Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 31, 2013

Travels of Pregnant Great White Sharks Revealed

For the first time, migrating great white sharks have been tagged and their movements around the oceans tracked for years, as opposed to the few months they have previously been tracked, according to a researcher. Scientists used special satellite tags that tracked several sharks from a specific great white population...

Mar 31, 2013

Secret Population of Orangutans Found

A population of 200 of the world's rarest orangutans was found tucked away in the forests of the island of Borneo, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). All subspecies of Bornean orangutans are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. But scientists estimate just 3,000...

Mar 31, 2013

How Red Squirrels Are Like Tiger Moms

Red squirrel moms know how to give their offspring an early edge in a crowded forest. New research shows the animals can speed up the growth rates of their pups to help ensure they'll be able to compete for turf when populations are dense. Surprisingly, stress, not more food, is...

Mar 31, 2013

Why Elk Are Robbing Birds

Sonya Auer, of the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, recently won the Elton Prize, from the British Ecological Society for her research and writing. She contributed this article to Live Science’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Plants and animals in a given area form an...

Mar 31, 2013

Zombie Worms Drill Whale Bones with Acid

So-called zombie worms — and yes, they actually exist — like to munch on whale bones for dinner. The creatures also use the bones for shelter. Spread throughout the world's oceans, zombie worms are quite adept at making the bones of whales and other large marine animals look like Swiss...

Feb 28, 2013

How Cute Animal Videos Could Help Science

The Internet is a friendly place for cute and weird animal behaviors caught on camera, from foxes jumping on trampolines to dogs playing with deer. But beyond entertaining the masses, these amateur viral videos sometimes document behaviors that are rarely seen, and they could help scientists understand how species interact...

Jan 31, 2013

Dogs Can Spot Fellow Furballs in a Crowd

Dogs can pick out the faces of other dogs in a virtual lineup of humans and other animals, a new study shows. And it doesn't matter if it's a German shepherd looking at a standard poodle. Dogs still know who's one of their own, researchers say. Previous research has shown...

Jan 31, 2013

Chimps Have Better Short-term Memory Than Humans

Boston — Chimpanzees may have more smarts than humans, at least regarding short-term memories, new research suggests. A Japanese researcher presented a video showing the remarkable abilities of a chimpanzee named Ayumu, here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Thursday (Feb. 14)....

Jan 31, 2013

Man Arrested for Harassing Baby Manatee in Florida

A man has been arrested in Florida after posting pictures on Facebook that showed him harassing a baby manatee, authorities announced this week. The incriminating images show Ryan William Waterman, 21, and his two children petting a manatee calf at Taylor Creek in Fort Pierce last month, according to the...

Jan 31, 2013

Harnessing The Power Of Peacocks To Make Colorful Images

(ISNS) -- The gloriously colored, iridescent feathers of the male peacock aren't what they seem on the surface. They look that way largely because the feathers contain nanometer-scale protein structures that break up incoming light waves, recombine, and reflect them as rich, vibrant colors. Scientists at the University of Michigan...

Jan 31, 2013

Nut-Cracking Monkeys Show Humanlike Skills

Nut-cracking monkeys don't just use tools. They use tools with skill. That's the conclusion of a new study that finds similar tool-use strategies between humans and Brazil's bearded capuchin monkeys, which use rocks to smash nuts for snacks. Both monkeys and humans given the nut-smashing task take the time to...

Dec 31, 2012

Endangered Beluga Whales See Slight Population Uptick

A rare group of beluga whales in Alaska saw a slight increase in numbers last year, a survey showed. Scientists estimated that the population of Cook Inlet belugas stood at 312 in 2012, compared with a record low 278 in 2011, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)...

Dec 31, 2012

How City Blackbirds Shout Over Traffic

City-dwelling blackbirds typically produce more high-pitched songs than their country counterparts, and researchers say the urban birds prefer shrill sounds to make their voices heard over road traffic. For their study, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany looked at urban blackbirds in Vienna and country blackbirds...

Dec 31, 2012

A Whale of a Boat Ride Caught on Video

What would you do if an animal the size of a submarine wanted to give you the once-over? An inflatable boat full of tourists found out recently in Hawaii, when two humpback whales circled their boat for at least 10 minutes, according to a report by Hawaii News Now. The...

Dec 31, 2012

Biggest Dinosaurs Had Brains the Size of Tennis Balls

An advanced member of the largest group of dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth still had a relatively puny brain, researchers say. The scientists analyzed the skull of 70-million-year-old fossils of the giant dinosaur Ampelosaurus, discovered in 2007 in Cuenca, Spain, in the course of the construction of a high-speed...