Collaborate Disseminate
In one of the strangest animal behavior discoveries this year, male serotine bats living in a church attic in the Netherlands have been captured on camera engaging in marathon sessions of non-penetrative sex – the first-ever instance of superficial-con… Continue reading Bat uses huge heart-shaped penis to maneuver female in unusual mating act
Patrick Star of SpongeBob SquarePants fame had already stretched the boundaries of anatomical correctness, yet it turns out that what all of us think about the bodily composition of a sea star is most likely wrong, thanks to new genetic work that sugge… Continue reading Mostly armless: A starfish is one big “head crawling along the seafloor”
Step aside, ducks, with your corkscrew phalluses: we have a new member of the animal kingdom sporting a penis that resembles a tool you’d more likely expect to see behind a bar than in a biological body plan.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTa… Continue reading Newfound beetle has a penis like a bottle opener, is named after beer
A dinosaur that has been derided as plain and boring has had its reputation upended, with new technology revealing that it was in possession of some serious Late Cretaceous-era sensory superpowers that suggest it could have been thriving below the grou… Continue reading ‘Overlooked’ dinosaur had superpower senses ideal for life underground
Scientists have identified the molecular mechanism that causes a losing zebrafish to withdraw from a battle. While fighting fish in general may not spark a lot of interest, the fact that zebrafish and humans have very similar neurobiology means this di… Continue reading Scientists ID ‘tap out’ molecule that tells a loser when to leave a fight
Other than a few species of whale, humans are the only mammals that consistently demonstrate the unusual phenomenon of menopause. Most animals maintain their reproductive ability for the vast majority of their lifespan. Humans are big outliers, with fe… Continue reading Evidence of menopause in wild chimps upends ideas around human evolution
In the wild world of nature, where an organism’s sole aim is to succeed at passing on their genes at any cost, it’s not surprising many species have aggressive, and even deadly, mating behaviors.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Frogs, Re… Continue reading Croak it: Female frogs fake death to avoid sex with unappealing males
Delivering electric shocks to 1mm-long roundworms may sound rather meanspirited, but scientists at Nagoya City University have used this particular stimuli to uncover some curious behaviors of Caenorhabditis elegans that could further our understanding… Continue reading ‘Emotional’ worms offer clues to how genetics may drive our own feelings
About 66 million years ago, the reign of the reptiles came to a dramatic end as a huge asteroid slammed into Earth. Scientists have now predicted that mammals will meet their maker in a similar cataclysm in about 250 million years’ time, as the contine… Continue reading Future supercontinent predicted to trigger a mammal Armageddon
Hijacking the body of a convenient host is nothing new in the opportunistic world of parasitism. Nor are zombie ants, thanks to the fittingly named zombie-ant fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis), which has even claimed top prize in photography competi… Continue reading Parasite turns hapless ants into zombies at sunrise and sunset