FLORA FAUNA

5,060 articles

Cyclops beetles hint at answer to chicken-and-egg problem
Aug 26, 2016 (SPX)
Beetles with cyclops eyes have given Indiana University scientists insight into how new traits may evolve through the recruitment of existing genes - even if th...
Golden eagles may be more abundant in undeveloped, elevated landscapes
Aug 26, 2016 (SPX)
Golden eagles may be more abundant in elevated, undeveloped landscapes with high wind speeds, according to a study published August 24, 2016 in the open-access ...
Whiskers help animals sense the direction of the wind
Aug 26, 2016 (SPX)
Many animals appear to have an impressive ability to follow the wind to find food, avoid predators, and connect with potential mates. Until now, however, no stu...
Analog DNA circuit does math in a test tube
Aug 26, 2016 (SPX)
Often described as the blueprint of life, DNA contains the instructions for making every living thing from a human to a house fly. But in recent decades, some r...
Myanmar's peacock: a national symbol dying off in the wild
Aug 24, 2016 (AFP)
Embraced by kings and freedom fighters alike, Myanmar's peacocks have long been a national symbol of pride and resistance -- but they are becoming ever harder t...
Sick animals limit disease transmission by isolating themselves from their peers
Aug 23, 2016 (SPX)
When animals get sick, they may change their behaviour, becoming less active, for example. The study's lead author, Patricia Lopes from the Department of Evolut...
Elbows of extinct marsupial lion suggest unique hunting style
Aug 18, 2016 (SPX)
Scientists from the Universities of Bristol and Malaga have proposed that the long extinct marsupial lion hunted in a very unique way - by using its teeth to ho...
Better conservation could prevent most island vertebrate extinctions, research shows
Aug 18, 2016 (UPI)
Poaching, pollution and habitat loss remain major threats to many of Earth's most iconic endangered species, but for the majority of imperiled species, the grav...
Discovery increases understanding of how plants and bacteria see light
Aug 17, 2016 (SPX)
Plants, bacteria and fungi react to light with light-sensitive proteins. Scientists from the University of Gothenburg and their Finnish colleagues from Universi...
Early Mexican civilization may have bred rabbits and hares
Aug 17, 2016 (UPI)
New isotopic analysis suggests the ancient people of Teotihuacan -- the pre-Hispanic Mexican civilization which lasted from A.D. 1 to 600 -- may have bred and m...
Flood-hit elephant that travelled 1700km dies in Bangladesh
Aug 16, 2016 (AFP)
An elephant thought to have travelled at least 1,700 kilometres from India into Bangladesh after becoming separated from its herd by floods died on Tuesday desp...
Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years
Aug 15, 2016 (SPX)
While the more than 5 meter long Greenland shark is one of the world's largest sharks, it is also one of the least understood animals on our planet. The Greenla...
Galapagos faces first-ever bird extinction
Aug 12, 2016 (SPX)
Scientists have discovered a new species of colorful songbird in the Galapagos Islands, with one catch: it's extinct. Researchers from the California Academy of...
Tracing the evolution of bird reproduction
Aug 12, 2016 (SPX)
What really did come first - the chicken or the egg? Birds' reproductive biology is dramatically different from that of any other living vertebrates, and ornith...
Managing climate change refugia to protect wildlife
Aug 12, 2016 (SPX)
Results of a new study led by Toni Lyn Morelli, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Northeast Climate Science Center based at th...
Greenland sharks may live 400 years, researchers say
Aug 11, 2016 (AFP)
Greenland sharks are the Earth's longest-lived vertebrates -- or creatures with a spine -- with a lifespan that can last as long as 400 years, international res...
Bangladesh rescues elephant that travelled 1,000 km
Aug 11, 2016 (AFP)
An elephant thought to have travelled 1,000 kilometres from India into Bangladesh after becoming separated from its herd by floods was stopped in its tracks Thu...
Guns, tractors threaten wildlife more than climate: study
Aug 11, 2016 (AFP)
The main driver of wildlife extinction is not climate change but humanity's rapacious harvesting of species for food and trophies, along with our ever-expanding...
Looking different than your parents can be an evolutionary advantage
Aug 10, 2016 (SPX)
Looking different to your parents can provide species with a way to escape evolutionary dead ends, according to new research from Queen Mary University of Londo...
The 6 steps to extinction
Aug 10, 2016 (SPX)
Invasive plants are a problem around the world, but are they just a nuisance or are they killers? So far there are no documented cases of native plants becoming...
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