3+ day, 10+ hour ago   (1306+ words) Sixteen Asian elephants in Thailand gave up a trunk habit as soon as it stopped working, the first evidence of self-control in the species. Put a piece of fruit where an elephant can see it and smell it, and the…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (1067+ words) Snake embryos develop in remarkably consistent clockwise spirals, and their slower-growing gut may explain how the unusual shape forms. Inside a freshly laid snake egg, the embryo is already wound like a corkscrew. Nearly every one of those spirals turns…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (1073+ words) Analysis of dodo bird skulls has helped scientists understand how they observed and interacted with the world before their extinction. Call someone a dodo and nobody asks what you mean. The bird showed little fear of the people who landed…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (807+ words) Humans have long been considered daytime animals, but new research suggests our natural activity pattern extends much further into the night than expected. Humans have always been filed under diurnal: awake by day, asleep by night, like most primates. But…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago   (737+ words) Researchers mapped the hidden routes traffickers use to smuggle Mexico’s native parrots, revealing an increasingly organized illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife traffickers have been smuggling Mexico’s native parrots for decades, and the birds are losing ground fast. Every single Mexican parrot…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago   (1053+ words) Large mammals help shape forest floors by changing fallen plant material, soil acidity, and nutrient movement over time. Tropical forests need more than trees to stay healthy. Animals help by moving seeds, mixing the forest floor, and helping nutrients from…...

2+ week, 6+ day ago   (967+ words) Allowing tropical forests to regrow naturally could deliver major carbon and biodiversity benefits while making restoration far more affordable. Tropical forests absorb vast amounts of carbon and provide homes for more than half of Earth’s land vertebrates. These forests also…...

3+ week, 15+ hour ago   (937+ words) Why did Africa lose so many giant herbivores? New findings point to slow species formation, not faster extinction. Africa once supported many more giant plant eaters than it does today. These animals helped shape how ecosystems worked, so their disappearance…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (1136+ words) Crows memorize facial features of dangerous humans and pass the information along to their friends, remembering the person for up to 17 years. Wild crows learned to treat a rubber mask as a threat after watching people wearing it trap and…...

4+ week, 15+ hour ago   (737+ words) Climate shifts, not competition alone, helped shape the rise of modern carnivores as ancient hyaenodont predators disappeared. Picture two dynasties of meat-eaters sharing the same forests for tens of millions of years after the dinosaurs died off. One eventually gave…...