http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Hunting in the North Sea, harbour seals often encounter murky water that impedes their vision; but it doesn't affect their ability to chase prey. Extending their vibration-sensitive whiskers, the mammals are almost as efficient at pursuing their quarry as they would be if guided by sight. Wolf Hanke and his colleagues from the University of Rostock, Germany, are fascinated by how harbour seals perceive the world through their flow-sensitive vibrissae. Having already found that seals can pick up and follow fish wakes up to 35 seconds after the prey has passed and knowing that a fish's size and shape can dramatically affect its wake structure, graduate student Sven Wieskotten decided to find out how well seals can distinguish between the wakes of objects with different shapes and sizes. http://phys.org/news224395922.html Biology Thu, 12 May 2011 05:14:24 EST news224395922 While adult tyrannosaurs wielded power and size to kill large prey, youngsters used agility to hunt smaller game. http://phys.org/news224162348.html Other Sciences Mon, 09 May 2011 15:00:09 EST news224162348 The short version of human history might go something like this: First we were prey, then we were hunter-gatherers, then farmers — and from that came civilization. http://phys.org/news223897134.html Biology Fri, 06 May 2011 10:39:03 EST news223897134 In modern ecology, the removal or addition of a predator to an ecosystem can produce dramatic changes in the population of prey species. For the first time, scientists have observed the same dynamics in the fossil record, thanks to a mass extinction that decimated ocean life 360 million years ago. http://phys.org/news223569857.html Biology Mon, 02 May 2011 15:44:32 EST news223569857 (PhysOrg.com) -- For those old enough to remember Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” television series, the dynamics of predator-prey relationships seemed clear enough: predators thinned out prey populations, which enabled a smaller, but stronger, population to survive and reproduce. http://phys.org/news221389812.html Biology Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:10:49 EST news221389812 NOAA's Fisheries Service scientists studying the cooperative hunting behavior of killer whales in Antarctic waters observed the animals favoring one type of seal over all other available food sources, according to a study published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. http://phys.org/news220716880.html Biology Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:14:57 EST news220716880 Insects using vibration to attract a mate are at risk of being eaten alive by killer spiders, Cardiff University scientists have discovered. http://phys.org/news220610733.html Biology Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:46:00 EST news220610733 A new paper by University of Calgary researchers, published today in PLoS ONE, demonstrates the edge given to prey in the “space race” by human activity. http://phys.org/news218368633.html Biology Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:20:01 EST news218368633 All night long, bats swoop over our landscape consuming insects, but they do this in secret, hidden from our view. Until recently, scientists have been unable to bring their ecosystem out of the dark but thanks to new genetic techniques, researchers from the University of Bristol and Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Canada, have been able to reconstruct the environment supporting these elusive creatures. http://phys.org/news218368085.html Biology Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:48:24 EST news218368085 Some shark species are able to navigate to specific locations up to 50km away, a new study published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology has found. Re-analysing tracking data from tagged sharks, ecologists found that while some species such as blacktip reef sharks swim in a pattern known as a "random walk", others such as tiger sharks can at times hunt for prey or mates by using "directed walks", accurately navigating long distances across open ocean, often at night. http://phys.org/news218261612.html Biology Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:14:02 EST news218261612 Following others' gaze direction is an important source of information that helps to detect prey or predators, to notice important social events within one's social group and to predict the next actions of others. As such, it is considered a key step towards an understanding of mental states, such as attention and intention. http://phys.org/news217705140.html Biology Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:39:22 EST news217705140 (PhysOrg.com) -- The shape of the seahorse has long baffled marine scientists, but new research suggests the seahorse’s unique shape may have evolved to allow it to catch its food when it was further away. http://phys.org/news215329591.html Biology Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:50:01 EST news215329591 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in the Czech Republic and Germany studying the hunting behavior of red foxes have discovered the foxes are more successful if they jump on their prey towards the north. http://phys.org/news214205407.html Biology Fri, 14 Jan 2011 06:50:01 EST news214205407 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the tropical rainforests of West Texas, which looked more like Costa Rica some 225 million years before cattle ranches and cotton fields would dot the landscape, it hunted by chasing and wrapping its tooth-filled jaws around its prey. http://phys.org/news214072022.html Other Sciences Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:27:19 EST news214072022 The jaws of adolescent great white sharks may be too weak to capture and kill large marine mammals, according to a new study published in the Journal of Biomechanics by an international team of scientists. http://phys.org/news210487359.html Biology Thu, 02 Dec 2010 05:00:02 EST news210487359 Large predators are much