Related topics: biomed central

Poisonous Poisson

In contrast to the exhaustive research into venom produced by snakes and spiders, venomous fish have been neglected and remain something of a mystery. Now, a study of 158 catfish species, published in the open access journal ...

Damselfish 'garden' algae

A species of damselfish, Stegastes nigricans, selectively weed the algal gardens on which they feed in order to encourage the growth of their preferred algal species of Polysiphonia and suppress the growth of less palatable ...

Why are male spiders small while females are giant?

'Bridging', an unusual mode of getting around frequently used by vegetation-inhabiting spiders to cross large gaps, may partly explain the tendency for male spiders to be much smaller than females. Researchers writing in ...

Nepotism has its benefits when it comes to survival

While nepotism may have negative connotations in politics and the workplace, being surrounded by your relatives does lead to better group dynamics and more cooperation in some animals. That certainly seems to be the case ...

Bizarre walking bat has ancient heritage

A bizarre New Zealand bat that is as much at home walking four-legged on the ground as winging through the air had an Australian ancestor 20 million years ago with the same rare ability, a new study has found.

Scent signals stop incest in lemurs

Chemical identifiers secreted from the genital glands of lemurs, allow them to avoid incest and also to engage in nepotism. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology have identified the smells ...

Cheating slime mold gets the upper hand

A 'cheater' mutation (chtB) in Dictyostelium discoideum, a free living slime mould able to co-operate as social organism when food is scarce, allows the cheater strain to exploit its social partner, finds a new study published ...

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