Reminding us of a bygone era of duelling and chivalry, swordfish are some of the most charismatic creatures in the open ocean. Embellished with a rapier-like bill—which has been known to impale boats—and alleged to reach ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 6, 2016
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24
When they come under attack by a predatory treesnake, red-eyed treefrog embryos must escape in seconds or risk becoming lunch. However, most frog embryos take hours to hatch. Intrigued by the treefrogs rapid emergence, scientists ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 15, 2016
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13
For a majestic animal that looks equally at home as the monarch of the glen or astride the great American Plains, the wapiti's call is somewhat disconcerting. Sounding more like the shrieking cries of a Lord of the Rings ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 20, 2016
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11
Waking up to the bubbling melody of a dawn chorus is one of life's simple pleasures, but not all birds indulge in vocal displays of virtuosity. Some, like hummingbirds, produce exotic buzzing sounds as their wing feathers ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 30, 2016
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8
Blink and you've missed it: Manu Prakash from Stanford University, USA, describes how one moment a waterlily beetle (Galerucella nymphaeae) is sat on the surface of a pond and the next it has vanished. 'The phenomenon is ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 2, 2016
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84
Snails usually lumber along on their single fleshy foot; but not sea butterflies (Limacina helicina). These tiny marine molluscs gently flit around their Arctic water homes propelled by fleshy wings that protrude out of the ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 17, 2016
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90
Ever since he can remember, Karl Jones has been fascinated by the animals that live in streams. 'I grew up next to a river in the Adelaide Hills where I spent many hours catching the creatures that live there', he recalls; ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 4, 2015
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20
Prowling through the icy Himalaya mountains, snow leopards seem unfazed by the rarefied atmosphere. Yet, according to an international team of researchers lead by Jay Storz from the University of Nebraska, USA, Jan Janecka ...
Ecology
Aug 5, 2015
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10
Some wasps have unpleasant habits. Hijacking an unsuspecting insect or spider, parasitic wasps incapacitate their hapless victims by taking control of their nervous systems and turning them into zombies. Once the wasp has ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 5, 2015
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64
Death by suffocation seems like an awfully protracted way to go and death by suffocation in the grip of a boa constrictor's coils is the stuff of nightmares. Yet Scott Boback from Dickinson College, USA, wasn't so sure that ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 22, 2015
0
28
