Infectious Diseases and Social Distancing in Nature
Forager ants do it, vampire bats do it, guppies do it, and mandrills do it. Long before humans learned about and started “social distancing due…
Zoology News
Chimpanzees Without Borders: Researchers Uncover Recent Genetic Connectivity Between Chimpanzee Subspecies
A new large-scale study uncovers recent genetic connectivity between chimpanzee subspecies despite past isolation events. Researchers from the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee (PanAf)…
Race for Survival: Retroviruses Are Re-writing the Koala Genome and Causing Cancer
The koala retrovirus (KoRV) is a virus that, like other retroviruses such as HIV, inserts itself into the DNA of an infected cell. At some…
Western Chimpanzees – a Critically Endangered Species – Share Overlapping Territories With Humans
Chimpanzees and humans “overlap” in their use of forests and even villages, new research shows. Scientists used camera traps to track the movements of western…
Birds Can “Read” the Earth’s Magnetic Signature to Navigate Back on Course
Research shows for the first time, how birds displaced beyond their normal migratory route are able to navigate back to their route and gives us…
Brain Imaging Reveals: Not All Monogamous Mammals Are “Wired for Love” in the Same Way
Lemurs Show There’s No Single Formula for Lasting Love Humans aren’t the only mammals that form long-term bonds with a single, special mate — some…
Not Obese After All: Captive Asian Elephants Are Actually Less Fat Than the Average Human
When Daniella Chusy, currently at Indiana University, USA, learned that many captive elephants were thought to be overweight and that their low birth rates suggested…
“Lasso Climbing” – Scientists Discover Bizarre New Fifth Mode of Snake Locomotion
Researchers reporting in Current Biology on January 11, 2021, have discovered that invasive brown tree snakes living on Guam can get around in a way that…
Scientists Discover Bizarre New Mode of Snake Locomotion – “Nothing I’d Ever Seen Compares to It”
A team of researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Cincinnati have discovered a new mode of snake locomotion that allows the brown…
New Discovery on the Mysterious Family Life of Notorious Saber-Toothed Tiger
Like many of today’s millennials, adolescent Sabre-Toothed Cats stayed with family longer than expected. A new study by scientists at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)…
New Genetics Research Reveals How Earth’s Oddest Mammal Got to Be So Bizarre
Often considered the world’s oddest mammal, Australia’s beaver-like, duck-billed platypus exhibits an array of bizarre characteristics: it lays eggs instead of giving birth to live…
Extraordinary Diversity: Unusual Sex Chromosomes of Platypus, Emu and Duck
Three papers unveil the extraordinary diversity of animal sex chromosomes. The sex chromosomes genetically define the developmental fate of an embryo to become a male…
Scientists Tracked Arctic Animals’ Movement Patterns for Three Decades – This Is What They Found
For animals in the Arctic, life is a balancing act. Seasonal cues, such as warmer spring temperatures or cooler temperatures in the fall, tell animals…
Mini Antibodies Produced by a Llama and Isolated by Neuroscientists Could Prevent COVID-19 Infection
Preliminary results suggest anti-COVID19 nanobodies may be effective at preventing and diagnosing infections. National Institutes of Health researchers have isolated a set of promising, tiny…
57,000 Year-Old Wolf Pup Mummy Uncovered in Canadian Permafrost
While water blasting at a wall of frozen mud in Yukon, Canada, a gold miner made an extraordinary discovery: a perfectly preserved wolf pup that…
Scientists Have Found the Most Elaborately Dressed-to-Impress Dinosaur Ever Described
Scientists have found the most elaborately dressed-to-impress dinosaur ever described and say it sheds new light on how birds such as peacocks inherited their ability…
Bizarre “Crazy Beast” That Lived Among the Dinosaurs Perplexes Scientists
The bizarre features of this mammal have scientists perplexed as to how it could have evolved; “it bends and even breaks a lot of rules.”…
Ivory From 1533 Shipwreck Tracked Using DNA – Provides New Insights on Elephants and 16th Century Trading
In 1533, the Bom Jesus — a Portuguese trading vessel carrying 40 tons of cargo including gold, silver, copper and more than 100 elephant tusks…