How consciousness in animals could be researched
There are reasons to assume that not only humans but also some non-human species of animal have conscious perception. Which species have consciousness and how the subjective experience of various species could differ is being investigated by Professo.....»»
Viewpoint: Five things we need to see in Australia"s new nature laws
Australia's abysmal rates of extinctions and land clearing since European colonization are infamous globally. Our national environmental legislation has largely failed to protect biodiversity, including many threatened plants, animals and ecological.....»»
Wildlife-vehicle collisions study delves into factors that impact detecting animals after dark
According to a 2008 study, wildlife-vehicle collisions cost an estimated $8.4 billion in damages, with more than 58,000 people injured and 440 deaths occurring annually. These numbers continue to increase as urban sprawl expands and human–wildlife.....»»
Research highlights data gap in SARS-CoV-2 cases in animals
COVID-19 in animals? The question got lost in the shuffle during the ongoing global pandemic. Research on SARS-CoV-2 has primarily focused on its implications for humans, despite the virus most likely being a zoonosis, a disease transmitted from anim.....»»
Forget social distancing: House finches become more social when sick
Social distancing when sick has become second nature to many of us in the past few years, but some sick animals appear to take a different approach. A new study of house finches led by Marissa Langager, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological.....»»
WhaleVis turns more than a century of whaling data into an interactive map
Even though they're the largest animals on earth, whales remain difficult to track. So experts often turn to historical whaling data to inform current research. A dataset maintained by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) contains detailed info.....»»
Decoding the genetics of ascorbic acid: A deep dive into strawberry"s Vitamin C content and its environmental factors
Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid (AsA), is a prevalent antioxidant found in various organisms, notably plants and animals. Functionally, AsA plays a variety of roles, from enzyme cofactor to safeguarding against oxidative damage during photosyn.....»»
Caribbean island of Dominica creates world"s first marine protected area for endangered sperm whale
The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world's first marine protected area for one of earth's largest animals: the endangered sperm whale......»»
New study shows how authors" personal circumstances influence the depiction of nature in their works
Novels and poems often contain descriptions of plants or animals—sometimes more, sometimes less detailed. The extent to which flora and fauna feature in a literary work also depends on who wrote it and under what circumstances......»»
Climate change is altering animal brains and behavior—a neuroscientist explains how
Human-driven climate change is increasingly shaping the Earth's living environments. Rising temperatures, rapid shifts in rainfall and seasonality, and ocean acidification are presenting altered environments to many animal species. How do animals adj.....»»
Animals skin patterns are a matter of physics—research could improve medical diagnostics and synthetic materials
Patterns on animal skin, such as zebra stripes and poison frog color patches, serve various biological functions, including temperature regulation, camouflage and warning signals. The colors making up these patterns must be distinct and well separate.....»»
Designing biosecurity plans for hobby farms
More and more people are practicing farming because they enjoy the outdoors, animals, and the fruits of their labor as opposed to seeing farming as a primary source of income......»»
How wealthy countries" research skews our knowledge of plants
More extreme weather and large variations in temperature and precipitation: Climate change affects not only humans and animals but also plants. They, too, face significant challenges, and there is increasing interest in creating climate models to cal.....»»
The Surprising Reason Sea Creatures Are Getting Hungrier
As ocean temperatures climb, so do animals’ metabolisms. If extra food isn’t available, they’ll starve......»»
Signs of wear on mosasaurs" teeth show they were picky eaters who liked seafood
The cradle of paleontology—the study of fossil remains of animals and plants—lies in the Maastricht limestones, where the first Mosasaurus was discovered in 1766. The Dutch-Belgian border area around the Limburg capital is one of the best-explore.....»»
A fifth of European Red List flora and fauna species may be at risk of extinction
A new analysis of 14,669 threatened species of plants and animals found in Europe reveals that about one fifth face the risk of extinction, and that agricultural land-use change poses a significant threat to these species. Axel Hochkirch of the Musé.....»»
How animals get their stripes and spots
Nature has no shortage of patterns, from spots on leopards to stripes on zebras and hexagons on boxfish. But a full explanation for how these patterns form has remained elusive......»»
Extreme weather may help invasive species outcompete native animals, new study finds
Non-native species appear to be better able to resist extreme weather, threatening native plants and animals and potentially creating more favorable conditions for invasive species under climate change. That's the conclusion of a new study in the jou.....»»
The Hidden, Awful Way That Climate Change Imperils Animals
As ocean temperatures climb, so do creatures’ metabolisms. If extra food isn’t available, they’ll starve......»»
Study shows animals like crickets use the ground to amplify calls
When animals "sing" sitting on the ground—such as when crickets chirp—their volume and reach increase dramatically, by as much as ten-fold. This result from a study by Western researchers, published today in the journal PNAS, contradicts long-hel.....»»
CT scan reveals "neglected" dinosaur had super senses
A CT scan of an often-overlooked, plant-eating dinosaur's skull reveals that while it may not have been all that "brainy," it had a unique combination of traits associated with living animals that spend at least part of their time underground, includ.....»»