Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2009

Before Dinosaurs, the First Tree-Climber Revealed

Long before dinosaurs dominated the Earth, ancient relatives to mammals climbed forests to feed on leaves and live high above predators that prowled the land. The elongated fingers, opposable thumb, long curved claws and grasping tail of a small, huge-eyed plant-eating animal known as Suminia getmanovi demonstrate that this is...

Jun 30, 2009

Newfound Bird Is Bald

Scientists have discovered a rare new bird species with a bald head. The creature, dubbed the bare-faced bulbul, was found in Laos, and is the only known bald songbird in mainland Asia. It's also the first time in over 100 years that a new Asian species of bulbul bird has...

May 31, 2009

Penguin Poop Monitored from Space

Stains of penguin poop visible from space are helping scientists map emperor penguin colonies, shedding light on how the flightless birds are adapting to environmental changes. The emperor is the giant of the penguin world and one of the largest of all living birds. Emperor penguins spend a large part...

May 31, 2009

Study Shows How Snakes Slither

Snakes can slither across flat surfaces without legs, but not entirely without help. That's because snake scales act as friction hooks which catch in rough points on surfaces, a new study shows. Strangely, the finding could eventually lead to robotic snakes that move more naturally. When I first started studying...

May 31, 2009

Fish Are Surprisingly Smart

Fish lack many of our mental abilities but may use social learning strategies similar to those used by humans, according to new research. Scientists have found that a certain fish species — called the nine-spined stickleback — can use information from its personal experience as well as observations of other...

May 31, 2009

Nut-Cracking Dinosaur Like a Giant Parrot

A newly described dinosaur hopefully suffered no nut allergies. Fossil remains suggest the parrot-beaked beast that lived 110 million years ago was a sophisticated nutcracker, researchers said this week. The dinosaur, now named Psittacosaurus gobiensis, was a ceratopsian, a group of bird-hipped dinosaurs, such as Triceratops, that are thought to...

May 31, 2009

Huge Dinosaur Tooth Found in Spain

An allosaurid tooth as long as a tall man's finger has been found in Spain, a researcher said, making it the largest tooth of a carnivorous dinosaur ever found in that country. Allosauridae, a family of dinosaurs that includes Allosaurus, were predatory, bipedal theropod dinosaurs that lived in the late...

May 31, 2009

Crying Baby Monkeys Get on Everyone's Nerves

When baby rhesus monkeys want to suckle, they do what human infants do: cry, cry, cry. Mothers often give in, naturally. When they don't, the babies' cries get on everyone's nerves — sometimes with nasty consequences. In rhesus society, dominant individuals aren't shy about showing anger by chasing, pushing, hitting,...

Apr 30, 2009

The Puppy Mummy

Egyptians were known to preserve cats, birds and even crocodiles. Now researchers have found a mummified puppy at the feet of a human mummy. The dog has been named Hapi-Puppy after an inscription on the tomb, which read Hapi-Men. Not exactly as catchy as King Tut, but at 2,300 years...

Apr 30, 2009

Ants Can Smell Death

When an ant dies, its nestmates quickly pack it off. That way, the risk to the colony of infection is reduced. But how do they know its dead? Theory has held that dead ants release chemicals created by decomposition (such as fatty acids) that signal their death to the colony's...

Apr 30, 2009

New Machine Pumps Disembodied Heart

After a pig's final oink, a new machine can pump the dead animal's extracted heart so that the muscle beats much like the live one did, scientists say. The machine, created by researchers at North Carolina State University, can help scientists experiment with new technologies for heart surgery without sacrificing...

Apr 30, 2009

Good News: Rare Blue Whales on the Move

Blue whales, the world's largest animals, are on the move. These marine mammals migrated from California waters to areas off Canada and Alaska for the first time since commercial whaling ended in 1965, researchers announced recently. The researchers identified 15 blue whales that have appeared off the coast of British...

Apr 30, 2009

Monkey See, Monkey Really Do

The old adage monkey see, monkey do applies not only to mimicking movements, but also to following gaze — monkeys quickly look in a particular direction if they see other monkeys looking that way. Now, scientists think they have found the area of the brain responsible for this mirroring behavior....

Apr 30, 2009

Pea-Sized Seahorse Makes 'Top 10 Species' List

A pea-sized seahorse, caffeine-free coffee and bacteria that live in hairspray are among the top 10 species described in 2008, a group of scientists announced today. The top 10 new species also include the very tiny (a snake just a slither longer than 4 inches or 104 millimeters), the very...

Mar 31, 2009

Tiny Newfound Frog Fits on a Fingertip

A tiny, midget frog that can fit on the tip of a finger — and previously only known by its croaking — has finally been found by researchers. The frog, dubbed Noble’s Pygmy frog (Noblella pygmaea), is the smallest ever found in the Andes and one of the tiniest amphibians...