Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Sep 30, 2009

'First Bird' Not Very Bird-Like

A feathered beast that lived some 150 million years ago and which is considered the first bird likely grew more like its sluggish ancestors, the dinosaurs. That's according to new analyses of tiny bone chips taken from Archaeopteryx and detailed this week in the journal PLoS ONE. The study researchers...

Sep 30, 2009

Big Cats Picky About Habitat

Many species of large cats, including the leopard, are particularly fussy about where they live, actively avoiding certain areas, a new study in Tanzania finds. Surprisingly, all the species surveyed tended to avoid croplands, the researchers found, suggesting that habitat conversion to agricultural land could have serious implications for carnivore...

Sep 30, 2009

Flying Reptile May Have Snatched Dinosaurs in Midair

A crow-sized reptile sporting a lengthy tail likely soared through the skies some 160 million years ago, snatching feathered dinosaurs and tiny flying mammals from the air, suggest fossils of a newly identified pterosaur. While paleontologists can't go back in time to watch the in-flight meal capture, the reptile's fossils,...

Sep 30, 2009

Largest Web-Spinning Spider Discovered

About the size of a standard CD, a newly described spider is now considered the largest in a class of web-spinners. Scientists discovered remains of the species of golden orb-weaver, now called Nephila komaci, among museum collections in South Africa and recently more dead specimens from Tembe Elephant Park in...

Sep 30, 2009

Oldest Known Spider Webs Discovered

Silken spider webs dating back some 140 million years have been discovered preserved in amber, scientists announce today. The viscous tree sap flowed over the spider webs before hardening and preserving the contents, which were discovered in Sussex, England. Other bits sealed up in the amber included plant matter, insect...

Aug 31, 2009

Venomous Fish

Venomous Pterois Lionfish (Image credit: Photo Credit: William Leo Smith, AMNH)A new study finds there are more venomous fish than snakes. Here are a few of them, photographed by William Leo Smith of the American Museum of Natural History. Venomous Pterois Lionfish. Venomous Pterois Lionfish (Image credit: Photo Credit: William...

Aug 31, 2009

Scientists See Rare Turtle for First Time in the Wild

Known only by museum specimens and a few captive individuals, one of the world’s rarest turtle species – the Arakan forest turtle – has been observed for the first time in the wild. A Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) team discovered five of the critically endangered turtles in a wildlife sanctuary...

Aug 31, 2009

Chimps Catch Yawns from Cartoon

In a bizarre twist on the odd phenomenon of contagious yawning, chimps have been found to yawn when they watch an animated chimp do so. Scientists don't know for sure why yawning is contagious in humans, but the phenomenon is recognized as real. Researchers suspect it has to do with...

Aug 31, 2009

Electric Fish Equipped With 'Dimmer' Switch

Fish that generate electric fields to navigate, fight and attract mates are equipped with a dimmer switch of sorts that can turn down their signals to save energy, a new study finds. Electric fish, such as some sharks and eels, emit weak electrical signals from a battery-like organ in their...

Jul 31, 2009

'Two-Headed' Snake Fakes Predators

One species of venomous sea snake shows the advantages of being two-faced. This slithering reptile twists its tail so its hind end appears to predators as a second head. The clever sea snake, called the yellow-lipped sea krait (Laticauda colubrine), relies on the ruse to keep it safe from sharks...

Jul 31, 2009

Charge: T. Rex Was a Chicken and a Baby Killer

Although past research has suggested Tyrannosaurus rex was related to chickens, now findings hint this giant predator might have acted chicken too. Instead of picking on dinosaurs its own size, researchers now suggest T. rex was a baby killer that liked to swallow defenseless prey whole. Fossil evidence of attacks...

Jul 31, 2009

Dogs as Smart as 2-year-old Kids

The canine IQ test results are in: Even the average dog has the mental abilities of a 2-year-old child. The finding is based on a language development test, revealing average dogs can learn 165 words (similar to a 2-year-old child), including signals and gestures, and dogs in the top 20...

Jul 31, 2009

Ants Ruin Plants' Sex Life

Ants and ant-housing trees are a classic example of mutualism. The trees provide room and board for ants that ward off herbivores in return. But friends aren’t always what they seem, a new study shows. Cordia nodosa is a South American tree colonized by ants, and one of them, Allomerus...

Jul 31, 2009

Prehistoric 'Runway' Used by Flying Reptile

A prehistoric runway for flying pterosaurs has been discovered for the first time. Scientists uncovered the first known landing tracks of one of these extinct flying reptiles at a site dubbed Pterosaur Beach, in the fine-grained limestone deposits of an ancient lagoon in southwestern France dating back some 140 million...

Jul 31, 2009

Ancient Arthropods Used Borrowed Homes

Hermit crabs, a lineage some 200 million years old, may not have been the first to salvage mollusk shells for self-protection. Primitive arthropods were among the earliest animals to venture onto land—500 million years ago—and they too recycled shells, according to new research. James W. Hagadorn of Amherst College in...