Animals
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AnimalsA spider’s feet hold a hairy, sticky secret
Their widespread stickiness traces to the shape of hairs on its feet, scientists now find.
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AnimalsAnalyze This: Some female hummingbirds go undercover
Some female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds boast bright blue colors similar to males. That may help females blend in to avoid attacks.
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AnimalsThere’s a new word for birds stealing animal hair: kleptotrichy
Dozens of YouTube videos show birds grabbing hair from dogs, cats, people, raccoons and even a porcupine — a behavior rarely described by scientists.
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AnimalsA giant tortoise is caught hunting and eating a baby bird
New video captures the first recorded instance of a tortoise hunting another animal.
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AnimalsLet’s learn about elephants
Check out five wild facts you may not know about a familiar animal: the elephant.
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AnimalsWill the woolly mammoth return?
Scientists are using genetic engineering and cloning to try to bring back extinct species or save endangered ones. Here’s how and why.
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AnimalsCloning boosts endangered black-footed ferrets
A cloned ferret named Elizabeth Ann brings genetic diversity to a species that nearly went extinct in the 1980s.
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FossilsBaby pterosaurs may have been able to fly right after hatching
A bone crucial for lift-off was stronger in hatchling pterosaurs than in adults. The baby reptiles also had shorter, broader wings than grown-ups.
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AnimalsSquirrels use parkour tricks to leap from branch to branch
Squirrels navigate through trees by making rapid calculations. They have to balance trade-offs between branch flexibility and the distance between tree limbs.
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AnimalsTiny animals survive 24,000 years in suspended animation
Tiny bdelloid rotifers awake from a 24,000-year slumber when freed from the Arctic permafrost.
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LifeSome pikas survive winter by eating yak poop
Pikas endure bone-chilling cold on the Tibetan Plateau by using little energy and fueling up on yak poop.
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AnimalsAnalyze This: Sharks aren’t as scary as what you see on TV
In Shark Week shows, scientists found mixed messages about sharks, insufficient research support and little info on conserving endangered animals.