Ecology & Zoology

Bottlenose Dolphins Colonized The Mediterranean After The Last Ice Age

A new study to investigate the population structure and historical processes responsible for the geographic distribution of the species in the Mediterranean finds that the bottlenose dolphin only colonized the region after the last Ice Age, about 18,000 ye ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 18 2015 - 10:40am

Phyllopteryx Dewysea: Ruby Seadragon Discovered

Make way for a new color under the sea. The orange tint in Leafy Seadragons and the yellow and purple hues of Common Seadragons is now getting some red: Scientists have discovered a new species named Phyllopteryx dewysea, which means Ruby Seadragon. The di ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 18 2015 - 7:13pm

Animal Research Up 73 Percent Among Largest Federal Grant Recipients

The use of animals in experimental research has soared at US laboratories, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and taxpayer-funded scientists are the culprits. The 25 largest recipients of government funding increased animal ex ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 25 2015 - 7:46pm

Cats Use Sight Over Smell When Finding Food

Cats seem to use their eyes rather than follow their nose when it comes to finding the location of food, according to a new paper by animal behaviorists. Felines have keen smell and vision, so a small study investigated which sense they prefer to use under ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 28 2015 - 9:30am

Our Bright UV-Reflecting Wing Patches Will Settle This!

Megaloprepus caerulatus. Credit: Andres Hernandez, STR I By Jyoti Madhusoodanan, Inside Science (Inside Science)-- In late April, rain begins to pool in the hollows of trees on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. The water-filled tree holes may seem insignif ...

Article - Inside Science - Mar 2 2015 - 8:31am

New Family Of Moth Is Enigmatic Evolutionary Wonder

Male enigma moth, a new species discovered on Kangaroo Island. George Gibbs, Author provided The discovery of a new family of moth is one of the most exciting finds in entomology in the past 40 years. It was found not in some remote and unexplored region ...

Article - The Conversation - Mar 4 2015 - 10:42am

The Acrobatic Hijinks Of Praying Mantises Captured

When a young, wingless praying mantis jumps,  from take-off to landing is a mere tenth of second--literally faster than the blink of a human eye. During a jump, the insect's body rotates in mid-air at a rate of about 2.5 times per second. And yet, the ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 5 2015 - 1:59pm

Bee Bailout: If Dollars Rule The World, Why Isn't The Ecosystem 'Too Big To Fail'?

Attempts to put a dollar value on the natural world – so-called “natural capital” or “ecosystem services” – have produced some frankly staggering numbers. A seminal 1997 paper valued the world’s ecosystem services at US$33 trillion (A$42 trillion) a year. ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 7 2015 - 10:24am

Hibernation Rethink- Bat Species Hibernate At Constant Warm Temperature

Many mammals, and some birds, escape the winter by hibernating for three to nine months. This period of dormancy permits species which would otherwise perish from the cold and scarce food to survive to see another spring. The Middle East, with temperate w ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2015 - 10:22am

How A Blue-Blooded Antarctic Octopus Can Survive The Cold

The Antarctic Ocean hosts rich and diverse fauna despite inhospitable temperatures close to freezing. While it can be hard to deliver oxygen to tissues in the cold due to lower oxygen diffusion and increased blood viscosity, ice-cold waters already contain ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2015 - 10:55pm