Tiny, striped zebrafish are helping scientists trace how a gene linked to albinism influences eye development, work that may ultimately help explain some of the vision problems experienced by people with the condition and ...
Great Britain has long been thought to be home to a single venomous snake species, the adder. Although its bites are rarely life-threatening, they require a trip to the emergency department and will more than likely ruin ...
Around 309 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs, the area around Chicago was a swampy river delta swarming with early land-dwelling animals, giant insects and strange swimming animals. What was once a hotbed for new ...
The bacteria living on frogs' skin could play a vital role in protecting the animals from a deadly fungal disease. A team of researchers led by Penn State scientists found that frogs' natural skin bacteria can help them fight ...
Common, wide-ranging vertebrate species, such as foxes, may be finding more suitable habitat in towns and cities than in the wider landscape, while rarer species—which live in smaller areas—appear to favor different habitats, ...
In taxonomy, the location where specimens used to formally describe a new species are collected is called a type locality. These sites can be thought of as the species' formal birthplace, much as the scientific article containing ...
Amphibian larvae—often known as tadpoles—exhibit a behavior known as "social aggregation," in which they gather together to avoid predators. These interactions are evidence of their "association preferences," or their tendency ...
Surinam toads (Pipa pipa) are strange, flat frogs with minuscule eyes that live in the murky waters of the Amazon basin and carry their eggs on their backs. The way they catch prey is even weirder. They lie in wait with outstretched ...
Why do humans rely on XY chromosomes to determine sex, while birds use ZW—and many reptiles use neither, letting temperature decide instead? Sex determination is remarkably diverse across the animal kingdom. In genotypic ...
We share our planet with millions of plants and animals. This variety of life is known as biodiversity, a term encompassing everything from microscopic genes to entire ecosystems, such as deserts and vibrant coral reefs.
