Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2006

Hunting 101: Meerkats Teach Scorpion Dismemberment

Attention all meerkat pups: Scorpion hunting 101 is now in session. Instead of letting their young figure out how to hunt dangerous scorpions on their own, older meerkats collect and disable the prey so the youth can learn how to deal with the feisty food. The discovery, detailed in the...

Jun 30, 2006

Constant Barking Drives Dogs Nuts, Too

Continuous snarling of multiple dogs in an animal shelter can create a disastrous symphonic recipe for the health of the animals, reports a new study. In many animal shelters, dogs are often placed in gated kennels along the perimeter of a large room. When they see the other animals, they...

May 31, 2006

Bizarre Survival Tactic: Gazelles Shrink Heart to Beat Heat

In an extreme way to beat the heat, a sand gazelle shrinks its liver and heart to cope with long periods of drought, a new study reveals. The deserts of the Arabian Peninsula rank among the most severe environments in the world. It's extremely hot and unpredictable rains do little...

May 31, 2006

Sexy Songs Induce Larger Canary Eggs

Male canaries hone their songs to get girls, but their sexy tweets might do more than that. A new study reveals that female songbirds alter the size of their eggs, and possibly their chicks' sex, in response to hearing a sexy song from a male. Researchers played an assortment of...

May 31, 2006

Longest Known Sperm Create Paradox of Nature

If there was a prize for biggest sperm in nature, it would go to Drosophila bifurca, a tiny fruit fly whose coiled sperm would measure more than 2 inches long if straightened out. That's 1,000 times longer than an average human sperm. To put that into perspective, if humans made...

May 31, 2006

10 Species Success Stories

Good news for wildlife (Image credit: Russell Mittermeier, The World Conservation Union)The success stories of the bald eagle, American alligator, and blue poison frog give species on the brink of extinction something to live for. LiveScience takes a close look at the most impressive comeback kids. Bald Eagle (Image credit:...

May 31, 2006

Darwin's Reputed Tortoise Dies At 176

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A 176-year-old tortoise believed to be one of the world's oldest living creatures has died in an Australian zoo. The giant tortoise, known as Harriet, died at the Queensland-based Australia Zoo owned by Crocodile Hunter'' Steve Irwin and his wife Terri. Irwin said he considered Harriet...

May 31, 2006

Speed Limit Proposed to Save Whales

The U.S. Fisheries Service on Friday proposed a speed limit for ships 65 feet and longer to reduce accidental killing of right whales. A limit of 10 knots would apply during certain times of year in three regions along the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S. coast. Federal ships would be...

May 31, 2006

Surprising Beauty Discovered on Pacific Seafloor

When you think of bright coral and colorful fish, you might conjure images of Hawaii or the Caribbean. If so, a newfound bed of deep-sea corals and other animal life found off the coast of Washington state will likely surprise you. Researchers said an earlier survey had led them to...

Apr 30, 2006

Humans Might Have Wiped Out Wild Horses

Already charged with eradicating mammoths, the first North Americans might also have wiped out wild horses in Alaska, a new study suggests. The end of the Pleistocene era, around 12,000 years ago, was coupled with a global cooling event and the extinction of many large mammals, particularly in North America....

Apr 30, 2006

New Genus of Cricket Found in Arizona Cave

In a rare type of discovery, researchers have identified a whole new genus of cricket in caves in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northwestern Arizona. The discovery was made by Northern Arizona University doctoral candidate J. Judson Wynne and National Park Service researcher Kyle Voyles. The new genus has yet...

Apr 30, 2006

Frog Hops Back into Existence

Survivors of a frog species that was thought to be extinct have been found. The survivors, discovered in the mountains of Columbia, might be the last holdouts of the painted frog (Atelopus ebenoides marinkellei). Scientists are now racing to protect them. Other clutches of the frogs have suffered a lethal...

Mar 31, 2006

Catfish Hunt on Land

You might think a catfish on land would fare as well as an elephant on roller-skates, but a new study reveals they slither around and adeptly catch insect meals [Video]. The finding helps scientists imagine how ancient fish made their first hunting trips ashore prior to evolving into land creatures....

Mar 31, 2006

Millions of Years Ago, Snakes Were Hip

Once upon a time, snakes had legs. A new discovery reveals at least one had hips, too. The newfound fossil could help scientists piece together the murky evolutionary history of snakes. Until now, the prevailing thought was that early snakes were already lacking legs when they slithered out of water...

Feb 28, 2006

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Debate Heats Up

Last June researchers triumphantly announced the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, thought extinct for nearly 60 years. But another group of ornithologists said a video used to identify the bird was too fuzzy and that plumage color patterns don't rule out the bird being a common pileated woodpecker. The original...