more vulnerable than smaller species to environmental changes, such as over-hunting and habitat change, because they have to work so hard to find their next meal, according to a new study. http://phys.org/news209796531.html Biology Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:49:07 EST news209796531 (PhysOrg.com) -- The venus flytrap plant captures its prey when it senses the presence of an insect on the tips of its leaves. An amphiphilic molecule designed by chemists at The City College of New York acts in a similar manner by changing its structure when heated slightly and, then, reverting to its original form when cooled. http://phys.org/news209738806.html Chemistry Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:48:15 EST news209738806 The Venus flytrap is a carnivorous plant luring insect prey with drops of liquid. The trap snaps shut like a steel jaw when an insect touches one of the very fine hairs within. The prey is caught – digestion begins. http://phys.org/news208430904.html Chemistry Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:20:01 EST news208430904 If domestic cats wore bell collars in urban areas the numbers of native birds caught and killed could be reduced by as much as half, a new University of Otago study shows. http://phys.org/news206282981.html Biology Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:49:52 EST news206282981 A new peer-reviewed paper by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups reveals an ominous finding: most of the world's last remaining tigers -- long decimated by overhunting, logging, and wildlife trade -- are now clustered in just six percent of their available habitat. The paper identifies 42 'source sites' scattered across Asia that are now the last hope and greatest priority for the conservation and recovery of the world's largest cat. http://phys.org/news203704134.html Biology Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:29:14 EST news203704134 Bird observatories all over the world may benefit from a newly designed high-resolution imaging system used to study the retinal structure of live birds of prey. In a recently published Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science article, researchers reveal unprecedented three-dimensional information about the retina of four species of raptors — two hawks and two owls — using the non-invasive, powerful imaging tool. http://phys.org/news198937138.html Biology Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:30:01 EST news198937138 (PhysOrg.com) -- We all know how fussy kids can be about their food, but now new research suggests they're not the only ones. http://phys.org/news198753601.html Biology Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:10:02 EST news198753601 (PhysOrg.com) -- The most striking feature of jumping spiders is their arsenal of big eyes. In contrast to web-building spiders, they rely on their excellent vision to actively hunt and catch their insect prey. New research gives an insight into just how incredibly sophisticated the jumping spider's vision actually is, and explains why they are such an effective predator. http://phys.org/news197887110.html Biology Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:39:05 EST news197887110 In a fascinating example of vocal mimicry, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and UFAM (Federal University of Amazonas) have documented a wild cat species imitating the call of its intended victim: a small, squirrel-sized monkey known as a pied tamarin. This is the first recorded instance of a wild cat species in the Americas mimicking the calls of its prey. http://phys.org/news197814145.html Biology Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:23:01 EST news197814145 Distinct populations of snake species on three continents have crashed over the last decade, raising fears that the reptiles may be in global decline, according to a study published Wednesday. http://phys.org/news195243564.html Biology Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:19:41 EST news195243564 A South African World Cup stadium has turned to birds of prey to chase out rogue pigeons and rats in an anti-pest strategy that favours raptors above the pitch instead of poisons. http://phys.org/news194273811.html Biology Fri, 28 May 2010 13:57:11 EST news194273811 (PhysOrg.com) -- In cold weather a chameleon’s metabolism slows down, but its tongue continues to work quickly to capture prey. A new study has found out why: the tongue does not rely on direct muscle contractions, and this mechanism is more resistant to cold than are muscles. http://phys.org/news187420978.html Biology Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:00:01 EST news187420978 Putting function before form, members of the Perissodinus genus of fish have developed a hugely lopsided jaw that provides a distinct feeding advantage. Research published in the open access journal BMC Biology describes how these scale-eating fish, called cichlids, develop mouths directed either to the left or the right - enabling them to feed on the opposite side of their prey. http://phys.org/news183669863.html Biology Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:26:23 EST news183669863 University of Glasgow experts have provided the first empirical demonstration of the benefits of ‘masquerading’ as distinct from simply avoiding detection. http://phys.org/news181936150.html Biology Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:02:07 EST news181936150 Human activity is increasing the supply of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to stream systems all over the world. The conventional wisdom -- bolstered by earlier research -- has held that these additional nutrients cause an increase in production all along the food chain, from the tiniest organisms up to the largest predators. A long-term, ecosystem-scale study by a team of University of Georgia researchers, however, has thrown this assumption into question. http://phys.org/news180289199.html Biology Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:10:02 EST news180289199