Since diverging from a common ancestor with brown bears less than half a million years ago, polar bears have accumulated genetic changes that allow them to eat a superhigh-fat diet without suffering cardiovascular consequences...
Honeybee “waggle dances” could help conservationists judge whether wildlife restoration efforts are working
The publication of the draft genetic sequence of a comb jelly reveals a nervous system like no other
I heard you're looking for a new favourite animal. Look no further, this is your guy. At just 35 centimetres long – which includes a 20-cm-long tail – and weighing no more than 500 grams, the pygmy anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) is the smallest anteater on Earth...
The 180-million-year-old fossils suggest that shallow-water animals may have originated from deep-sea ancestors
The placenta is full of microbes, a new study finds, raising questions about how that ecosystem and mothers' oral health influence the risk of preterm birth
A new book argues race and genetics explain "the rise of the West." Bad science explains the downfall of its ideas. Nicholas Wade is not a racist.
The social structure of termites evolved independently from bees and ants, but all the species seem to share similar chemical tags that control a few genes
Just when you thought octopuses couldn’t get any weirder: It turns out that their suckers have an unexpectedly hairy grip. Octopuses can form an impressively tight grip—even on a rough surface...
It’s such wonderful warm weather in the UK at the moment, I thought it was time to celebrate with another butterfly post! I particularly wanted to take a closer look at the butterfly Phengaris arion which is rather unimaginatively known more commonly as the Large Blue...
Scientists in Australia have warned that we’d better get hopping and slow down climate change if we want to prevent the world’s smallest kangaroo from going extinct.
The Lepidopteran is the first one found to have sex determined by RNA rather than by a protein
The high levels may help the seals survive their long, deep dives
An octopus might be one of the most intelligent invertebrates, but it doesn’t always know what, exactly, its arms are doing. How these animals manage to avoid tangling themselves up is a major feat...
If you appreciate John J. Audubon’s exacting detail and beautiful compositions and you marvel at the encyclopedic knowledge and delicate illustrations in the famous Sibley Bird Guides you may be interested to know that there are many contemporary masters following in their footsteps today...
A review of Nicholas Wade’s book, “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History“. In this book NYT science writer Nicholas Wade advances two simple premises: firstly, that we should stop looking only toward culture as a determinant of differences between populations and individuals, and secondly, that those who claim that race is only a [...]..
In a further effort to relieve Turtle Guilt (see the previous turtle-themed Tet Zoo article), I give you the following article devoted wholly to kinosternids, an exclusively American group of about 25 species of seemingly mundane and unspectacular turtles...
Say “Hello, my baby. Hello, my darling...” to 14 newly described frog species that kick and dance like Michigan J. Frog from the classic Warner Brothers animated cartoon, One Froggy Evening...
Luck has played a big part in many of the world's great fossil discoveries. New models predict where the bones are and put serendipity in the backseat
A fallow buck judges a rival's call to tell whether he can be trounced in a mating contest
