http://phys.org/biology-news/plants-animals/ en-us PhysOrg Team Phys.Org provides the latest news on plants and animals Even though a single raindrop can weigh 50 times more than a mosquito, the insect is still able to fly through a downpour. Georgia Tech researchers used high-speed videography to see how the mosquito's strong exoskeleton and low mass render it impervious to falling rain drops. http://phys.org/news258044546.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-06-04T16:02:41-07:00 Panicked villagers in a remote Indian state complained Monday of an invasion of giant venomous spiders that resemble tarantulas but are unknown to local specialists. http://phys.org/news258042333.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-06-04T15:25:40-07:00 There was no hanky-panky involved when a fairy-tale white foal was born to two brown Standardbreds at the Four Winds Farm in New Jersey. DNA tests confirm that the snowy foal, born May 6, is a mutant, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. So are most humans, according to a new analysis. http://phys.org/news257766434.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-06-01T11:00:02-07:00 (AP) — An environmentalist says three endangered Sumatran elephants have been poisoned and found dead within a palm oil plantation in western Indonesia. http://phys.org/news257766057.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-06-01T10:41:02-07:00 A rose by any other name would smell as sweet -- but it might confound scientists interested in understanding the chemical components of its fragrance or discovering where its ancestors grew in the wild. http://phys.org/news257765594.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-06-01T10:33:21-07:00 Several studies have shown that a lack of nitrogen in soils adversely affects crop yields. The modern use of nitrogen fertilizers has improved yields to meet expanding global food demand, but in some cases up to 50% of the nitrogen in fertilizers reaches surrounding water bodies in the form of nitrate, causing pollution. As the use of nitrogen fertilizers is rapidly increasing worldwide each year, there is a fundamental need to understand how plants absorb nitrate, and how this absorption can be improved in crops. http://phys.org/news257762047.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-06-01T10:00:02-07:00 Total losses of managed honey bee colonies from all causes dropped to 21.9 percent nationwide for the 2011/2012 winter, a decline of some 8 percentage points or 27 percent from the approximately 30 percent average loss beekeepers have experienced in recent winters, according to the latest annual survey conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership, the Apiary Inspectors of America and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). http://phys.org/news257761484.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-06-01T09:40:02-07:00 Researchers at Oregon State University have created a new computer technology that can listen to multiple bird sounds at one time to identify which species are present and how they may be changing as a result of habitat loss or climate change. http://phys.org/news257686800.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-31T12:40:12-07:00 Scientists have traditionally sought the evolutionary origins of human speech in primate vocalizations, such as monkey coos or chimpanzee hoots. But unlike these primate calls, human speech is produced using rapid, controlled movements of the tongue, lips and jaw. Speech is also learned, while primate vocalizations are mostly innately structured. http://phys.org/news257682243.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-31T12:00:14-07:00 If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, then it shouldn't be surprising that their neural circuits differ. In research published today in the journal Current Biology, researchers have used dramatic changes in the behaviour of the female fruit fly after sex to help map these often very different circuits. http://phys.org/news257682157.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-31T12:00:01-07:00 During the fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies living in eastern North America fly up to 1,500 miles to the volcanic forests of Mexico to spend the winter, while monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains fly to the California coast. The phenomenon is both spectacular and mysterious: How do the insects learn these particular routes and why do they stick to them? http://phys.org/news257680617.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-31T10:57:04-07:00 (Phys.org) -- The glacier lily as it's called, is a tall, willowy plant that graces mountain meadows throughout western North America. It flowers early in spring, when the first bumblebees and hummingbirds appear. http://phys.org/news257672984.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-31T08:49:53-07:00 (Phys.org) -- How can blue whales, the largest animals on the planet, survive by feeding on krill, shrimp-like creatures that are the size of a penny? According to UCLA life scientists, it's all a matter of dimensions. http://phys.org/news257663558.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-31T06:12:49-07:00 A botanist brings a species of alfalfa from Siberia, to the United States. His hope? The plant survives, and leads to a new winter-hardy alfalfa. But what also happened during this time in the late 1800's, isn't just a story of legend and lore. The truth of the matter is creating a current revival in both interest and conservation of what's now called a crop's "wild relative." http://phys.org/news257607614.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-30T14:40:27-07:00 You could be forgiven for thinking that all of Europe's plants and animals were discovered, documented and named a long time ago. But it turns out that nothing could be further from the truth. http://phys.org/news257585652.