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. An AI-powered camera platform could soon help monitor the health and behavior of zoo animals overnight, thanks to a new partnership between the University of Surrey and Marwell Wildlife. Researchers from Surrey's Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP) are working closely with Marwell to develop a bespoke AI nocturnal behavior observation system that interprets video footage and flags unusual behavioral patterns in animals. The three-year project will use AI and machine learning to study animals' night-time movements, helping zookeepers spot subtle signs of illness or distress that might otherwise go unnoticed. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-camera-platform-zoo-animals.html Ecology Thu, 21 May 2026 12:40:01 EDT news698582882 Look up at the clouds. What do you see? A sailboat? A seahorse? Your great-aunt Rosemary? As humans, we're prone to seeing patterns where they don't actually exist. This behavior is so common there's a name for it: apophenia. But sometimes, those patterns really do exist. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Associate Professor Saket Navlakha specializes in finding them. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nature-algorithm-chinese-money.html Plants & Animals Tue, 12 May 2026 09:40:07 EDT news697794232 A research team from the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP-CERCA) has led the paleohistological study of Ampelomeryx ginsburgi, a giraffomorph ruminant from the Middle Miocene recovered at the Els Casots site (Catalonia, Spain). Through microscopic analysis of bone tissues, the researchers were able to determine that this peculiar animal reached skeletal maturity at three years of age, while reproductive maturity began around the second year. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ampelomeryx-grew-life-history-giraffe.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:40:07 EDT news696681781 Teeth are like tiny biological time capsules. They tell stories about ancient diets and environments long after their owners have died and landscapes have changed. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-teeth-reveal-clues-environment.html Evolution Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:40:04 EDT news695903701 The south coast of South Africa's Western Cape province is a rich source of fossil tracks and traces—clues suggesting what this environment may have been like many thousands of years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bird-tortoise-fossil-tracks-south.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:00:09 EDT news695567462 If you've watched a giraffe browsing in the tree canopy, a white rhino meandering across open grassland, or a warthog shuffling around on its knees in South Africa's Kalahari desert, you know what they eat: leaves, grass, shoots, and roots. With every mouthful, they swallow something less obvious—soil. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-grazing-herbivores-greater-toxic-elements.html Plants & Animals Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:00:47 EST news689428802 A team of scientists from EPFL and Alaska Pacific University has developed an AI program that can recognize individual bears in the wild, despite the substantial changes that occur in their appearance over the summer season. This breakthrough holds significant promise for research, management, and conservation efforts. The study is published in the journal Current Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-enables-brown-alaska.html Plants & Animals Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:20:04 EST news688907452 A study of wild African herbivores offers new insight into how environmental conditions—not just diet and anatomy—can influence the evolution of gut microbes that play a critical role in animal health and well-being. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-environmental-conditions-evolution-gut-microbiomes.html Evolution Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:34:00 EST news688660372 The idea began in California's Sierra Nevada, a towering spine of rock and ice where rising temperatures and the decline of snowpack are transforming ecosystems, sometimes with catastrophic consequences for wildlife. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-wild-nature-climate-safe-havens.html Environment Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:17:27 EST news685196222 Humans live in a world abundant in salt, but this everyday seasoning is a luxury for wild herbivores, and it's far from clear how these animals get enough. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-culprit-limiting-abundance-earth-largest.html Plants & Animals Tue, 09 Dec 2025 05:00:18 EST news684405541 Picture a baby Brachiosaurus the size of a golden retriever, hunting for food with its siblings while dodging predators that would happily eat it. Meanwhile, its parents—towering over 40 feet tall—are dozens of miles away, going about their lives completely unbothered by their offspring's potential fate. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-free-range-dinosaur-parenting-diverse.html Ecology Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:36:23 EST news684074161 South Africa is well known for its fossil heritage, a record of plants and animals that tells us what the world was like long ago. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-fossil-hunters-tracks-animals-million.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 02 Dec 2025 21:10:01 EST news683905164 A new paper by University of Rhode Island post-doctoral researchers Emily Sperou and Renato Borras-Chavez published in the journal Polar Biology discusses a unique phenomenon observed in a reclusive Antarctic animal: postmortem attentive behavior, or PAB, in the solitary leopard seal. The two are members of URI's CEAL Lab in the Department of Natural Resources Science. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-mothers-deceased-pups-unique-mammalian.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:57:04 EST news682689422 Coaxed and tugged by rangers, a blindfolded giraffe totters into the specialized vehicle that will transport it away from an increasingly hostile environment to a new home in Kenya's eastern Rift Valley. