How a Carnivorous Mushroom Poisons Its Prey
Scientists have known for decades that oyster mushrooms feasted on roundworms—and they’ve finally figured out how their toxins work -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.....»»
Robber flies track their beetle prey using tiny microbursts of movement
April in the Florida Panhandle. It was hot, humid, and a thunderstorm was lurking. But as a fresh graduate student, I was relieved for the escape from my first brutal Minnesota winter. I was accompanying my adviser, Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido, on a proj.....»»
Nature"s sonar: Scientists reveal how Japanese horseshoe bats perceive moving objects
Unlike most animals that rely on visual senses, bats navigate and locate prey or obstacles through echolocation. By emitting sounds and comparing them to the reflected echoes, bats can "visualize" movement in the environment. When sound waves encount.....»»
Extinctions could result as fish change foraging behavior in response to rising temperatures
Fish are changing how they search for and consume prey in warmer waters, with models suggesting that extinctions will become more likely due to this behavior change, according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change......»»
Ecologist cautions researchers to look more closely at apparent mismatches between birds and their prey
Climate change may speed up the emergence of insects in northern countries at the end of winter. This may cause breeding birds migrating from the south to come too late to benefit from the insect peak if they do not adjust their travel schedules to t.....»»
These new emoji are coming to iPhone in iOS 17.4
Apple is updating the iPhone with even more emoji characters. iOS 17.4 introduces new ways to express approval or denial, break through the chains, rise from the ashes, or just express that limes are superior to lemons. There’s also a mushroom that.....»»
Native animals are easy prey after a fire. Could artificial refuges save them?
Australia is home to some of the most spectacular and enigmatic wildlife on Earth. Much of it, however, is being eaten by two incredibly damaging invasive predators: the feral cat and the red fox......»»
Predatory fish use rapid color changes to coordinate attacks, scientists discover
Striped marlin are some of the fastest animals on the planet and one of the ocean's top predators. When hunting in groups, individual marlin will take turns attacking schools of prey fish one at a time. Now a new study reported in the journal Current.....»»
Norway salmon farms turn to veggie menu
Norway's fish farms are feeding their salmon an increasingly vegetarian diet in order to make their businesses more sustainable, but for these carnivorous pink-fleshed fish, all is not rosy......»»
Mercury levels in tuna remain nearly unchanged since 1971, study says
Tuna is one of the most popular seafoods worldwide. But this protein-rich fish can build up high levels of methylmercury from feeding on contaminated prey, like smaller fish or crustaceans. Despite efforts to reduce mercury emissions into the environ.....»»
These new emoji are coming to iPhone next month
Apple is updating the iPhone with even more emoji characters. iOS 17.4 introduces new ways to express approval or denial, break through the chains, rise from the ashes, or just express that limes are superior to lemons. There’s also a mushroom that.....»»
Researchers find having good neighbors and few top predators make predatory fish populations more resilient
A regime shift is gradually spreading through the archipelagos of the Swedish Baltic Sea coast, where shallow bays, previously dominated by pike and perch have one by one become dominated by one of their prey species, the three-spined stickleback......»»
Robo-dinosaur scares grasshoppers to shed light on why dinos evolved feathers
The feathers may have helped dinosaurs frighten and flush out prey. Enlarge / Grasshoppers, beware! Robopteryx is here to flush you from your hiding place. (credit: Jinseok Park, Piotr Jablonski et al., 2024) Scientists.....»»
"Time to eat": Videos show that toe-tapping by frogs may be a strategy to draw out prey
It is well known that some species of frogs tap their posterior toes as they are seeking prey; this can be seen in many videos posted online. However, only a few studies to date have looked at the tapping habit itself, and not much is known about the.....»»
These are the new emoji coming in iOS 17.4
Apple is updating the iPhone with even more emoji characters. iOS 17.4 introduces new ways to express approval or denial, break through the chains, rise from the ashes, or just express that limes are superior to lemons. There’s also a mushroom that.....»»
What happens when you reintroduce a predator to a conservation area? These quolls were put to the task
In the first reintroduction of western quolls to a fenced conservation reserve, researchers from UNSW and Arid Recovery watched closely to measure their impacts on local prey species. While predation by quolls and the impacts of drought caused declin.....»»
When conditions cool down, a bacterial prey species becomes the predator
In a new study, two species of bacteria grown in a lab reversed their predator-prey relationship after one species was grown at a lower temperature. Marie Vasse of MIVEGEC, France, and colleagues have published these findings in PLOS Biology......»»
Nine new snail species discovered in Papua New Guinea, a biodiversity hot spot at risk
Nine new species of carnivorous land snails have been found in the remote forests of Papua New Guinea, a biodiversity hot spot. A new study describes the species, which are so small that all nine could fit together on a U.S. nickel......»»
A novel strategy for extracting mycelial fibers for mushroom-based materials
Mycelial fibers, the fibrous cells found in fruiting mushroom bodies, have gained momentum as a sustainable material for making leather and packaging owing to their excellent formability. Recently, a team of researchers from Shinshu University, Japan.....»»
Invasive, carnivorous frogs are now breeding in Georgia, biologists say
An invasive species of carnivorous tree frogs that feed on native wildlife are now breeding in Georgia, a sign that the amphibians have gained a stronger foothold in the state, biologists say......»»
Carnivorous plant traps help scientists explain the evolution of complex "composite" traits
An international team of researchers led by Dr. Ulrike Bauer from the University of Bristol investigated two tropical pitcher plant species separated by 4,000 km of open ocean: The Slender Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes gracilis) found in Borneo, and Nepen.....»»