Surfing the world’s oceans on the back of a turtle may sound like a life of luxury, but for a small crab it also means restricting itself to a single mate. A species of small oceanic crab, Planes minutus often makes its home on the shells of loggerhead turtles. They tuck themselves into a tiny […]
animal behaviour
Rattlesnakes silently shook their tails before evolving rattles
Shake, rattle and strike. It is possibly one of the most terrifying sounds in the animal kingdom, but how the rattlesnake evolved its chilling warning signal is a mystery. Now a study suggests the rattle evolved long after the tail-shaking behaviour. The evolution of the rattle has baffled scientists because, unlike other complex physical traits […]
Baby turtles work together to dig themselves out of a nest hole
Baby sea turtles work together to dig their way out of sandy nests, and the more of them there are, the less energy they use doing it. We knew of this group-digging behaviour, called social facilitation, for a long time, but the reasons for teamwork were unclear. Possible explanations included speeding up nest escape or […]
Clawing Their Way to Victory
Research suggests fiddler crabs with regenerated claws have distinct fighting strategies. Male fiddler crabs have one oversized claw, which they use to both attract females and to fight other males for the best breeding burrows on the beach. These fights can get violent, and crabs will sometimes lose their big fighting claw in the process. […]
Eyeless cave shrimp senses light and can live frozen in ice
Deep in the ice caves of the Shawangunk Ridge in New York state lives a tiny crustacean with unique abilities. Despite being eyeless, it can still detect some wavelengths of visible light. And it has no problem with being frozen solid during the frigid winters. Read more in New Scientist.
Alligators help protect bird nests – but still snack on chicks
It’s raining food for alligators in the Everglades – those that act as bodyguards for nesting birds get paid in chicks. It’s not uncommon for one animal to gain protection from a neighbour. In Florida’s Everglades, wading birds like storks and egrets preferentially build their nests where alligators live, because the presence of the big […]
Wild gorillas compose happy songs that they hum during meals
Gorillas sing and hum when eating, a discovery that could help shed light on how language evolved in early humans. Singing seems to be a way for gorillas to express contentment with their meal, as well as for the head of the family to communicate to others that it is dinner time. Read more in New Scientist.
White shark’s diet may include biggest fish of all: whale shark
White sharks are voracious predators, and it seems they even set their sights on the biggest fish in the sea. Two vertebrae recovered from the stomach of a 4.5-metre-long white shark caught 50 years ago show that it had been feeding on a whale shark, and a big one at that. It was around 8.5 […]
Floral Smells Stop Stinging Bees
Appetizing scents can override alarm signals in honeybees. As an amateur beekeeper, I’m resigned to getting more than my fair share of painful stings when harvesting honey, or even cutting the grass too close to the hive. But new research published today in Nature Communications shows that there may be a way to distract angry […]
Why fruitflies know their beer
Competing neuronal pathways help adults to choose locations with just the right amount of alcohol for their offspring to thrive. Fruitflies know exactly how much alcohol will be good for their young. Larvae living on a food source with the right concentration of ethanol will grow into heavy, healthy adults and will be protected against […]