All articles tagged with #animals
A tourist who allegedly threw a rock at a Hawaiian monk seal to protect sea turtles says he acted to defend the animals; his attorney says he was doing something good and is devastated by the backlash after video of the incident circulated.
A new review compiles years of work showing mosquitoes locate humans via chemical cues: CO2 in breath guides them from afar, then skin-emitted compounds like carboxylic acids (and related molecules such as 1-octen-3-ol) attract them up close; the skin microbiome and certain pathogens can tilt the balance toward more bites, informing potential repellents and skin-microbiome approaches to reduce transmission risk.
A red-haired fox in Blairmore, Alberta, was spotted carrying five or six hot dogs by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable; police posted a photo on social media jokingly calling it a ‘criminal,’ and the fox was released without charges.
A 166-million-year-old, dog-sized, plant-eating dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic was unearthed on Scotland’s Isle of Skye. Although the skeleton was long spotted, difficult access and protected coastline kept it from extraction until now. The fragmentary remains suggest an early ornithischian (possibly an early ornithopod or ceratodan) and show it was at least eight years old when it died, based on growth rings. This could push back the appearance of iguanodontians and shed light on small herbivores in Jurassic ecosystems; researchers aim to find more fossils in the Kilmaluag Formation to better understand dinosaur evolution in this period.
Rare footage from Shark Bay shows bottlenose dolphins using sea sponges as protective tools on their snouts to hunt along the seafloor. The behavior alters echolocation and is transmitted from mothers to offspring; only about 5% of the population uses it, and calves typically learn it over 3–4 years. Sponge shape changes the acoustic beam, affecting hunting efficiency, with cone-shaped sponges guiding clicks more narrowly than basket-like sponges. The study, led by Ellen Rose Jacobs of Aarhus University and the Shark Bay Dolphin Research Project, highlights cultural transmission and the costs of tool use in a changing ocean, and was published in Royal Society Open Science.
Spneb, a 38-year-old Humboldt penguin at Paradise Park in Cornwall, is believed to be the world’s oldest, celebrated with an ice cake topped with sardines and sprats as visitors watched, while her 21-year-old mate Prince looked on.
At a veterinary visit, Tequila, a senior Golden Retriever, turns the waiting room into a self-guided stroll—carrying her leash, sniffing shelves, and confidently wandering past staff—winning smiles from thousands online.
A Ukrainian brigade used a drone to evacuate Barsik the cat and Zagybluk the dog from a dangerous frontline position, flying about 10 kilometers in breathable pouches to a safer rear area. Barsik was later reunited with a wounded soldier who cared for him, while Zagybluk is thriving back with troops. The story underscores wartime compassion for animals, with U Animals evacuating more than 10,000 animals since the invasion—cats, dogs, cows, bees, and more—often finding new homes, such as a Kharkiv kitten later named Plush.
A 10-year-old girl, Evie Hill, spotted a critically endangered axolotl under a bridge by the River Ogmore in Bridgend, Wales, prompting her family to rescue it, name it Dippy D, and seek expert care. Researchers note axolotls are often kept as pets and warn that releasing non-native species into the wild is illegal; the salamander is now recovering in Leicester after the family’s quick行动 and consultation with breeders.
On a Somerset beach, 11-year-old Ruby Reynolds and her father found jaw fragments dating to about 202 million years ago, leading scientists to name Ichthyotitan severnensis, a colossal ichthyosaur potentially around 82 feet long—the largest marine reptile known—based on skeletal jaw evidence; the discovery, described in PLOS ONE, highlights how citizen science and coastal erosion can rewrite natural history.
Researchers in Hong Kong’s Mai Po Nature Reserve describe Tripedalia maipoensis, a tiny box jellyfish about 0.6 inches long, as a new species—the fourth described in the Tripedaliidae family. DNA analysis shows it is distinct from Tripedalia cystophora (16S rRNA ~17.4% difference). The jellyfish has 24 eyes arranged in four rhopalia, with two lens eyes likely forming images to aid navigation under mangroves. Found during nocturnal sampling of shrimp ponds, this is the first box jellyfish formally reported from Chinese coastal waters and underscores hidden biodiversity in human-modified habitats. The study was published in Zoological Studies.
Stanford researchers tracked 81 African turquoise killifish with automated surveillance and found that midlife differences in sleep timing and daytime activity already distinguish longer‑ from shorter‑lived individuals. Using machine learning, just a few days of middle‑aged behavior could predict ultimate lifespan, revealing a stepwise aging pattern and linking behavioral changes to liver‑gene activity. The findings suggest wearable‑type monitoring in humans could detect early aging signals and guide preventive interventions in the future.
A study of wildlife in northern Italy finds foxes and several bird species carry hospital-linked Klebsiella pneumoniae strains that resist multiple antibiotics, including the NDM-5 gene, signaling that antibiotic resistance is present beyond clinical settings. Researchers say wildlife can act as sentinels for environmental contamination and help map how resistance travels through ecosystems, aided by factors like wastewater and waste runoff. The findings show a low prevalence (about 2%) but indicate environmental reservoirs of high‑risk clones (like ST307) and shared plasmids, highlighting the need for broader wildlife monitoring and cleaner wastewater to slow the spread.
In a Science Advances study, researchers at the Salk Institute observed a rare peaceful transfer of power in a naked mole rat colony: after relocating the Amigos colony, the reigning queen Teré paused reproduction for almost a year, two of her daughters began reproducing in sequence, and Arwen ultimately became the new breeding queen by the end of 2025, showing that even highly eusocial mammals can exhibit flexible, nonviolent queen succession.
Live Science explains that chickens do not stay alive for long after their heads are removed: brain death typically occurs within about 30 seconds of neck injury, with the heart dying a few seconds later, and any movement seen is usually reflexive from residual neural activity rather than conscious life. Movements after decapitation can last up to a minute or so, but are not signs of the bird being alive in any meaningful sense. The famous Miracle Mike case involved partial brain preservation and is not representative; it occurred because only part of the brain and brainstem remained, allowing limited life support-like activity under unusual conditions.