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Picture a pigeon: gray body, iridescent neck feathers, probably pecking away at trash on a city sidewalk. But there are actually more than 350 different breeds of pigeon, and many of them look nothing like the familiar city pest. A new study examines the physical and genetic differences between the pigeon breeds, to come to some interesting conclusions about how appearance relates to genetics. More »
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The "world's smallest vertebrate" title has always been held by the powerful fish lobby — until now. But this little frog changed everything. Paedophryne amauensis shows us just how little spine an animal can have. More »
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'Tis the season for incredibly irresponsible gifts. Many people go out and get pets for a loved one, only to find that they're stuck with a 15-year-commitment that craps behind the couch every night. If you're going to take the pain, why not get a really good pet to go along with it? More »
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In terms of popularity, wasps sit somewhere between house centipedes and mosquitos in regards to universal desire for their demise — so the prospect that they can identify faces is pretty horrifying. According to new research, certain species of wasp can tell one another apart based on faces, which only convinces me further that they can recognize me at a distance, and plan their attacks on me personally. More »
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Humans want to believe that they're the smartest creatures on the planet. But the more we understand octopuses, the more it seems that we may not be alone in our ability to solve problems, make complex connections between ideas, and survive by wits alone. A growing body of evidence — a lot of it still anecdotal — suggests that octopuses show elements of human-like intelligence. But their intelligence has evolved for very different reasons than ours did, which makes them particularly difficult to understand. More »
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Many people know that ambergris is a rare substance produced by whales, which is added to perfume. But do you know it needs to age for years in order to become perfume-worthy? Or that it's filled with squid beaks? Find out what makes ambergris smell so wonderful. More »
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Recently a rare white kiwi made it through a surgery. The doctors and scientists who treated it were quick to point out, it was not an albino kiwi. Instead it was a color morph, specifically one with leucism. Find out how things besides albinism can make you white, and why things don't have to be white to be albino. More »
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The revelations never cease. First, it turns out that piranhas aren't the vicious cow-stripping killers we'd been led to believe. Now it turns out that they bark when they see things they don't like. Discover the physics of how piranhas yip away like yappy dogs. More »
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It's not easy being born a Janus cat, but Frank and Louie outlived them all, earning him a spot in the Guinness World Records. Watch Frank and Louie go! More »
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There are similarities in the way a bird flies through the air and a dolphin swims through the water. And yet how do you compare the flap of a butterfly to the enormous movement of a blue whale? The best way, it turns out, is with their respective Strouhal Numbers. More »
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Photographer Marc da Cuhna Lopes imagines a desolate future in which people are gone, and somehow giant animal skeletons have taken over our world. But don't panic — that's not really a person-sized animal that somehow died while perched on a bed. It's an illusion of scale. More »
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The leopard and the jaguar are renowned for their lovely spotted coats, and tigers for their stripes. Math and genetics show us how we can get the same things for our own offspring — along with why no striped animals have spotted tails. More »
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Bird milk, the fluid that's produced in the crop of pigeons and a few other species of birds, nourishes their chicks. And now, scientists have found the gene expression involved, and may be able to extract milk from pigeons in the future. But why would you want to? More »
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Forensic science shows that the reputation of the 'Tasmanian tiger' was much inflated. The creatures used to roam through mainland Australia, but humans drove them to the island of Tasmnania. There, they gained a reputation as hunters of the sheep that were the livelihood of many local farmers. A bounty was put out on the tiger's head, and hunters decimated the population while farmers took over its habitat. But in truth, the poor Tasmanian tiger couldn't have killed a sheep even if it wanted to. More »
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Human beings aren't the only creatures who use substances to escape from reality. Animals the world over drug themselves as eagerly and regularly as any college sophomore with a 'Legalize It' t-shirt. Find out how animals manage to get themselves ready for a Pink Floyd laser light show. More »
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Last week, we reported that rodents of unusual size (the size of freaking rabbits to be precise) were invading New York. Today we have photographic evidence that these rats are here, and they are ready to take over. More »
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Acoustic Kitty may well have been the first genuine spy animal ever created. In the past, pigeons were trained to send messages, and sometimes to survey enemy positions from the air, but Acoustic Kitty was different. More »
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We already know that herbivorous bats can be attracted to certain plants by the sounds of their leaves. But what about the blood-sucking variety? How do they find food? They have to be able to precisely target large veins near the surface of the skin. It turns they use a method that's very similar to the way we taste spicy food. More »
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The African Crested Rat has figured out a way to kill off the jackals and lions who try to prey on it. This little critter is 21 inches from head to tail, but no one and nothing can afford to take a bite out of it. Between its specially adapted physiology and peculiar behavior, this rat can take out pretty much any animal. It uses a potent plant poison to fend off enemies. More »
