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The early ape Proconsul, center, and the primate Dendropithecus, upper right, inhabited a warm and relatively wet, closed canopy tropical seasonal forest 18 million years ago in equatorial eastern Africa – on Rusinga Island, Kenya. Image credit: Jason Brougham.

Earliest Primates Gave Birth to Twins, New Research Suggests

Jul 31, 2024 by News Staff

Twinning has been around longer than we thought, according to new research led by Western Washington University. Jack H. McBride & Tesla A. Monson...

Goldberg et al. suggest that a broad diversity of mammal species have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in the wild. Image credit: Goldberg et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49891-w.

SARS-CoV-2 Virus is Widespread among Wildlife Species, Study Shows

Jul 29, 2024 by News Staff

In new research, a team of scientists from Virginia Tech examined how widespread exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),...

This is an artist's impression of the Upland Moa, Megalapteryx didinus, by George Edward Lodge, 1907.

Extinct Moa’s Refugia Continue to Serve as Sanctuaries for New Zealand’s Remaining Flightless Birds

Jul 25, 2024 by News Staff

Human settlement of islands across the Pacific Ocean was followed by waves of faunal extinctions that occurred so rapidly that their dynamics are difficult...

Pigmented cutting edges in Komodo dragon teeth. Image credit: LeBlanc et al., doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02477-7.

Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth, New Study Reveals

Jul 24, 2024 by News Staff

Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis) are the largest living predatory lizards and their serrated, curved and blade-shaped teeth make them valuable analogues...

The zebra snake (Naja nigricincta) in Namibia. Image credit: Wolfgang Wüster.

Scientists Discover New Antidote for Cobra Bites: Heparin

Jul 19, 2024 by News Staff

Snakebites affect about 1.8 million people annually. The current standard of care involves antibody-based antivenoms, which can be difficult to access...

The Amazon weasel (Neogale africana): diagnostic sharp, dark-brown stripe down midline from throat to belly. Image credit: Bernal-Hoverud et al., doi: 10.15560/20.3.828.

Extremely Rare Amazon Weasel Captured on Video in Bolivia

Jul 17, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Bolivian coffee producers have filmed the Amazon weasel (Neogale africana) near their shade-grown plots as part of a citizen science monitoring program. The...

Amoebidium appalachense is a unique model to understand the hybrid origins of eukaryotic DNA. Image credit: Alex de Mendoza.

Biologists Find Ancient Giant Virus Insertions in Genome of Unicellular Parasite

Jul 16, 2024 by News Staff

Amoebidium appalachense, a protist closely related to animals, harbors the remnants of ancient giant viruses woven into its own genetic code, according...

Probabilistic estimates of metabolic networks from modern life that were present in LUCA. Image credit: Moody et al., doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02461-1.

Last Universal Common Ancestor Lived 4.2 Billion Years Ago: Study

Jul 12, 2024 by News Staff

The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the hypothesized common ancestor from which all modern cellular life, from single celled organisms like bacteria...

Dingoes are culturally and ecologically important free-living canids whose ancestors arrived in Australia over 3,000 years ago, likely transported by seafaring people. Image credit: Karlel.

New DNA Study Sheds Light on Early History of Dingoes in Australia

Jul 9, 2024 by News Staff

Dingoes (Canis dingo) are an iconic element of Australia’s biodiversity, but evidence-based management and conservation of dingoes depend on understanding...

Injured individual (marked in yellow) of Camponotus floridanus receives wound care by a nestmate. Image credit: Frank et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.06.021.

Carpenter Ants Can Perform Life-Saving Amputations on Wounded Nestmates

Jul 5, 2024 by News Staff

Carpenter ants (Camponotus), a diverse genus of large ants indigenous to many forested parts of the world, can selectively treat the wounded limbs of fellow...

Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) track tree phenology and estimate fruit availability since the last visit; they exhibit future-oriented behavior and fly to specific protein-rich trees; when doing so, they pass and skip over many familiar sugar-rich trees; young bats must learn tree phenology through experience. Image credit: Harten et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.046.

Fruit Bats Possess Episodic Memory and Ability of Mental Time Travel, Study Shows

Jul 2, 2024 by News Staff

Episodic memory and mental time travel have been viewed as uniquely human traits. This view began to shift with the development of behavioral criteria...

Male Caprimulgus ritae, Wetar, on October 13, 2014. Image credit: James Eaton.

New Species of Bird Discovered on Lesser Sunda Islands

Jul 1, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A team of scientists from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and elsewhere has described a new species of nightjar living in the tropical forests of...

The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis), 1988. Image credit: Queensland Government / CC BY 4.0.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of Greater and Lesser Bilbies

Jul 1, 2024 by News Staff

In collaboration with Indigenous rangers and conservation managers, scientists from the University of Sydney and elsewhere have decoded the genomes of...

The Guianan long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus guianensis). Image credit: Quentin Martinez, https://quentinmartinez.fr.

Researchers Identify Cryptic New Species of Armadillo

Jun 27, 2024 by News Staff

The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is actually four different species, including a previously undescribed species endemic to the Guiana Shield,...

Illustration of Sakesphoroides niedeguidonae. Image credit: Eduardo Brettas.

New Bird Species Discovered in Brazil

Jun 24, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A multi-character systematic study led by the Universidade Federal do Pará shows that what ornithologists know as the silvery-cheeked antshrike (Sakesphoroides...

A working model for nitrogen assimilation, amino acid synthesis, transport, and degradation/recycling in tea plants. Image credit: Yu et al., doi: 10.1093/hr/uhae060.

Study Provides New Insights into Metabolism and Transport of Amino Acids in Tea Plants

Jun 24, 2024 by News Staff

High levels of free amino acids in tea leaves are crucial for tea flavor and health function. However, biosynthesis, transport, and turnover of amino acids...

Plant induced responses to environmental stressors are increasingly studied in a behavioral ecology context. This is particularly true for plant induced responses to herbivory that mediate direct and indirect defenses, and tolerance. These seemingly adaptive alterations of plant defense phenotypes in the context of other environmental conditions have led to the discussion of such responses as intelligent behavior. In their paper, Kessler & Mueller consider the concept of plant intelligence and some of its predictions for chemical information transfer in plant interaction with other organisms. Image credit: Becky.

Are Plants Really Intelligent?

Jun 17, 2024 by News Staff

The tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima), a North American species of goldenrod in the family Asteraceae, can perceive other plants nearby without ever...

Two juvenile elephants greet each other in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. Image credit: George Wittemyer.

Study: African Elephants Address Each Other With Name-Like Calls

Jun 11, 2024 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Colorado State University, Save the Elephants and ElephantVoices used machine learning to confirm that calls of African savannah...

Paraparatrechina neela, holotype worker. Image credit: Sahanashree et al., doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1203.114168.

Entomologists Discover Metallic-Blue Colored Ant Species in India

Jun 6, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Entomologists have described a new species of the ant genus Paraparatrechina from Yingku village in the East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern...