FLORA FAUNA

5,060 articles

Smaller islands host shorter food chains
Nov 26, 2013 (SPX)
That smaller islands will typically sustain fewer species than large ones is a widespread pattern in nature. Now a team of researchers shows that smaller area w...
Rare whooping cranes in US face enemies large and small
Nov 26, 2013 (AFP)
Jane Chandler raises the rarest cranes in the world. For them to have a chance at surviving in the wild, the young birds must never see her face, hear her speak...
Researchers identify genomic variant associated with sun sensitivity, freckles
Nov 25, 2013 (SPX)
Researchers have identified a genomic variant strongly associated with sensitivity to the sun, brown hair, blue eyes - and freckles. In the study of Icelanders ...
Climate change may disrupt flight season of Canadian butterflies
Nov 25, 2013 (SPX)
The flight season timing of a wide variety of butterflies is responsive to temperature and could be altered by climate change, according to a UBC study that lev...
Evolution can select for evolvability
Nov 22, 2013 (SPX)
Evolution does not operate with a goal in mind; it does not have foresight. But organisms that have a greater capacity to evolve may fare better in rapidly chan...
Land management as a key to countering butterfly declines
Nov 22, 2013 (SPX)
Currently, butterfly populations in many countries decline at alarming rates. Many of these populations are closely associated with the agricultural landscape. ...
Nature's Glowing Slime: Scientists Peek into Hidden Sea Worm's Light
Nov 18, 2013 (SPX)
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues are unraveling the mechanisms behind a little-known marine worm that prod...
US destroys six-ton ivory stockpile
Nov 15, 2013 (AFP)
The United States has destroyed six tons of confiscated elephant ivory, in a move wildlife groups hailed as a bold message to criminal traffickers that the ivor...
Changing the conversation -- polymers disrupt bacterial communication
Nov 14, 2013 (SPX)
Artificial materials based on simple synthetic polymers can disrupt the way in which bacteria communicate with each other, a study led by scientists at The Univ...
Bacteria may allow animals to send quick, voluminous messages
Nov 14, 2013 (SPX)
Twitter clips human thoughts to a mere 140 characters. Animals' scent posts may be equally as short, relatively speaking, yet they convey an encyclopedia of inf...
The secrets of a bug's flight
Nov 14, 2013 (SPX)
Researchers have identified some of the underlying physics that may explain how insects can so quickly recover from a stall in midflight -- unlike conventional ...
US posts $1 mln reward targeting Laos poaching ring
Nov 13, 2013 (AFP)
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday offered a $1 million reward to help smash a Laos-based poaching network slaughtering endangered elephants and rhin...
Understanding ourselves by studying the animal kingdom
Nov 13, 2013 (SPX)
New research reveals a new model for a genetic eye disease, and shows how animal models - from fruit flies to armadillos and monkeys - can yield valuable inform...
Three Chinese in Tanzanian court over ivory haul
Nov 09, 2013 (AFP)
Three Chinese nationals have been charged in Tanzania for possessing 706 tusks from poached elephants, court officials said Saturday. Police and wildlife office...
U of M scientists solve major piece in the origin of biological complexity
Nov 08, 2013 (SPX)
Scientists have puzzled for centuries over how and why multicellular organisms evolved the almost universal trait of using single cells, such as eggs and sperm,...
Rare New Microbe Found in Two Distant Clean Rooms
Nov 08, 2013 (JPL)
A rare, recently discovered microbe that survives on very little to eat has been found in two places on Earth: spacecraft clean rooms in Florida and South Ameri...
Scientists study 'fishy' behavior to solve an animal locomotion mystery
Nov 06, 2013 (SPX)
A quirk of nature has long baffled biologists: Why do animals push in directions that don't point toward their goal, like the side-to-side sashaying of a runnin...
CU-Boulder-led team gets first look at diverse life below rare tallgrass prairies
Nov 04, 2013 (SPX)
America's once-abundant tallgrass prairies-which have all but disappeared-were home to dozens of species of grasses that could grow to the height of a man, hund...
Chinese officials set 1,000 cats loose in forest: reports
Nov 04, 2013 (AFP)
Animal activists are combing a forest in eastern China for more than 1,000 kittens rescued from a meat supplier only to be let loose by local authorities, an or...
Poacher shot dead in Zimbabwe game park
Oct 28, 2013 (AFP)
Rangers killed a poacher in a Zimbabwe game park last week as security was stepped up at wildlife parks following this year's mass poisoning of elephants, wildl...
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, is Copyright 1995-2026 Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principles for news reporting and research purposes.