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-30T08:50:01-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Humidity emanating from a flower's nectar stores tells a moth if the flower is worth a visit, research led by a UA entomologist has discovered. http://phys.org/news257585789.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-30T08:36:45-07:00 A parasite linked to dogs and responsible for an estimated $30 million loss to the national cattle industry each year is present throughout Australia, a University of Sydney study has revealed. http://phys.org/news257585535.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-30T08:32:21-07:00 The tuatara, an iconic New Zealand reptile, chews its food in a way unlike any other animal on the planet – challenging the widespread perception that complex chewing ability is closely linked to high metabolism. http://phys.org/news257518351.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-29T19:00:01-07:00 They're tiny creatures with glossy, chocolate-brown hair, out-sized ears and wings. They gobble mosquitoes and other insect pests during the summer and hibernate in caves and mines when the weather turns cold. They are little brown bats, and a deadly disease called white-nose syndrome is threatening their very existence. http://phys.org/news257521732.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-29T14:50:48-07:00 New research from Lund University in Sweden reveals the value of carrying two layers of wings around. The researchers studied dung beetles and the way their protective forewings actually function. These wings do not only protect but also help the beetles to lift off from the ground – albeit at a cost. http://phys.org/news257504967.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-29T10:09:33-07:00 As gardeners get busy filling tubs and borders with colourful bedding plants, scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol have discovered more about what makes flowers attractive to bees rather than humans. Published today in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology, their research reveals that Velcro-like cells on plant petals play a crucial role in helping bees grip flowers – especially when the wind gets up. http://phys.org/news257416789.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-28T19:00:01-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Dolphins may learn harmful or undesirable behaviors, such as begging for food from humans, from each other, Murdoch University researchers have discovered. http://phys.org/news257413278.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-28T09:30:01-07:00 (AP) -- A conservationist says she is releasing 100 short-haired bees into the wild, 20 years after they were wiped out in the British countryside. http://phys.org/news257409325.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-28T07:35:34-07:00 (Phys.org) -- For as long as people have coexisted with other animals, they have debated amongst themselves whether some animals have some of the same personality traits as humans or if it’s just anthropomorphism at work. Many believe dogs, for example, have unique personalities, e.g. a cranky disposition, laziness, or even signs of neuroticism. More recently researchers have argued over whether apes, which of course are much closer to us in most ways, are able to feel the things we feel and whether they have different personalities between them, as we people do, and if so, if they are like ours. http://phys.org/news257406452.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-28T06:48:28-07:00 A plucky penguin that was recaptured last week after nearly three months at large in the polluted waters of Tokyo Bay has conjunctivitis, an aquarium official said Monday. http://phys.org/news257396107.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-28T03:55:13-07:00 A research team at Bielefeld University headed by the evolutionary biologist Dr. Holger Schielzeth is now studying how far a comparable mechanism is involved in mate choice among locusts. The male Siberian locust has swollen front legs. The scientists are now studying how far female locusts prefer the male with the most powerful swellings and select their mates accordingly. http://phys.org/news257165664.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-25T11:55:27-07:00 A new genetic study has shed light on how the newly discovered Myanmar snub-nosed monkey evolved. http://phys.org/news257153491.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-25T08:31:58-07:00 (Phys.org) -- If you look at a razor burrowing clam sitting in a bucket, you’d never guess that it could burrow itself down into the soil, much less do it with any speed. Razor clams look like fat straws, or sawed off tusks; not very exciting. But set one down in the water, and it can burrow down into the sand to about two and a half feet deep in just a couple of minutes. Pretty impressive stuff, especially considering, as a team of researchers has found, that the muscle the clams use for burrowing just isn’t strong enough to accomplish the deed. To manage the speedy descent the team found, the razor burrowing clam causes changes to the sand below it as it descends. They have written a paper on their findings which has been published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. http://phys.org/news257150662.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-25T07:44:43-07:00 Troy Murphy has found female bill colour reflects the health of the bird. Females with more colourful bills have higher antibody levels, indicating greater strength and the ability to fight off invaders. http://phys.org/news257092082.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-24T15:28:09-07:00 Cooperating with fungi didn't just help the earliest plants spread across a barren, rocky landscape; it also played a decisive role in the rise of more complex plants with roots and leaves that make up most of today's flora. http://phys.org/news257067855.html Biology - Plants & Animals 2012-05-24T08:44:24-07:00