All articles tagged with #animals
A Tufts-led study in Current Biology found that some dogs—especially Samoyeds—can adjust their howl pitch to match changes in music, unlike Shiba Inus, suggesting breed-linked genetics and implying musical ability may predate human language.
LA County’s Animal Care and Control, aided by 70-plus workers and other rescues, rescued more than 300 dogs and cats from a Lake Hughes home — about 250 dogs and 66 cats confirmed — in what officials called one of the county’s largest animal rescues. The operation strained seven county centers, and authorities are urging the public to adopt or foster while investigators probe neglect and overcrowding; animals are being medically screened and redistributed to shelters and rescue groups.
CT scans of a Polycotylus plesiosaur fossil reveal a giant Xiphactinus tooth lodged in its neck, providing direct evidence that top predators in Cretaceous seas fought or attacked each other; the bite likely contributed to the plesiosaur’s death and highlights a violent prehistoric ecosystem where apex predators occasionally clashed.
Scientists in north Queensland describe three previously unknown monitor lizard species—the orange-headed rock monitor (Varanus umbra), the yellow-headed rock monitor (Varanus phosphorus), and the rainbow rock monitor (Varanus iridis)—based on genetic differences, marking a rare large reptile discovery in savannah habitats and underscoring conservation risks from the exotic-pet trade.
A rare rainforest katydid, Arota festae, starts life bright pink and gradually shifts to green over about two weeks, likely as camouflage that tracks the leaves’ delayed greening in tropical forests, a survival strategy observed on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.
Researchers studying Amazonian cicadas found that their mud towers protect underground nymphs from predators and help regulate air flow during metamorphosis, effectively making the towers an extended phenotype that boosts survival; experiments showing predator avoidance and airflow disruption also found tower size influences recovery, reframing the towers as purposeful biology rather than mere dirt (Biotropica).
On a Somerset beach in 2020, 11-year-old Ruby Reynolds and her father found jawbone fragments that led scientists to identify Ichthyotitan severnensis, a giant ichthyosaur potentially about 82 feet long. Further fossils confirmed a whale-sized marine reptile from the Triassic, offering insights into ancient oceans and showing how a shoreline discovery can rewrite natural history.
Encultured chimpanzees showed a strong attraction to quartz crystals, preferring them over ordinary rocks, carrying crystals to sleeping areas, and even selecting crystals from a pile in tests, suggesting a possible deep evolutionary pull toward shiny minerals. The findings could shed light on why humans have long valued crystals and gems, hinting at cognitive roots for value, though results must be interpreted cautiously since the chimps were not wild and replication in wild populations is needed.
Researchers at a Windsor-area freshwater hatchery documented two Chinook salmon fry that are ventrally conjoined—sharing a single yolk sac and blood vessels while each having separate heads and tails—raising questions about the limits of twin development in fish. The finding underscores how tiny embryonic disruptions can produce such rare twins and highlights the need for careful hatchery monitoring to inform Great Lakes stocking and future research.
Brazil’s Butantan Institute identified a brand-new mite larva, Araneothrombium brasiliensis, parasitizing a tiny spider in a museum specimen, the beaded attachment earning it a nickname and highlighting a rare spider–mite relationship that could be more widespread in the Neotropics.
Earth after humans is explored as a thought experiment: Oxford biologist Tim Coulson suggests that while extinction is inevitable for all species, humans leaving the scene could let other life forms fill ecological roles, with octopuses highlighted as potential civilization-building successors due to their problem-solving abilities and decentralized nervous system—though they’d still face challenges adapting to land; evolution remains unpredictable and intelligence could emerge in surprising ways.
Scientists report that Temnothorax kinomurai, a rare Japanese ant, has no workers or males and reproduces by parthenogenesis to produce only queens. These parasitic queens invade nests of the related species Temnothorax makora, enlist host workers to raise their offspring, and in lab trials seven of 43 unmated offspring succeeded in coup; all offspring were queens, showing a unique combination of asexual reproduction and social parasitism in ants.
Some mammals and birds can deliberately alter their internal temperature through heterothermy, using short bouts of torpor or longer hibernation to conserve energy and water during harsh weather, predators, or food shortages. Studies highlight bats, sugar gliders, dormice, and other species adjusting torpor in response to wind, rain, predators, and even moon phase, showing a flexible survival strategy beyond normal body temperature control. This helps them endure variability, though it isn’t a foolproof shield against climate change.
A zebra finch study shows that the early-morning song isn’t random joy but a rebound from nocturnal silence: melatonin and hormones prime the birds to wake, and the return of light lets them release the stored energy in a powerful dawn chorus, a timing-based vocal warm-up pattern observed across species.
A seven‑month‑old macaque named Punch at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan was hand‑reared after his mother rejected him and has struggled to fit in with his troop, relying on an orangutan plushie for comfort as he was reintroduced in January; after online attention, he’s slowly bonding with other monkeys and even received a hug from an adult, capturing hearts online.