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Axolotls are most well-known for their remarkable ability to re-grow amputated limbs. Their regenerative abilities come with eternal youth - that can be ended with a bit of iodine. More »
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This Friday Rise of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters with its story of a lab ape named Caesar, "uplifted" to human intelligence by scientists, who leads a revolution against humanity. But he's hardly the first brain-augmented creature to question human values. Here are ten great stories of animal uplift and its consequences. More »
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Not only do dolphins have insane healing powers, but it turns out that they're the only mammals who can detect electrical fields. Sure, I can detect an electrical field, but only using the excruciatingly painful touch-it-and-scream method. What we're talking about here is a special sensory organ for passive detection of electrical fields, better known as electroreception. More »
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Scientists have found fossils of an early insect that seems to have the body parts from many different types of today's insects. It represents an evolutionary conundrum. More »
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For years, scientists have been puzzled by a strange feature of mole anatomy. It appears to be an extra thumb, and it makes moles super-powered burrowers. But is the mole's extra thumb all that it seems? More »
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Tiffany Bozic is a San Francisco-based artist who will make you fall in love with a rhino beetle. We talked to her about her techniques, as well as bridging the worlds of science and art. More »
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Dolphins have been a popular plot device since the time of Flipper, but scifi has long had a particular fondness for them. Some are awesome; others verge on utterly ridiculous. Here are our favorites. More »
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Scientists recently did an MRI of a tarantula. They managed to capture a video of the beating heart of the spider. Apparently it's like no other heartbeat seen before. More »
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For decades there's been a long running debate in the paleontological community about whether the thick-skulled pachycephalosaurs used their immense noggins for head-butting, flank-butting, or peacock-like displays of awesomeness. A new research paper published in PLos One adds more weight to the head-butting side of the debate. More »
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Crows will not only remember your face and go after you repeatedly if you bother them, but they will also teach other birds to do the same. Their scolding and physical harassment can last for years, possibly for the life of the bird. More »
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Crazy people (who are technically scientists) show readers how to make a beard of bees to impress their friends or perhaps kill themselves in the least dignified way possible. More »
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Scientists preparing to relocate beluga whales to protected habitats and zoos enlisted the help of Russian diver Natalia Avseenko, who is uniquely able to help these whales get accustomed to human company. She has trained to hold her breath for up to 10 minutes, and can swim in the sub-zero waters of the Arctic where these whales make their homes. More »
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It's easy to see how ants get around when they're in a long line – just follow the ant in front of them. But how do ants find their way back to nest when they're on their own? A creepy experiment provides clues. More »
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Gardners and biologists often grumble about the ways non-native animals and plants have invaded a region, spoiling things for all the locals. Sometimes a non-native species can destroy an ecosystem — a common example is the introduction of rabbits to Australia, where they have no native predators. Sometimes, however, they are far more beneficial than local creatures like the mountain pine beetle, a native species that kills more trees than any other insect in North America. More »
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Diving bell spiders spin 'bubbles' of web that not only let them live under water, but serve as gills that take in oxygen from the water. Now two biologists have measured what makes these bubbles fail, and how often the spiders need to surface. More »
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No need to search the world over for your other puppy half. Doggelgänger uses facial recognition software to pair you up with the puppy that already shares your handsome features! More »
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Two different types of frog have the key to channeling and stopping blood flow to different areas of the body. It may change medicine as we know it. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5809021&view=rss&microfeed=true It's generally assumed that for most terrestrial mammals, the main nutritional goal is to get protein. However, a group of researchers who spent years watching gorillas in the Congo have found evidence that this isn't quite the case. What they discovered is that the gorillas do have a thing for protein-rich leaves, and they devote most of their effort to foraging these leaves — but only during seasons where there wasn't much fruit. Contrary to the general scientific consensus, if it was fruit season, that's where there effort would go. Gorillas much preferred the sweet stuff to high-protein leaves. More »
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Once upon a time, there was no such thing as Photoshop. Back then, if people wanted to smash two separate things together into an unholy mixture of art, science, and caprice, they had to hire a painter - and painters tended to be moody. More »
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Everything you knew about canine hydration was wrong! You will gasp in astonishment to discover the physical links between dog drinking and cat drinking! And learn the secrets behind messy dog slobber! All will be revealed! More »
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This National Geographic honey badger video, with a hilarious voiceover from "Randall," went viral a few months ago. Seriously, though, why can the honey badger wake up from a cobra bite and be on his merry way? And why can it get stung repeatedly by a swarm of bees and "not give a shit?" More »
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