Nature and ecology
Natural History is Science Blog's desk for the living world. Animals, evolution, and ecology, reported from the field science and the papers rather than the press releases.
Ocean Census’s 1,121 candidate species came from expeditions, workshops and collection backlogs, but its discovery threshold precedes formal taxonomic description.
Sep 1, 2026
With its familiar sensory openings closed, the platypus samples electrical gradients and hydrodynamic displacement through tens of thousands of bill receptors, although its distance-by-delay computation remains a supported model rather than a directly recorded act.
Sep 1, 2026
A three-minute mother-calf sequence offers the first potential evidence that dolphin shelling can pass vertically, while falling far short of proof that the technique is culturally transmitted.
Aug 31, 2026
Bowhead fibroblasts proved easier to transform than human cells in one test, yet accumulated fewer mutations because their DNA-break repair was unusually efficient and faithful.
Aug 31, 2026
The 2007 TARDIS experiment showed that dehydrated, Sun-shielded water bears could endure ten days of space vacuum and reproduce after rehydration, while ultraviolet light set a hard limit.
Aug 31, 2026
Across 88 mammal species or lineages, island morphology changed fastest over shorter intervals. The 21-year minimum and a later methodological dispute define what the result can support.
Aug 30, 2026
Lionfish probably entered the Atlantic through several aquarium releases, then spread through drifting larvae, repeated spawning and weak population-level control.
Aug 30, 2026
A label and genome skimming reconnected a damaged Wallace moth to modern specimens, anchoring a 14-species genus with 11 species new to science.
Aug 30, 2026
A study of 53 wild chimpanzees found four ways that familiar calls combine, including order effects, while leaving listener comprehension to future tests.
Aug 30, 2026
Humans are distinctive for uniformly pale exposed sclera, and experiments show a visibility advantage, but newer ape comparisons complicate the classic cooperative-eye story.
Aug 30, 2026
After A-84 moved away, ROV SuBastian documented an old Antarctic seafloor community, while leaving its exact age, food sources and species inventory unresolved.
Aug 30, 2026
The biomass of every wild bird species combined is dwarfed by a single type of farmed animal—a disparity that exposes how thoroughly humans have reshaped the living world.
Aug 29, 2026
The famous 392-year figure was the midpoint of a 272-to-512-year probability range, but even the lower bound exceeded the previous vertebrate longevity record.
Aug 29, 2026
Young goats learn the vocal patterns of their peers, suggesting that accent acquisition isn't uniquely human after all.
Aug 27, 2026
