Animals Articles

Skeeters ride the rain

By Stephen Ornes / June 25, 2012
To a mosquito, being struck by a raindrop is like a midair collision with a bus. But scientists recently discovered that skeeters fare well when they hitch a ride on the raindrop. Credit: Courtesy Tim Nowack, Andrew Dickerson and David Hu/Georgia Tech

Mosquitoes survive collisions with raindrops by going with the flow

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Mammals feel the heat

By Stephen Ornes / June 5, 2012
Scientists say squirrel monkeys may not be able to move to new habitats fast enough to keep up with climate change. Credit: Dave Pape/Wikimedia Commons

Scientists predict some animals won’t be able to keep up with Earth’s increasing temperatures

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Jelly babies

By Roberta Kwok / May 31, 2012
A comb jelly is a small animal with tentacles that lives in the ocean. Scientists have found a population of comb jellies that contains only young jellies, no adults. Credit: Cornelia Jaspers

Population of jellyfish-like creatures contains only young animals, no adults

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Caecilians: The other amphibian

By Roberta Kwok / May 16, 2012
Measey---S-vittatus

Legless creatures live secretive, strange existences underground and underwater

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Baboons detect bogus words

By Stephen Ornes / May 4, 2012
This baboon participated in a new study that found the monkeys could tell real words from nonsense strings of letters. Credit: J. Fagot

Some monkeys know a real word when they see it

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Animal buddies

By Stephen Ornes / April 19, 2012
Mother and daughter baboons, like the ones shown here, form strong bonds. Credit: Joan Silk, UCLA

Humans aren’t the only animals that benefit from friends

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Can’t touch this: Unusual venomous creatures

By Sharon Pochron / March 11, 2012
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Scientists study a cast of creatures to learn how to use toxins to treat pain and disease

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Speedy sharkskin

By Jennifer Cutraro / March 7, 2012
Each of these shark denticles is about the thickness of one sheet of paper or a strand of hair. Credit: George Lauder

Tiny, toothlike bumps boost sharks’ swiftness

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Fishy chatter

By Stephen Ornes / March 6, 2012
Caption: Scientists recently recorded the sounds of the deep and picked up noises from humpback whales, shown here near the surface. Credit: NOAA

Scientists record unidentified noises in the deep sea

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Costs of missing sleep

By Stephen Ornes / February 15, 2012
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Some fruit flies do fine without sleep, as long as they’ve got enough to eat

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