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-stranded-stressed-giraffes-kenya-relocated.html Ecology Tue, 18 Nov 2025 04:30:01 EST news682662077 Animals in children's stories are often depicted as living in neat mom, dad and children family units. Examples include Fantastic Mr. Fox, 101 Dalmatians and, more recently, Peppa Pig and Bluey. But, this might leave people feeling like outsiders if they don't come from a traditional nuclear family set-up. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-children-feature-tidy-nuclear-families.html Education Fri, 07 Nov 2025 00:40:01 EST news681655100 Zoos and private collections teach, inspire, and connect people to animals they may never encounter in the wild. And, in some cases, those animals represent valuable "assurance populations"—essentially, backups that could be used to revive critically endangered populations in their native ranges. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-wild-giraffes-safety-net-zoo.html Ecology Mon, 03 Nov 2025 11:32:05 EST news681391922 If you've ever wondered why the giraffe has such a long neck, the answer seems clear: it lets them reach succulent leaves atop tall acacia trees in Africa. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-giraffes-legs-animal-simulations-reveal.html Plants & Animals Mon, 03 Nov 2025 11:12:03 EST news681390721 Young umbrella acacia trees in Africa survive severe drought by putting their natural processes into overdrive when water is in short supply, prioritizing continued growth over water conservation, new research shows. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-africa-acacias-broke-survive-drought.html Plants & Animals Thu, 30 Oct 2025 09:25:28 EDT news681035124 Understanding what the environment looked like millions of years ago is essential for piecing together how our earliest ancestors lived and survived. Habitat shapes everything, from what food was available, to where water could be found, to how predators and prey interacted. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ancient-antelope-teeth-insights-early.html Ecology Thu, 23 Oct 2025 13:01:04 EDT news680443261 A study of elephants, giraffes and other wildlife in Namibia's Etosha National Park underscores the ways in which the environment, biological sex, and anatomical distinctions can drive variation in the gut microbiomes across plant-eating species. Because the gut microbiome plays a critical role in animal health, the work can be used to inform conservation efforts. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-african-wildlife-scat-gut-ecosystem.html Ecology Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:00:36 EDT news679752030 A cloud of dust escapes from an excavation site in the sand of Chad's arid north, where scientists are looking for signs of human habitation in an area once humid and called the "Green Sahara." https://phys.org/news/2025-09-green-sahara-chad-northern.html Archaeology Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:10:48 EDT news677473832 Giraffes are a majestic sight in Africa with their long necks and distinctive spots. Now it turns out there are four different giraffe species on the continent, according to a new scientific analysis released Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-giraffe-species-africa-scientific-analysis.html Ecology Thu, 21 Aug 2025 10:47:29 EDT news674992036 For La Trobe University researchers, the birth of a spritely new giraffe at Melbourne Zoo this month was two-and-a-half years in the making. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-giraffe-pregnancy-hormonal-calf-birth.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 20 Aug 2025 07:35:11 EDT news674894109 Discover a vast, previously unknown world of microbial life that survives—and even thrives—for hundreds of millions of years in some of the planet's harshest environments. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-alive-secret-life-deep-earth.html Earth Sciences Tue, 05 Aug 2025 10:30:02 EDT news673607145 Increased collaboration between zoos and sound researchers could open new frontiers in bioacoustics, according to a new paper. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-zoo-soundscapes-frontier-bioacoustics.html Ecology Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:20:01 EDT news671877812 The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo passed a law in January 2025 to lead efforts to establish the largest tropical forest reserve in the world. It will be set up as a 2,600km long green corridor the size of France—540,000km²—situated in the Congo Basin. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-drc-world-largest-tropical-forest.html Ecology Wed, 28 May 2025 13:30:08 EDT news667657179 Most of us are familiar with sloths, the bear-like animals that hang from trees, live life in the slow lane, take a month to digest a meal and poop just once a week. Their closest living relatives are anteaters and armadillos, and if that seems like an odd pairing, there's a reason why. Today, there are only two sloth species, but historically, there were dozens of them, including one with a bottle-nosed snout that ate ants and another that likely resembled the ancestors of modern armadillos. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-scientists-figured-extinct-giant-ground.html Evolution Thu, 22 May 2025 17:04:06 EDT news667152242 The giraffe, one of Africa's most iconic animals, is facing a crisis. Despite their worldwide popularity, giraffe populations in the wild are declining due to illegal killing and habitat loss. A new study published in The Journal of Wildlife Management reveals that targeted conservation strategies—particularly those focused on adult survival—are essential to reversing these trends in the Serengeti Ecosystem. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-adult-survival-stabilize-declining-giraffe.html Plants & Animals Tue, 13 May 2025 12:37:04 EDT news666358622 A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe). https://phys.org/news/2025-05-hubble-images-skewed-spiral-galaxy.html Astronomy Mon, 05 May 2025 10:02:02 EDT news665658121 By analyzing the arrangement of vertebrae in the spines of nearly 400 species of tetrapods—a group of animals with four limbs, such as mammals, reptiles, and birds—RIKEN researchers have found some follow a predicted pattern, whereas others do not. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-mammal-spines-hox-gene-birds.html Plants & Animals Thu, 01 May 2025 11:10:10 EDT news665316601