Marine researchers have captured the most comprehensive catalog ever assembled of how octopuses wield their eight arms in the wild, documenting nearly 4,000 arm movements from 25 creatures across six diverse underwater habitats spanning the Caribbean to Spain. The findings, published this week in Scientific Reports, reveal that octopus arms operate with a sophistication that … Read more
Our brains grew as our thumbs stretched. That is the striking conclusion of a new study in Communications Biology, which finds that primates with longer thumbs also tend to have larger brains. Using data from 95 living and fossil species, researchers at Durham University and the University of Reading report that the link holds across … Read more
Michigan’s only rattlesnake is quietly losing ground. A new 15-year study shows that inbreeding among Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes is reducing survival and reproductive success, raising alarm for the federally threatened species. The research, led by Michigan State University conservation biologists and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, traced family histories of … Read more
Leadership is not about dominance but about courage and curiosity. A new study from the University of Vienna shows that bold geese, rather than aggressive ones, are more likely to become flock leaders, while exploratory individuals play the role of first followers. Conducted at the Konrad Lorenz Research Station in Austria and published in iScience, … Read more
They dine where they defecate, swim where they hunt, and swallow prey crawling with parasites. North American river otters in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay may not follow our hygiene rules, but their eating habits reveal a surprisingly important ecological role. In a new study published in Frontiers in Mammal Science, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center scientists offer … Read more
Every decade or so, western tent caterpillars descend in hairy, squirming waves, covering trees, fences, and even houses, only to disappear almost overnight. A new study in the Journal of Animal Ecology by University of British Columbia researchers, led by Dr. Judith Myers, draws on 50 years of field data to explain this striking boom-and-bust … Read more
For decades, scientists have tracked migrating whales using satellite tags and flat maps. But it turns out these massive ocean travelers have been underestimated. A new study published in Ecology shows that whales may swim up to 20% farther than previously calculated, simply because traditional models failed to consider Earth’s curvature and the animals’ vertical … Read more
How ‘Scrumping’ Apes May Have Given Us a Taste for Alcohol Before humans brewed their first beer or raised a glass in celebration, our ancestors may have been tipsy on a much humbler vintage: fermented fruit scavenged from the forest floor. Now, scientists have given this ancient behavior a name—”scrumping”—and a provocative new hypothesis to … Read more
Female gorillas don’t just follow the rules of the hierarchy—they challenge them when it suits their needs. A new study based on 25 years of observations reveals that aggression among female gorillas is not simply about dominance, but about strategy. Whether it’s pregnancy, lactation, or group dynamics, gorillas modulate their aggression depending on their circumstances—sometimes … Read more
Biologging has cracked open a new window into the hidden world of stingrays. In a pioneering study, researchers at Florida Atlantic University have successfully deployed the first multi-sensor tags on whitespotted eagle rays (Aetobatus narinari), revealing their feeding strategies, habitat use, and behavioral patterns in unprecedented detail. These findings are crucial for understanding the ecological … Read more