Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2007

Mystery Solved: How Airplane-Sized Bird Flew

With a wingspan of more than 20 feet, a condor the size of a Cessna airplane relied on updrafts to glide up to 40 mph above the plains of Argentina some 6 million years ago. Scientists have known the ancient bird could fly. But they didn't know if Argentavis magnificens,...

Jun 30, 2007

Thanks a Lot! Bugs Help Invasive Weeds Win

Many studies have shown that invasive plant species are taking over in regions large and small around the world, a problem often instigated and fueled by what humans plant or otherwise accidentally introduce into an area. A new study finds that insects play a role in helping weeds to win....

Jun 30, 2007

For the 4th Time: I'm Not Pregnant!

WASHINGTON (AP)—The National Zoo won't be hearing oohs and aahs over a new panda cub this year. Zoo officials said Friday that the giant panda Mei Xiang isn't pregnant after all. Her hormone levels had soared after she was artificially inseminated, then dropped last week, signaling a cub could be...

Jun 30, 2007

Full Moon Sends More Dogs and Cats to Emergency Room

Injuries and illness among dogs and cats seems to be higher during full moon than at other times of the month, a new study finds. But researchers don't know why. The study, reported in the July 15 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, finds emergency room...

Jun 30, 2007

Why We Walk Upright: Beats Being a Chimp

Humans walking on two legs consume only a quarter of the energy that chimpanzees use while “knuckle-walking” on all fours, according to a new study. The finding, detailed in the July 17 issue of the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the idea that early...

Jun 30, 2007

Tale of Huge Reptiles Fishing While Flying Called False

Prehistoric flying reptiles known as pterosaurs are often pictured as skimming along the surface of water during flight with their mouths open, fishing on the wing. Now scientists find this romantic Age of Dinosaurs vision unlikely. Any pterosaur trying this feeding method might have taken a nasty crash. Pterosaurs, or...

Jun 30, 2007

Hundreds of Oil-Covered Penguins Surface in South America

Hundreds of oil-covered Magellanic penguins have surfaced off the Atlantic coast of South America in the past few weeks, according to an animal welfare organization. Magellanic penguins are medium-sized South American penguins. The species is classified as near threatened because of its vulnerability to oil spills, which kill tens of...

Jun 30, 2007

Earth's Worst Extinction a Prolonged Event

The rise of mollusks across the globe was a harbinger of doom roughly 250 million years ago, ushering in the most devastating mass extinction in Earth's history, research now reveals. This clammy conclusion suggests the disaster was long in coming, as opposed to the result of a more catastrophic extraterrestrial...

May 31, 2007

Stowaway Penguins Hop Hemispheres

A Humboldt penguin known only from the Southern Hemisphere but recently found thousands of miles from home likely was a stowaway on a fishing ship, say scientists. The seemingly peripatetic penguin turned up in July 2002 when fisherman Guy Demmert netted an atypical batch of salmon off the coast of...

May 31, 2007

Adoption Group: Cat Invasion Due to Global Warming

Droves of cats and kittens are swarming into animal shelters nationwide, and global warming is to blame, according to one pet adoption group. Several shelters operated by a national adoption organization called Pets Across America reported a 30 percent increase in intakes of cats and kittens from 2005 to 2006,...

May 31, 2007

Dinosaurs Died Agonizing Deaths

Fossilized dinosaurs often have wide-open mouths, heads thrown back and tails that curve toward the head. Paleontologists have long assumed the dinosaurs died in water and the currents drifted the bones into that position, or that rigor mortis or drying muscles, tendons and ligaments contorted the limbs. I'm reading this...

May 31, 2007

Bat Not Blind as a Bat

It's an insult to fruit bats to call someone blind as a bat. Scientists have long known that these banana-loving flying mammals have decent night vision. And now research shows they can see just fine when the sun comes up too. Bats come in two types—microbats (Microchiroptera), which actually are...

May 31, 2007

Bees Have Favorite Color

There might actually be a useful purpose for having a favorite color—at least if you're a bee. The favorite color of the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), violet in its case, could help it find more sweet nectar, scientists now find. Researchers took bees that had never seen real flowers from...

May 31, 2007

Meep-Meep! 'Road Runner' Dino Discovered

Skeletal remains from a 220-million-year-old dinosaur reveal a prehistoric road runner of sorts, whose svelte figure and long legs allowed it to evade predators lickety-split. The creature stood about 12 inches tall at the hips and weighed just 4.4 pounds. Its head-to-tail length was about 3 feet, with about half...

Apr 30, 2007

Obesity Epidemic Strikes Pets, Too

American pets are facing an obesity epidemic, underscoring the belief that pets and pet owners tend to resemble one another. One-third of dogs in this country are overweight or obese, according to a study published in the April issue of American Journal of Veterinary Research. Previous studies found a third...