back again – nearly 22,500 km...

Adult male West African chimpanzee uses tree branch with modified end to stab into a cavity within a hollow tree branch that houses a Senegal bush baby he ultimately captures as his adolescent brother looks on. Image credit: J. D. Pruetz et al / Royal Society Open Science / BBC.

Female West African Chimpanzees Prefer Tool-Assisted Hunting

Apr 15, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of scientists headed by Dr Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University, female West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ssp. verus) hunt...

The green turtle (Chelonia mydas). Image credit: Brocken Inaglory / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Young Sea Turtles Very Active Swimmers, Marine Biologists Say

Apr 10, 2015 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Current Biology, young sea turtles don’t just passively drift in ocean currents during a period known...

Scientists Decode ‘Language’ of Lar Gibbons

Apr 10, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers led by Dr Esther Clarke of the Durham University and the University of St Andrews, UK, have revealed that lar gibbons (Hylobates lar) produce...

The Alto Tambo woodlizard (Enyalioides altotambo), adult female, 13.2 cm long. Image credit: Luis A. Coloma.

Three New Species of Woodlizards Discovered in Peru, Ecuador

Apr 8, 2015 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers has described three new species of the genus Enyalioides from the tropical Andes in Ecuador and northern Peru. The...

Swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) on Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia. Image credit: JJ Harrison / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tasmanian Swift Parrot is on Brink of Extinction, Finds News Study

Apr 3, 2015 by News Staff

The critically endangered swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) could become extinct within less than two decades, says a new study published online in the...

Willy (Wilhelm) the polar bear at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. Image credit: John / CC BY 2.0.

New Study Evaluates Nutritional Needs of Polar Bears

Apr 2, 2015 by News Staff

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus), increasingly forced on shore due to sea ice loss, may be eating land-based foods, but any nutritional gains are limited...

Arabian spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus). Image credit: Andy Mabbett / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Male Mice Sing like Songbirds to Attract Females

Apr 1, 2015 by News Staff

Male mice produce highly complex ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) to seduce females, says a team of biologists led by Duke University Medical Center. Arabian...

The blackpoll warbler (Setophaga striata). The ornithologists found that in some cases, the birds flew more than 2,500 km, non-stop, to reach their destinations. Image credit: William H. Majoros / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Blackpoll Warblers Migrate Thousands of Miles across Atlantic Ocean, Scientists Find

Apr 1, 2015 by News Staff

A team of ornithologists led by William DeLuca of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, reports the first direct evidence that the blackpoll warbler...

The Lesser bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea minor) was one of 977 species examined by Prof Peter Dunn and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in a worldwide study of the evolution of bird colors. Image credit: Reza Pratama / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Natural Selection Drives Evolution of Bird Colors, Say Scientists

Mar 30, 2015 by News Staff

In a worldwide study of the evolution of bird plumage coloration, a team of scientists led by Prof Peter Dunn of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee...

Giant panda cub Xiao Liwu and his mother Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo.

New Study Sheds More Light on Secret Life of Giant Pandas

Mar 28, 2015 by News Staff

A new study, led by Dr Vanessa Hull of the Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, has revealed more details on...

Skin texture variation in one individual Pristimantis mutabilis; note how skin texture shifts from highly tubercular to almost smooth; also note the relative size of the tubercles on the eyelid, lower lip, dorsum and limbs. Image credit: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Pristimantis mutabilis: Scientists Discover Shape-Shifting Frog in Ecuador

Mar 24, 2015 by News Staff

Case Western Reserve University PhD student Katherine Krynak, naturalist Tim Krynak of Cleveland Metroparks’ Natural Resources Division, and their colleagues...

Neonothopanus gardneri. Image credit: Marina Capelari et al, doi: 10.3852/11-097.

New Study Explains Why Some Fungi Glow

Mar 20, 2015 by News Staff

According to a study co-led by Dr Cassius Stevani of the University of São Paulo and Prof Jay Dunlap of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, the...

Freshwater shrimp Gammarus duebeni celticus. Image credit: University of Leeds.

Tiny Parasite Pleistophora mulleri Can Turn Freshwater Shrimp to Cannibalism

Mar 19, 2015 by News Staff

In a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, scientists from the University of Leeds, Queen’s University Belfast and Stellenbosch...

Blue-Bearded Helmetcrest Rediscovered in Colombia, Photographed for First Time

Mar 19, 2015 by News Staff

Long thought to be extinct, the blue-bearded helmetcrest (Oxypogon cyanolaemus) – one of the world’s rarest hummingbirds – has been caught...

X-rays stream off the Sun in this image. The NuSTAR data, seen in green and blue, reveal solar high-energy emission (green shows energies between 2 and 3 kiloelectron volts, and blue shows energies between 3 and 5 kiloelectron volts). The high-energy X-rays come from gas heated to above 3 million degrees. The red channel represents UV light captured by SDO at wavelengths of 171 angstroms, and shows the presence of lower-temperature material in the solar atmosphere at 1 million degrees. This image shows that some of the hotter emission tracked by NuSTAR is coming from different locations in the active regions and the coronal loops than the cooler emission shown in the SDO image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC.

Lifespan Linked to Solar Activity in New Research

Mar 14, 2015 by News Staff

People born when there was low solar activity lived longer on average than those born during times when there was more solar activity, according to a study...

The Antarctic octopus Pareledone charcoti. Image credit: Tomas Lundälv.

How Antarctic Octopus Pareledone charcoti Survives Extreme Temperatures

Mar 12, 2015 by News Staff

Pareledone charcoti, a shallow-water species of octopus from the Antarctic, uses an unique strategy to transport oxygen in its blood, says a new study...

Perijá Tapaculo: New Bird Species Discovered in Colombia, Venezuela

Mar 12, 2015 by News Staff

An international group of ornithologists led by Dr Jorge Enrique Avendaño of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá has described a new species of tapaculo...

The veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus. Image credit: Russell Ligon.

Researchers Explain How Chameleons Change Color

Mar 11, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of scientists at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, chameleons shift color through active tuning of a lattice of nanocrystals within...