Animals

Jun 05, 2019 07:20 AM EDT

Early Lives of Alaska Sockeye Salmon Accelerating with Climate Change

An ample buffet of freshwater food, brought on by climate change, is altering the life history of one of the world's most important salmon species.

Jun 04, 2019 11:21 AM EDT

Fear of 'Killer Shrimps' Could Pose Major Threat to European Rivers

The fear of invasive 'killer shrimps' can intimidate native organisms to such a degree that they are incapable of performing their vital role in river systems, a new study suggests.

Reconstruction of the Studied Pterosaur (IMAGE)

Jun 03, 2019 07:49 PM EDT

Feathers Came First, then Birds

New research, led by the University of Bristol, suggests that feathers arose 100 million years before birds - changing how we look at dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs, the flying reptiles.

Jun 03, 2019 07:40 PM EDT

An Island Haven for Frogs in a Sea of Extinctions

New Guinea is one of the only places in the world where frogs are safe from the species-destroying chytrid fungus. An international team of scientists has published a new paper that shows how to keep it that way, but they need help to carry out their plan.

Jun 03, 2019 07:36 PM EDT

Fathers Aid Development of Larger Brains

The bigger the brain in relation to body size, the more intelligent a living organism is. This means that mammalian species with large brains are smarter than small-brained mammals. However, developing a large brain comes at a price: An infant expends around two-thirds of its energy alone on supplying nourishment to its brain.

Elephant Seal with Satellite Tag (IMAGE)

Jun 01, 2019 11:37 AM EDT

Better Conservation Through Satellites

The use of satellite telemetry in conservation is entering a "golden age," and is now being used to track the movements of individual animals at unprecedented scales.

Jun 01, 2019 10:45 AM EDT

Wild Boars, Hunting Dogs and Hunters Carry Tick-Borne Bacteria

Rickettsia bacteria cause a number of human and animal infections, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have for the first time surveyed the prevalence of Rickettsia antibodies and Rickettsia-carrying ticks in wild boars, hunting dogs and hunters in Brazil.

Jun 01, 2019 10:07 AM EDT

Freshwater find: Genetic Advantage Allows Some Marine Fish to Colonize Freshwater Habitats

How did some marine fish manage to make their way from the salty sea to the newly available freshwater niches after the last ice age and eventually differentiate from their marine brethren?

North Atlantic Right Whale Breach (IMAGE)

May 29, 2019 08:29 AM EDT

Climate Driving New Right Whale Movement

EAST BOOTHBAY, Maine - New research connects recent changes in the movement of North Atlantic right whales to decreased food availability and rising temperatures in Gulf of Maine's deep waters. Right whales have been showing up in unexpected places in recent years, putting the endangered species at increased risk.

May 29, 2019 08:24 AM EDT

Africa's Elephant Poaching Rates in Decline, But Iconic Animal Still Under Threat

Elephant poaching rates in Africa have started to decline after reaching a peak in 2011, an international team of scientists has concluded.

May 29, 2019 08:07 AM EDT

New Snake Species in Europe named after a Long-Forgotten Iron Age Kingdom

An international team of scientists identified the snake and its range, which includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, and Russia including a small region extending into the corner of Europe.

May 28, 2019 11:42 AM EDT

Thai Dinosaur is a Cousin of T. Rex

Scientists from the University of Bonn and the Sirindhorn Museum in Thailand have identified two new dinosaur species. They analyzed fossil finds that were already discovered 30 years ago in Thailand. Both species are distant relatives of T. rex, but with a somewhat more primitive structure. They were efficient predators. The results have now been published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

One of the Project's Oak Forests in Ytterhult, Småland (IMAGE)

May 28, 2019 11:33 AM EDT

Threatened Beetles Benefit from Forest Thinning

Wood-living beetles that use oak trees are a species-rich and threatened animal group in modern forestry and agriculture in southern Sweden. New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that management with conservation thinning can be an effective way to promote these beetles in the long term.

May 24, 2019 09:48 AM EDT

Ecologists Find Bush Dog, Native of South America, in Remote Central Costa Rica

AMHERST, Mass. - Wildlife ecologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who are studying different conservation practices in the forests of Costa Rica recently made a startling discovery on a wildlife camera trap - wild bush dogs documented farther north than ever before and at the highest elevation.

May 24, 2019 08:51 AM EDT

New Research Shows that Mites and Ticks are Close Relatives

Scientists from the University of Bristol and the Natural History Museum in London have reconstructed the evolutionary history of the chelicerates, the mega-diverse group of 110,000 arthropods that includes spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks.