https://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. Eagles are symbols of hunting prowess. Known as top predators wherever they live, they are often assumed to kill as their primary mode of obtaining food. However, a new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research reports the first confirmed case of sustained carrion use by Verreaux's eagles (Aquila verreauxii) in the Arabian Peninsula, suggesting that the species' diet may be more adaptable than previously realized. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-eagles-specialists-reveal-unexpected-goat.html Plants & Animals Fri, 28 Aug 2026 08:40:03 EDT news707124661 An international team of researchers from Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain and the U.S. has reconstructed the evolution of body mass in carnivorous mammals during the Paleogene—a crucial window in the diversification of mammals that followed the extinction of dinosaurs. This work, published in Biology Letters, challenges the long-standing hypothesis that competition decided the fate of ancient top predators. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-climate-predator-million-years.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:40:03 EDT news705841742 We call them "man's best friend," and the evidence supports it. Dogs have been found buried alongside humans in graves dating back 14,000 years. They appear in ancient art from every continent, and they feature in the mythology, religion and folklore of virtually every culture. Archaeological evidence shows they have helped us hunt, protected our homes, hauled our possessions, herded our livestock and provided companionship through the entirety of recorded history. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dogs-evolved-differently-globe-human.html Evolution Sun, 09 Aug 2026 19:10:01 EDT news705243839 A new study by ancient DNA researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, used paleogenomics to create a genetic roadmap to help guide the restoration of another iconic species once on the brink of extinction: the North American bison. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-decoding-north-american-bison-genome.html Plants & Animals Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:10:01 EDT news705256562 Horses know a predator when they see one—even if it's only on a video screen while they're standing in a stall, with no sounds, smells or previous experience providing context for what they're viewing, a new study suggests. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-eyeing-predator-horses-poker-hearts.html Plants & Animals Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:07 EDT news703325708 Two new studies examining gray wolves in California paint a complex picture of life on the state's ranching landscapes: Wolves eat cattle more than anything else, and the presence of the predators causes significant stress among livestock. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-california-wolves-heavily-cattle-presence.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:00:23 EDT news702700961 A new international study led by researchers at the University of Oulu, Finland, shows that wolves living in different parts of the world are not anatomically identical. Their skulls differ in shape and size according to climate, prey availability, evolutionary history and, increasingly, the influence of humans. The paper is published in the journal Diversity and Distributions. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wolves-world-evolved-skull-humans.html Plants & Animals Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:00:07 EDT news702638805 A rat first frees a cagemate rat and then shares food with it. Is this animal just as empathetic as humans? In an American study from 2011, researchers observed that rats first freed their fellow rats from a cage and then shared food with them instead of leaving them in the cage and eating alone; this means they showed empathy. But do they have the same capacity for empathy as we humans, or do we differ in that regard? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rats-empathy.html Plants & Animals Sun, 05 Jul 2026 16:00:03 EDT news702217587 When trying to attract and recognize potential mates, animals are known to rely on various signals, traits and behaviors. In the case of birds, these signals can typically include a wide range of sounds—such as trills, whistles, chirps or melodious notes defined as "songs"—as well as the color and movement of their feathers. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-songs-play-greater-role-plumage.html Evolution Fri, 03 Jul 2026 08:20:04 EDT news702042111 Wolves use their urine to communicate with each other. A recent study looked at the reactions of a pack to the marking of an intruder. This is a first step toward understanding what attracts or repels canids. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-wolves-react-strongly-trespassers-breeders.html Plants & Animals Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:00:05 EDT news702036781 Big cats have a big impact. A long-term study showed that when mountain lions began regular visits to a small suburban preserve about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of San Francisco, they changed the behavior of many other animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-mountain-lions-major-ecological-impact.html Plants & Animals Wed, 17 Jun 2026 10:40:04 EDT news700907762 Ground squirrel droppings, preserved for millennia in the Yukon's deep permafrost, have yielded an enormous amount of environmental DNA from dozens of species of plants, insects, microbes and large mammals, offering detailed genetic information about an environment that no longer exists. It is among the oldest ancient DNA ever recovered and sequenced. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-ground-squirrel-reveal-arctic.html Evolution Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:00:05 EDT news700130381 Human activity may be enabling the expansion of golden jackals across Europe by reducing the suppressive effect of gray wolves, suggests research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. This human-mediated interaction could allow jackals to occupy up to 75% of the continent, almost six times more than the current area, the authors suggest. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-wolves-recover-golden-jackals-conquer.html Plants & Animals Tue, 26 May 2026 16:00:03 EDT news699019121 A new large-scale study led by a research team from the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change has found that wildlife responds not only to how humans reshape their habitats, but also to the simple presence of humans—and sometimes in surprising ways. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-wildlife-behavior-response.html Plants & Animals Thu, 21 May 2026 14:00:14 EDT news698571662 Wolves in India, like the pack that raised Mowgli in "The Jungle Book," can often feel disconnected from both the research and storytelling of wolves. Rice University professor Lauren Hennelly is working to change that. Her research uncovers the stories that these gray wolves, along with the nearby Tibetan wolves, carry in their DNA. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-indian-tibetan-wolves-reveal-ancient.html Plants & Animals Mon, 18 May 2026 17:30:01 EDT news698342761 Dogs have long been known to have smaller brains than the wolves they descended from. But when they started to shrink has been a matter of some debate. New research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, which compared ancient and modern canid skulls, puts the date at around 5,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tail-dog-brain-reveals-began.html Evolution Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:20:04 EDT news696675845 Between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, many of the world's largest mammals disappeared. Picture creatures like saber-toothed cats with 7-inch fangs and elephant-sized sloths. Woolly mammoths whose curved tusks grew longer than 12 feet. Even a three-ton wombat the size of a car. After roaming Earth for millions of years, most large-bodied mammals—especially those weighing over a ton—were wiped out. Vanished. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-giants-years-triggered-ripple-effects.html Ecology Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:00:11 EDT news696242881 Snow leopards, leopards, and Himalayan wolves all share similar stomping grounds in Nepal's Lapchi Valley in the Himalayas. A recent study, published in PLOS One, has taken a closer look at how these apex predators have found a way to coexist, despite limited resources. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-himalayan-predators-coexist-partitioning-prey.html Plants & Animals Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:00:03 EDT news694692822 The bond between humans and dogs is one of nature's most enduring partnerships, but exactly when it began has long been a mystery. Now, a new study has turned back the clock. The study, titled "Dogs were widely distributed in Western Eurasia during the Palaeolithic," is published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-dna-reveals-earliest-dogs.html Evolution Sat, 28 Mar 2026 17:00:01 EDT news693673318 Evidence of some of the earliest dogs has been identified at two University of Liverpool/British Institute at Ankara archaeological excavation projects in central Anatolia, Turkey. Shedding new light on the development and spread of early domestic dogs, the findings are documented in two papers published in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-dna-year-dogs-anatolia.html Archaeology Sat, 28 Mar 2026 11:00:04 EDT news693673274 An international team of researchers led by the Francis Crick Institute, the University of East Anglia and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has found that dogs were domesticated more than 14,000 years ago and that dogs living in pre-agricultural Europe contributed substantially to the genetics of dogs living after agriculture and in the present day. The findings appear in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-earliest-dogs-europe-year-dna.html Evolution Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:00:02 EDT news693648782 When a wolf pack runs down its prey, the first on the scene is often the raven. Even before the predators have had time to dig in, the ravens are already in line, waiting to take advantage of the odd scrap of meat that becomes available. The speed with which the scavengers arrive at wolf kills is uncanny, and people had an explanation for how: ravens must be following wolves. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-wolves-ravens.html Plants & Animals Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:11 EDT news692523299 We are used to seeing a strict order in nature, with apex predators at the top feeding on those lower down the pecking order. But in video footage from a nature reserve in Italy, we see a red fox turning the tables, attacking and likely killing one of two wolf pups at a den. Wolves have been known to occasionally kill foxes, but the reverse has never been documented on video before. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-camera-captures-video-red-fox.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:20:05 EDT news692268111 Biologists have long wondered why caribou are the only deer in the world in which females—like males—have antlers. A study of shed antlers collected from calving grounds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge provides a new answer. The study is published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-female-caribou-antlers-arctic-nutrition.html Plants & Animals Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:40:01 EST news691168621 Gray wolves adapt their diets as a result of climate change, eating harder foods such as bones to extract nutrition during warmer climates, new research has found. The study, led by the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, and published in Ecology Letters, has implications for wolf conservation across Europe and beyond. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-fossil-evidence-reveals-gray-wolves.html Plants & Animals Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:00:01 EST news690209853 New research shows that the mere smell of predators is enough to change deer behavior and limit browsing damage to tree saplings. The findings, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, offer a potential tool for forest recovery and highlight the important role large predators play. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-lynx-deer-browsing-recovering-forests.html Plants & Animals Wed, 28 Jan 2026 19:00:01 EST news688726078 What's the value of one animal? When a wild animal is found badly injured, the most humane option is often euthanasia to prevent further suffering. That's what usually happens, and often for good reason. Even when the resources to rescue one animal are available, a rehabilitated animal brought back into the wild might be rejected by its group, or struggle to find food or escape predators. If it does survive, it may fail to reproduce, and leave no lasting mark on the population. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-africa-rarest-carnivore-story-ethiopian.html Plants & Animals Wed, 24 Dec 2025 09:02:13 EST news685789321 An international team, involving researchers from the University of Seville, the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences in Granada and the University of Huelva, has identified the first fossilized vertebrate footprints from the Quaternary period in fossil dune deposits in Murcia, attributed to the elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus, known as the straight-tusked elephant. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-prehistoric-elephant-footprints-documented-murcia.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 17 Dec 2025 18:50:10 EST news685197782 Dingoes are no ordinary dogs. They trace their roots back to an ancient Asian lineage and made their way to Australia more than 3,500 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-impacts-colonization-dingoes-written-bones.html Evolution Tue, 25 Nov 2025 10:19:04 EST news683288341 New research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History reveals that the majority of dogs living today have low but detectable levels of post-domestication wolf ancestry that has likely shaped characteristics including body size, sense of smell, and personality traits. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-modern-dogs-wolf-ancestry-tiny.html Plants & Animals Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:00:12 EST news683197022