Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 7, 2022

Is it safe for cats to drink milk?

Cats are commonly shown lapping milk from saucers. But can they safely drink milk? The popular image of cats drinking milk may have emerged during the 19th century, when cats and dogs became popular subjects for artists. As the Industrial Revolution progressed and more people migrated to cities, the number...

Oct 28, 2022

Elderly female lion grows 'awkward teenage mane,' baffling zookeepers

A female lion at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas has grown a mane, an extremely rare phenomenon. Zuri, an 18-year-old lioness, started sprouting the mane in late 2020. She is part of an all-female pride at the zoo, the last male having passed away in October 2020. But lion experts...

Oct 29, 2022

How do cats squeeze through small spaces?

Cats are so flexible that a 2014 study half-jokingly investigated whether felines are liquids. But joking aside, traditional fluid mechanics can't explain the impressive contortions kitties can take when squeezing through small holes. So how do cats pull off these feats? The key to cats' ability to apparently flow like...

Dec 13, 2022

Male jaguar rivals pair up for years in unexpected bromances

Rival male jaguars are unexpectedly teaming up for years at a time to search for mates, researchers have found. Male jaguars are usually solitary creatures that spend the majority of their lives wandering alone in the wilderness, only crossing paths with other jaguars to mate with females or to defend...

Mar 9, 2023

In a first, zoo lion transmits COVID-19 to its keepers

A lion infected with SARS-CoV-2 at an Indiana zoo likely transmitted the virus to at least two of the keepers that were caring for the big cat, a new study shows. It is the first confirmed case of an infected zoo animal transmitting the coronavirus to a human, researchers say....

Mar 23, 2023

Legendary 'cat-fox' could be a new subspecies

For generations, local shepherds on the Mediterranean island of Corsica have shared stories about the ghjattu volpe, or cat-fox, attacking the udders of sheep and goats, AFP reported in 2019. Scientists first documented their existence in 1929 and may soon be able to declare them a new subspecies after almost...

May 6, 2023

Why do cats purr?

The purr, a soft vibration that housecats make as they breathe in and out, is unique to cats and cat-like animals. Cougars, cheetahs and a few other big cats purr, too; so do civets, genets and mongooses. But why do cats purr? It's one of those behaviors that we mostly...

Jun 3, 2023

Why do cats knead?

If you have a cat, you've probably seen it push in and out with its front paws, alternating between left and right. This behavior, known as kneading, is sometimes called making biscuits, for how it resembles the act of kneading dough, according to Broadway Pet Hospital in Oakland, California. Cats...

Jun 8, 2023

Gene therapy could be used as birth control for cats, small study suggests

A one-time injection of an experimental gene therapy appears to be an effective form of birth control for felines and could help control cat overpopulation, a small study suggests. There are roughly 600 million cats worldwide, with an estimated 80% being feral or strays, according to the World Animal Foundation,...

Aug 4, 2023

Why do lions have manes?

No animal species is more emblematic of the African savanna than the lion, whose males sport lustrous, shaggy crops of hair around their necks. But why do lions have manes? Those resplendent tresses are there to impress other lions — both potential mates and potential rivals — Bruce Patterson, a...

Aug 21, 2023

What is the difference between a pet cat and a wildcat?

Most domesticated animals look very different from their wild ancestors. Think of the differences between dogs and wolves or pigs and wild boar. But not our feline companions. Every domestic cat — the lovable fur babies of the pet world — is descended from the African wildcat, a species so...

Sep 4, 2023

Scientists finally figure out why cats are obsessed with tuna

A tin of tuna is among the most iconic cat foods. Even the most finicky felines seem to love the stuff. Now, scientists know why. In a study published in the August issue of the journal Chemical Sense, researchers found that cats, like humans, use taste receptors that detect umami...

Sep 13, 2023

1st of its kind footage shows guard dogs saving sheep from puma attack on a pitch black mountain

Incredible footage showing guard dogs stopping a puma from hunting sheep in the pitch black Patagonian mountains has been captured using heat sensitive cameras and drones. It is the first time this behavior has ever been filmed. The clip was filmed as part of Animals Up Close With Bertie Gregory,...

Oct 11, 2023

Why cats purr is a surprisingly long-standing mystery. Now we're one step closer to solving it.

Scientists may have finally discovered exactly how cats produce their iconic purr — and it may come from a unique structure in our feline friends' voice box. Some scientists have long thought that cat purrs are the result of contracting and relaxing muscles in the vocal folds of the larynx....

Oct 30, 2023

Cats have nearly 300 facial expressions, including a 'play face' they share with humans

Cats can use hundreds of facial expressions to communicate, a new study reveals. Over the course of a year, researchers recorded a total of 276 distinct facial expressions used among a colony of 50 cats living at a cat cafe in Los Angeles. The felines' faces ranged from playful to...