Animals

Image of the yellowfever mosquito Aedes aegypti

Jan 22, 2019 03:18 PM EST

Urbanization changes shape of mosquitoes' wings

Research shows that rapid urbanization in São Paulo City, Brazil, is influencing wing morphology in the mosquitoes that transmit dengue and malaria

Jan 22, 2019 08:11 AM EST

UTA herpetologists describe new species of snake found in stomach of predator snake

Herpetologists at The University of Texas at Arlington have described a previously unknown species of snake that was discovered inside the stomach of another snake more than four decades ago.

Jan 22, 2019 08:04 AM EST

Possible Oahu populations offer new hope for Hawaiian seabirds

Ornithological Applications offers hope of previously undetected colonies of Newell's Shearwaters and Hawaiian Petrels on the island of Oahu, from which they were believed to have vanished by the late 1700s.,

Jan 21, 2019 03:44 PM EST

Fossilized slime of 100-million-year-old hagfish shakes up vertebrate family tree

Ancient eel-like creature answers questions about when these bizarre fish branched off the evolutionary tree from other vertebrates

Jan 21, 2019 08:37 AM EST

Scientists discover natural fitness watch in fishes that records their activity levels

Animals need to eat enough food to provide energy to sustain their bodies, hunt, grow and reproduce. In a changing world, changes to the metabolic cost of life can influence where animals can live.

Jan 21, 2019 08:35 AM EST

Ancient carpet shark discovered with 'spaceship-shaped' teeth

The world of the dinosaurs just got a bit more bizarre with a newly discovered species of freshwater shark whose tiny teeth resemble the alien ships from the popular 1980s video game Galaga.

This is Sphaerothorax uenoi from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.

Jan 19, 2019 10:42 AM EST

Two tiny beetle fossils offer evolution and biogeography clues

It is well-known that living fossils exhibit stasis over geologically long time scales. Examples are the panda and ginkgo. Now, two tiny beetles trapped in 99-million-year-old amber may join this group.

Jan 19, 2019 10:41 AM EST

Dental study of juvenile archaic Homo fossil gives clues about human development

Most aspects of dental development for a juvenile Homo specimen from the Pleistocene fall within the modern human range, according to research by a group of Chinese and international scientists. The study was recently published in Science Advances.

USU Entomologist Joan Meiners in Pinnacles National Park

Jan 19, 2019 07:50 AM EST

Bee surveys in newest US national park could aid pollinator studies elsewhere

In the Jan. 17, 2019, online edition of PLOS One, Utah State University and USDA researchers report findings about pollinator biodiversity in California's Pinnacles National Park derived from data collected from three separate surveys spanning 17 years. Their results documented 450 species of wild, native bees at Pinnacles, including 48 new to the area since 2002, and 95 detected at the site in the 1990s, but now missing.

Overexploitation of the green turtle in the Cayman Islands caused the disappearance of nesting populations.

Jan 18, 2019 11:45 AM EST

Green turtle: The success of the reintroduction program in Cayman Islands

The reintroduction program for the green turtle in the Cayman Islands is crucial in order to recover this species, which are threatened by the effects of human overexploitation, according to a study published in the journal Molecular Ecology

Jan 18, 2019 08:22 AM EST

Size matters -- To livebearer fish, big fins are a big deal

Females love males with big dorsal fins, but the appendages first evolved for males to fight other males

Jan 17, 2019 10:41 AM EST

Emperor penguins' first journey to sea

"When the chicks first go in the water, they are very awkward and unsure of themselves," says Sara Labrousse, a postdoctoral investigator at WHOI and lead author of the paper. "They are not the fast and graceful swimmers their parents are."

Jan 16, 2019 03:34 PM EST

Jellyfish map could be the future to protecting UK waters and fish

Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed maps of chemicals found in jellyfish which could offer a new tool for the protection of British waters and fisheries.

Tiger from WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

Jan 16, 2019 03:14 PM EST

Urbanization may hold key to tiger survival

A new WCS-led study published in the journal Biological Conservation says the future of tigers in Asia is linked the path of demographic transition--for humans. The study marks the first-of-its-kind analysis that overlays human population scenarios with the fate of these endangered big cats.

Jan 16, 2019 02:41 PM EST

11,500-year-old animal bones in Jordan suggest early dogs helped humans hunt

11,500 years ago in what is now northeast Jordan, people began to live alongside dogs and may also have used them for hunting, a new study from the University of Copenhagen shows. The archaeologists suggest that the introduction of dogs as hunting aids may explain the dramatic increase of hares and other small prey in the archaeological remains at the site.