Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Sep 30, 2006

Sucking Up: Why Monkeys Groom the Boss

Sucking up to win the support of the boss dates back to our furry ancestors. The motivation, for monkeys, is life and death. Rather than grabbing coffee for the CEO, monkeys have for eons picked dead skin and bugs from the fur of higher-ranking monkeys. They do it in exchange...

Sep 30, 2006

Diet Linked to Brain Size in Primates

Brain tissue is expensive for a body to produce, so when times are tough, some primates go with a smaller noodle, a new study suggests. Scientists compared orangutans living on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The subspecies Pongo pygmaeus morio, living in northeastern part of Borneo where food...

Sep 30, 2006

Tool Time: Crows Share Tricks of the Trade

Bird brained they might be, but crows are the MacGyvers of the avian world, able to turn twigs and even their own feathers into tools for getting at hard-to-reach food. But while young crows are born with a propensity for crafting tools, it's only after watching their elders make and...

Aug 31, 2006

Mother Deer Can't Recognize Fawn's Cry

Fawns are keenly tuned to their mothers' voices, but female fallow deer can't recognize their own offspring based on sound alone, a new study finds. The imbalance is an example of how the type of environment a species lives in affects how parents and offspring communicate, the researchers say. Using...

Aug 31, 2006

Unknown Dinosaurs: Golden Age of Discovery Ahead

The next several decades could prove a golden age for dinosaur hunters looking to discover new species of the ancient reptiles. A new statistical analysis predicts that more than 1,300 unique dinosaur genera await discovery by paleontologists. In biology, a genus is an organizational group made up of one or...

Aug 31, 2006

Wild Chimps Use Crossing Guards

Elementary school children aren't the only ones who need crossing guards. Scientists report that wild chimpanzees safely cross roads with the aid of adult males that serve as traffic patrollers. Dominant male chimpanzees walk ahead of their groups and evaluate risks of crossing a road before signaling the rest of...

Aug 31, 2006

Vicious Ants Made to Attack Their Own

They may be tiny, but Argentine ants can kick some ant butt. This invasive species has nearly wiped out native ants in California. Now scientists have discovered a way to turn one of the ants' strongest weapons into a weakness. By altering the identifying chemicals coating the ants' bodies, researchers...

Aug 31, 2006

Some Fish Sniff Out Their Siblings

In the fish world, traditional roles are typically reversed with the male building the nest, completing nest-keeping tasks, and protecting and caring for the young. Since female fish lay their eggs in an already-built nest before swimming away, the hard work ensures a male fish will pass along his genes....

Aug 31, 2006

Scientists Protest Dolphin Slaughter

Each September a months-long ritual starts up again in the Japanese villages of Taiji and Futo. Fishermen herd hundreds of dolphins into shallow bays by banging on partially submerged rods. Researchers say the dolphins are corralled into nets and then speared, hooked, hoisted by their tails [image], and finally eviscerated...

Aug 31, 2006

Odd Evolution: Crickets Lose Their Song

In just a few generations, the male crickets on Kauai underwent a drastic genetic change that rendered them incapable of belting out courtship songs, according to a new study. Typically, male field crickets sport curved wings, and by rubbing a sharp ridge of one wing with a rough part of...

Aug 31, 2006

Shark Slaughter: 73 Million Killed Each Year

The world's booming shark fin trade is killing up to 73 million sharks per year—about three times more than the official catch number reported to the United Nations, a new study concludes. The findings, derived using data collected from illegal shark fin traders, are detailed in the October issue of...

Jul 31, 2006

Bullet Fragments Killing Condors

Bullet fragments left in carcasses of deer and other animals killed by hunters are poisoning endangered California condors with lead. The blood of wild condors that feed on animals wounded by hunters or killed and left behind contain nearly ten times the lead concentration of captive birds, a new study...

Jun 30, 2006

States Ban Hunting of Live Animals over the Internet

Louisiana has joined 21 other states in banning Internet hunting, the practice of using a mouse click to kill animals on a distant game farm. The cyber-shooting idea was the brainchild of Texan John Lockwood, who started the web site Live-Shot.com. The idea was this: Hunters sign up on the...

Jun 30, 2006

Big Dinosaurs Were Hot, Study Suggests

A new study helps answer a longstanding dinosaur mystery by revealing that the largest dinosaurs could likely maintain warm body temperatures while their smaller cousins were probably more similar to modern cold-blooded reptiles. Scientists have debated the body temperature of dinos for years, mainly whether the beasts were cold-blooded ectotherms,...

Jun 30, 2006

Healthy Offspring Born From Lab-Grown Sperm

Scientists have fertilized mouse eggs with sperm created from embryonic stem cells in the lab, a new study reports. The achievement could lead to a better understanding of sperm production and give rise to new infertility treatments, the researchers say. Previous studies have shown that embryonic stem (ES) cells can...